The Choice

Goodreads Description

What if you had to choose between your children? Then: Madeleine lived for her children. She'd always believed she'd die for them, too. But on the morning of her twins' tenth birthday her love was put to the test when a killer knocked on their door and forced her to make a devastating choice: which child should live, and which should die - her son, or her daughter? Now: Madeleine stands silent on the periphery of her now fractured family, trying desperately to unravel why her world was so suddenly blown apart. But while everyday life continues around her, memories of everything leading up to that tragic day return in agonising flashes. And that's when she realises her family's life still hangs terrifyingly in the balance...

My Review

There I was, happily reading along, Part One going well, enough so that I was totally gripped. Yes, there were strange things happening and things that didn't really add up, but I knew that everything would come together by the end. And then I started Part Two...and bam! Wow, a twist right there that I didn't see coming.

That's how this book went along, and I enjoyed it. By the end of Part Two, there's another twist, which unfortunately for me, I did see coming, but a twist nonetheless. I love books with twists and it's one of the reasons that I'm such a fan of psychological thrillers. For me, the more twists and turns, the better. This book had a number of them, which made me very happy.

On the slightly negative side, there were parts that tended to be a little slow, and Madeleine's pain and longing for her child did feature heavily in the story, perhaps a little too heavily at times. Yes, I understood her pain, but the frequent comments about the emotional pain, physical longing and desire to hold and cuddle her child, were perhaps a little overplayed. Then again, the author was trying to show the reader the absolute turmoil that the main character was going through, so perhaps those scenes could be justified.

Also, this isn't a book in which a lot actually happens. Part One is pretty strong, with a fair amount of action, and thrilling aspects. But then it seems to slow down and the rest of the book tends to creep along. I can't say that it ever totally lost my interest, but towards the end I was looking forward to reading some more explosive scenes. Did they come? Sort of. The pace picked up towards the end but I can't say it rocketed forward. By the end of the book, I felt that I'd been entertained, but I also felt so-so about the read. It was never fully explained exactly why a specific character acted the way that they did, and I felt that I'd been left hanging slightly. The change in their nature from the first page to the last, remains a mystery.

Despite my criticisms, I did enjoy this book. I liked the twists and turns, the suspense and the wondering: who was the man that arrived at the front door on the day of the twins birthday, who was the man referred to in the diary, and so on. There was enough in this story to keep me engaged. It's worth reading if you can get your hands on a copy.

My Rating: * * *

Publication Date: June 2017 (South Africa)

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Format: Trade Paperback

Source: My own purchased copy.