The Choice is a brilliant psychological thriller that has me gripped right from the first chapter. This is.a book I couldn’t put down.

This was such a gripping read and definitely a page Turner. I just had to see how everything panned out. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Enjoyed reading the Choice, had me hooked from start to finish, brilliant twist. Looking to seeing other books from Samantha King

Daring. Thought-provoking. Addictive.

What would you do, if you had to choose between your children?

Then: Madeline, eats, breathes and sleeps her children they are her whole world. But on the morning of the twins tenth birthday her whole world shatters when a killer knocks on their door and forces her to make a disturbing choice: which child should live, and which should die - her son, or her daughter?

Now: Madeleine stands silent on the periphery of her now splintered 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...

Wow – I don’t even know where to start with this one! This for me was a compulsive read, and not usually a subject matter I tend to read as anything with children it’s usually a no, but that being said once I had read the synopsis, I was like yep sign me up!! I don’t want to divulge any of the plot other than what has already been said as I feel it would be depraving the reader the twists and turns you will never see coming.

Samantha King a new author to me delivered in my opinion a very clever, beautifully compelling, addictive read! And one I highly recommend!

This is a good read but, for me, not a great one.

When we first meet Madeleine she is recovering from trauma, and the story is based on this. How can any mother choose between her children, especially when they are twins? That's the dilemma Madeleine faced, and by following 'then' and 'now' chapters, we find out all about this family and what led up to the fatal moment when the decision was hers and hers alone.

It's a nice story, but for me the clues were jumping off the page and smacking me between the eyes. There wasn't any event which surprised me - in fact, I was just waiting for my thoughts and suspicions to be confirmed. Therefore, I didn't feel any suspense, just an easy but predictable story. For me, the outcome was just too obvious - perhaps I've read too many books lately? This is one which has been languishing on my list, and now that I have the chance to clear my backlog, I'm glad I've read it but it wasn't quite the exciting read I thought it was going to be.

A gripping and powerful debut novel from Samantha King - The Choice is a compelling and twisted story.

This is a very enjoyable and twisty psychological thriller. The genre has been done to death over the last couple of years but this is one of the good ones. I look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next.

I found it cliched and repetitive - the twists were easy to spot a mile off and it lacked any real drive. Disappointing.

This was a heart-breaking story of a happy marriage gone bad. Some unforgettable characters and a very complex storyline which was faultless in its execution. The conclusion was mind blowing and very appropriate. Thoroughly absorbing read.

An above average psychological thriller, mother of twins is forced by a stranger to save one and let the other one die. It sounds strange and it is quiet strange.
Who is this stranger and why did he want to kill a twin?

Possibly, as far as style is concerned, one of the best psychological thrillers I have read.

Twists were good, one unexpected and one definitely more predictable but the whole thing worked well. Ok a bit far fetched but it is fiction after all. Parts of the book were a bit too slow, we have lots of strong emotions, there is nothing more emotional than a woman losing her child but I think they went on for too long.

If you like the genre, try this book, it should not disappoint you.

I enjoyed The Choice and would recommend this as a great read.
Twists and turns throughout and an ending I did not expect.
Madeleine has a choice to make, one of her 10 year old twins must die and it’s up to her which one it should be.
Well written and great plot.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK for providing me with an advanced readers edition of this book, and to NetGalley for facilitating. And thank you to Samantha King for the work you put into constructing this story.

Usually books this length are finished in one sitting for me, but this one took me about a week and a half to finish. Sometimes that's a good thing (if I'm savouring it), other times it's a sign that I'm not enjoying it. For me, it took about a week and two days to get 20% of the way through... then it took me a day to finish the rest of it. That first initial taste of the book didn't grab me or draw me in. I could easily take it or leave it, but I'm really glad that I persevered and kept trying with it because it really was a decent read.

The book is split into 3 main parts, the first part (the bit I struggled with) didn't hook me because it was hard to follow initially. But once I figured out what was going on (and I did figure it out before it was revealed), it all clicked into place and I was able to get into it a bit more.
The second part was really difficult to read because I could clearly see what Madeline (the main character) was missing and it was one of those where you want to shout it into the book so they'll just see what's going on.
The third part, focussed on her husband caring for her... erm... that part became very cheesy to me. It felt like I'd suddenly changed from reading a fairly intelligent book focussed on some pretty serious issues, to some sort of teen page turner. Like if you were watching Se7en and half way through it became I Know What You Did Last Summer... similar type of film but completely different style and target audience - that's how this felt. Not that part 3 didn't grip me - it did! But it just changed the feel of the book entirely and it became more of a "guilty pleasure" read than an emotionally intelligent one... if that makes sense to anyone reading this! Lol!

