House Rules Disappoints

I was very dissatisfied with the ending of House Rules. I felt that the ending was a complete contradiction to the rest of the book and that Picoult after writing a book about a very difficult and emotional subject, took the easy route out by creating a cheesy "happy" ending.

Picoult spends the majority of the book focusing on Jacob's aspergers and the limitations and problems it presents both him and his family. She focuses on how Jacob's life is defined by rules that must be adhered to for his ability to function. His life and sense of responsibility is completely defined by these rules and he lives his life according to them. It is beyond Jacob's capabilities to act beyond these rules' limitations. This at least is the message I got from Picoult. Jacob's ability to act is incumbent on these rules. However, in the end, Picoult contradicts this by having Jacob stage Jess' murder because he is protecting Theo. While Picoult does state that Jacob is still following the rules at this point, the rule to "take care of your brother, he's the only one you've got," she also implies the happy ending that Jacob can overcome the Asperger's, "To all those experts who say that because I have Asperger's, I can't empathize: so there. People who can't empathize surely don't try to protect the people they love, even if it means having to go to court." However, at least from my perspective this seems to completely contradict the rest of the book. Jacob protects Theo because he applied the rules that govern his life to the situation, not out of love for Theo.