The Choice by Jake Cross

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Content: Lots of strong language, brutal killings


‘You’ve got to help me,’ she pleads.

On a wet road in the black of night, Karl Seabury is driving home to his pregnant wife. Suddenly, caught in his headlights in the middle of the road is a woman shaking with fright.

Lately, it seems more often than not, I strike out in the mystery/thriller/suspense genre. The premise of this one sounded really good to me. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. My biggest issue with this book was that the characters kept making choices I thought were foolish. I also found it hard to believe that a crime lord would ever be anywhere without multiple body guards. I think he would have excellent security in and around his home, even if it was a seldom visited vacation home, so I just couldn't buy that this crime lord was killed so easily in his own home.

As for the characters, the main character, Karl was a weak character that grew stronger as the book progressed. I ended up liking him much more by the end of the book. Karl's wife, Katie was the most likable character, but stupidly stubborn at one point. As for Mick, the killer (no that is not a spoiler, we go into this book knowing who the killer and his henchmen are pretty much from the beginning), the author seemed to want to drum up some sympathy for him, but I had no sympathy for him at all. I also wasn't crazy about the amount of time spent in his point of view. I don't mind spending smaller amounts of time with the villain in a book, but for me, too much of this book was spent with the killer and his henchmen. Then there was the crime lord's wife. I also had little sympathy for her because she was complicit in the things her husband did.

There was a twist in the book of course. I did not really figure it out before the reveal, although I had my suspicions. I do feel like I should have and I think most people probably will. There had to be at least a little bit of mystery here, and since we go into the book knowing the killers names and reading things from their points of view this was a welcome twist. It however, was obvious to me what lay behind the killer's motivation, but not exactly how or why it all happened.

Lastly there was way too much cursing in the book for me. Too many F words and C words used. It got old. I know this won't bother a lot of people, but it bothers me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me a copy of this book.



View all my reviews