The characters and character development in parts 1 & 2 were really well thought out and well planned. Giving the reader just enough information to ensure that they don't quite know the whole story about each person involved in the story. But enough to suspect foul play from everyone. I suspect sharing In Madeleine's sentiments. Again, part 3, the characters became more 2 dimensional and gratuitous rather than people you could identify with in one aspect or another.

This was another "whodunnit" book that I managed to work out quite early on in the book. It didn't ruin anything in that revelation however because although I'd worked out who has the gun, and who was in the diary (no explanation there as I won't give spoilers), I didn't quite have all of the pieces to figure out why and how it all came about. And that was what kept me reading.

This book, The Choice, was obviously written with the main agenda point being to make the reader think "what would I do?"... but that's not what I took from it. Actually I think this book focussed on something far more important, especially in part 2, and that is control. Again, I'd like to point out that I can't provide more information without spoilers, but if anyone reading part 2 can identify with Madeleine's experiences, which have actually been described perfectly from the inception of her relationships, right up until present day - I'd urge you to seek help. Don't wait until part 3 becomes reality because part 3 was (in most cases) pure fiction. But part 2... that happens... and that was terrifying enough to me, I didn't need the teenage-horror-part-3 to fear for Madeleine's future.

All in all I'll give this 3 stars. I dropped 1 star because it was a bit too disjointed at the start - I know it was intentional but it was too much immediately and I almost stopped reading because I had nothing invested in the book at that point. It would have been easy to put down. I dropped the second star because as I was reading part 2 I had the realisation that this book was addressing some really serious issues (that sadly many people face), and I had really high hopes that this would be handled maturely and would show solidarity with the people actually going through similar in real life, show ways of getting out of that situation, perhaps. However it became very immature in part 3 and the opportunity was missed. I found that part disappointing, this book could have been more than that... and it was heading that way - it just suddenly veered off at the final part.

Wow Wow Wow !!! This is a brilliant psychological thriller which is a totally addictive read.Just when you think you know where the story is going it does a great turnaround and leaves you breathless with the cleverness of it .For me it was even more interesting as I grew up in the area the story is set so I could picture all the places mentioned with fond memories .By the last chapters I was holding my breath .!!!! Brilliant ending ....If I could give this book 10 stars I would ...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book as an arc.
The premise of the book made me excited to start reading, but I was slightly disappointed by the direction the story went in. The first part of the book was written quite strangely, it was a bit 'airy fairy' is the only way I can think of to describe it! Other worldly perhaps. Once the twist becomes clear, I can understand why it was written in that way, but I just couldn't really enjoy it for what it was. After that reveal, I don't think there were any major surprises, it was pretty clearly signposted who the bad guy was.
I did enjoy the book, I liked it but didn't love it.

Started off really well, thought it was going to be something a bit different. Then it slowed down and turned into "husband changes and makes out wife is mad" storyline. I seem to have read quite a few of these lately. Was an ok read.

Samantha King has written a very good novel. Although not strictly a "whodunit" Mrs King keeps the reader guessing, second guessing and then changing back again throughout the book.

Her writing style felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but once into the book, it felt appropriate and correct for the story line.

I like to outguess the author and feel a stupid pride if I guess the outcome of the book and I did get one or two things right, but Mrs King managed to get a couple of fairly large matters past me.

I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a thought provoking story. I saw written that it's subject matter is a difficult one and would agree with that, but please do not let that deter you from reading this book, it is very, very good.

Fantastic read, something a little different from what I have been reading lately and thoroughly enjoyable..

The problem with this novel us that I was hooked,then wasn't so left it for a but,to it hooked again and then it made no sense to me. To repetitive, to all over the place. Its a good idea but I lost the plot I'm afraid.

This isn't the best psychological thriller in the market nor is it an easy read because of the sensitive content. It is however well written but I think too much content was added in there for me which left me overwhelmed. I gave it three stars because the parts I liked were good and had me hooked but it's not often that I can predict or have suspicions about some plots in a book and then be proven correct.

Although I found this book compulsive reading I didn't really like any of the characters and I was expecting most of the early "shocks / surprises" - but I must admit not the last one