This book has a terrific concept: a tobacco product that can cure cancer and of course big tobacco and big pharma are trying to stop it going public. At least that is what is supposed to be happening, except that reader doesn’t get to know this information until more than a third of the way through the book. And in the meantime, the reader is subjected to lots of cloak and dagger type action that makes no sense based on what they have already read.

Choke is written as though the Ms. Towles already envisions it as a film noir detective B movie and ends each chapter with a cliff hanger perfect for a commercial break. She does all but add camera direction: “Kerry wiped more tears from her eyes. ‘Why do you care what happens to me?’ ‘Personally, I don’t,’ Rex cut in. ‘Because now…’ Bill paused, ‘you have to disappear.’” (fade to commercial)

I’ve given a total of 5 1-star ratings out of approximately 1000 ratings on Goodreads. I don’t give them lightly. Among those, I believe I really wanted to DNF 2 of the books. This would have been the 3rd but I accepted the book with the understanding that I would read and review it.