Cover Image: The Choice

The Choice

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Member Reviews

I enjoyed The Choice by Jake Cross, it’s a fast-paced read with lots happening, but in order to enjoy this book I think that you really need to just go with the book and not think about how realistic something is (or isn’t).

If you were driving along a road when it is dark and there are no houses or other cars around and suddenly in front of your car was a woman, you slam on the brakes and she begs you to help her, would you help? That’s what Karl is faced with at the start of this book, it is clear that the woman is terrified and so he decides to help her. But it soon becomes clear that people are after the woman and Karl knows that they have seen his van. The woman, Liz, insists that Karl is at risk, that the men she is running from will find him but he dismisses it. She also refuses to go to the police, something that Karl goes along with.

It soon becomes clear that Karl and his pregnant wife are in danger and Karl teams up with Liz to try and survive. This is when things get a little bit far-fetched, but if you ignore that then you’ll enjoy the ride!

Thank you to Bookouture for a copy of The Choice by Jake Cross, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

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On a wet road in the black of night, Karl Seabury is driving home to his pregnant wife. Suddenly, caught in the headlights in the middle of the road is a woman shaking with fright. The woman says her name is Liz Smith, that her home was attacked, and that she was the only one to escape. Karl decides to help her to safety. But Liz is hiding a dark secret and now his good deed has put his family in danger.

Why oh why would you take a complete stranger, who says she's the only escapee, would not go to the police to report the crime, into the family Homes? I could not connect to the main characters. There is a lot of swearing in this book, mostly the ones that start with the letterF and C which might offend some readers. We learn who the killer and his henchmen are from the start, but how strange it was to get so much detail from their point of view. Not a bad attempt at a debut novel though.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Jake Cross for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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The choice by author Jake Cross was great. It was fast paced, intense and had you wanting more. I read and finished the book within just a few days and really glad I had the opportunity to read this! I would definitely recommend this book.

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Wow. What a thrilling, fast paced story bound to get your heart pumping. The choice is brilliant! Makes the perfect thriller, it has it all. Dark intense scenes, chases, deaths, torture and the unexpected just around the corner.

I loved reading every moment of this! A brilliant start to a new series I cannot wait to read more from.. The choice is easy to read, contains short chapters and will have you hooked. You won't want to put this story down. I also love the cover! This story is cleverly written and could easily happen to anyone, including you or me which makes it more real for the reader...

Poor Karl has got himself into a situation he should have stayed away from and dragged his pregnant wife into it too. Eeek. Not good! Will they get through this? Mick has to one of my most hated characters yet what a twisted, crooked cop. I despised him, he thinks hes so clever. Grr. The Choice has plenty of twists and unexpected turns to keep the reader hooked until the last page.

I awarded a well deserved four stars and would highly recommend this story to you all! I look forward to book number two in the series!

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I struggled a bit with this one. I never have much patience with stupid characters and unfortunately, there were quite a couple of moments in this book that I got very annoyed. It was an interesting read but I do feel like it could have been more

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I chose this book because of 2 reasons

The book was published by Bookouture who usually come up with great novels. Secondly, the premise of the books sounded thrilling. I wanted something to break the humdrum of life and I thought this was it!!

But woe befell me before I could get to mid-way of the book. The story goes thus; Karl, driving down the wet road late at night, had to brake hard to avoid hitting a woman Liz Smith, who claims to have been chased by a man. He pulls her into his car and sees a man in black baklava a distance away. So far so good, it was exciting. I had a lot of questions and I was absolutely blown away by the beginning.

Then the logic goes awry; the woman does not seem to want to go to the police and would not give any reasons, and Karl being the 'good' Samaritan or should I say foolish, takes her at face value, puts his family and business at risk, takes her to his shop. Then the book takes a tangential path away from all intelligence.

I like a good thriller, make no mistake, but here the characters all seem to be pretty dumb. There is the ganglord killed in chapter 2, there are the killers and their points of view. They are not even scary, they are just regular, run in the mill fictional killers, written in more for shock value. I couldn't connect with the woman Liz Smith, she was demanding and scornful after being helped or the main character Karl, who just kept taking foolish decisions. Karl's wife was okay, better than the main characters, till she refused to go to her father's place to escape the henchmen, putting herself and her unborn child at risk.... Well....

This being the debut, the author Alex Cross has made a good effort. To his credit, he has come up with a good twist which makes the book slightly fun to read.

But somehow with every book claiming to be a thriller, I have found that the story does not match up to the tag line, could have been so much better.

And I wish the tag line did not tell me, I wouldn't be able to put the book down. I should be the one telling the world that!! I totally could. This nearly became a DNF!!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Bookouture, and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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I decided to read this book because its blurb caught my attention.



It was a good book, in a general sense, but it lacks common sense to the characters.



They made the kind of mistake that makes you scream in your head "Noooooo".



Like when horror movies characters that are running away from the bad guy always run up the stairs,

instead of running them down.

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I had a difficult time getting into this book. The characters seems extreme and unrealistic. I am all for a good murder mystery but couldn't seem to wrap my head around how the story unravels.

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Karl Seabury wondered if things might have worked out better if his van had slammed the woman into bloody oblivion. This is the beginning of The Choice by Jake Cross and kindly given to me by #NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. With a beginning like that you certainly can’t wait to get started. If you like cozy mysteries this book is absolutely not for you! It’s blood and guts all the way. I early on lost count of how many people were killed and I also kept mixing up Mick and Mac. Of course I learned later on that that was no big deal. The novel has every method of killing and they are all being used. It took me three days to finish which is a long time for me but there was so much happening that you needed time to digest it and I also must admit that I would have to reread what I had read the evening before. There were many people being chased and a lot being killed and sometimes it was hard keeping track of everybody. This is not normally the kind of book I would read but having read it I am not sorry that I did. I am still up in the air if I would read more from this author but I would recommend this book to anyone who is more into blood and guts than I am.

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The description is far better than the actual book! I really got excited when I read the blurb - and settled down to read it with some high expectations. I really liked the anticipation at the start, and the prickle I got at the back of my neck! But then it got stupid, hard to follow, totally unbelievable and far fetched! I could imagine this being turned into a straight to Netflix kind of movie, with past it gangsters played by ex Grange Hill actors! I actually looked down to see if I was nearly finished and to my dismay I was only 1/4 through! Not for me though, despite its promise!

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The Choice by Jake Cross is a highly intense and action packed thriller that I probably should have completely fallen in love with. However for me that simply wasn’t the case with this book as I found myself struggling with being able to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride.

The story starts out with Karl Seabury driving along a somewhat desolate road late at night and having a woman jump out in front of his van. The woman is claiming she is being chased and it’s very apparent she is in need of help so Karl let’s her into the van. This here is the beginning of my logical brain taking over and asking the what ifs as to what should/could happen in this type of situation. I’d like to hope people would like to help so it’s not out of the realm to believe the story so far.

After Liz Smith gets into the car with Karl a man is seen that she is running from so Karl high tails it out of there with the victim in tow. Now here is where my logical side begins taking over as Liz is adamant in not going to the police. As Karl and Liz are discussing this back and forth Karl has his own doubts going through his mind but he goes completely against those and takes Liz to his place of business and allows her to spend the night, completely alone and unguarded, as Karl goes home to his pregnant wife.

Now who in their right mind is going to bring a complete stranger into their own lives and give them free reign of their belongings?? I mean as much as I like to believe in the kindness of strangers and there being good people out there it just seems this crossed a line that no sane person would. I, myself, would struggle with letting a stranger in the car with me in the middle of the night being a female and would probably “help” by dialing 911 but since Karl is male it’s more likely he’d let her in so I was OK with that but letting her in to his shop when he himself brings up the dangers?? Not really buying it.

I’ve seen news stories of the police telling citizens to watch out for children claiming to be lost and to not go to an unknown area with them but to contact police or deliver them to a station because it’s used to lure in unsuspecting people to where the adults wait to rob them. A grown woman refusing to go to the police is a huge red flag in itself but if still wanting to go the extra mile for her and take her someplace “safe” then why not a motel? Heck, that would be a lot cheaper for Karl if she wasn’t on the up and up than giving the chance to rob him blind.

So as you all can see my struggle with this story in this was only the opening pages of the book so no matter how well it’s written or how intense the story became I had these doubts floating in my mind from the get go. And as one might guess I perhaps could put aside the opening had there not been other instances in the book that really, really had me questioning the sanity of the characters. One must know it wasn’t only poor Karl and his decisions that grated at me but many times I had the thought there is just no way that would happen. So when finished with this one I do believe some out there will absolutely love the non-stop adventure that began with doing a good deed this one however was just not my cup of tea leaving me to rate it at 2.5 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

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This book reminded me of the early Simon Kernick books which I loved. The premise is so great - picking up a stranger at night, a damsel in distress type situation and then getting dragged into terrible danger. It all adds up to a compelling storyline. Fast paced and lots of action it's just how I like my thrillers. And the twist in the middle - well I didn't see that coming and I had to adjust all my thinking about what exactly was going on. It got a little confusing towards the end, but that's probably just me! A rip-roaring tale and well worth a read.

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I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Choice’ by Jake Cross in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Karl Seabury is driving home late at night when he stops to help a distressed woman who’s running to escape from a man in a balaclava. The woman, Liz Smith, says she was with her husband and friends when they were attacked and she was the only one who managed to get away.
Prior to starting this novel I read up on the details which made it sound like my type of thriller but unfortunately as I got further on I found it hard to enjoy and when I’d reached half-way I seriously thought of giving it up. My main problems were that although set in London the narrative had been ‘Americanised’ with cardboard caricatures of gangsters and cops rather than flesh and blood. The main character, Karl, appeared weak and unconvincing. As I read on the plot became more and more far-fetched so I finally gave up, which is a pity as it could have been so much better. I’m sorry, although some readers will enjoy it this thriller definitely wasn’t for me.

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Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publisher, Bookouture for this review copy which was given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Noelle from Bookouture for organising the Blog Tour!

Karl Seabury is driving home from work one night. He comes across a woman in the middle of the road. The woman says she has been attacked and needs help. In a split second decision, Karl decides to help the woman to safety. The woman, Liz Smith is hiding a dangerous secret and Karl doesn’t realise that decision to help her has just put him and his pregnant wife, Katie in terrible danger.

It starts very quickly into the action with Karl coming across a lone woman standing in the middle of a dark country road. Immediately, I was completely spooked! Nothing like a dark, wet road out in the middle of nowhere to set my nerves on edge at the best of times, let alone with a mysterious woman standing in it! Karl obviously seems like the decent type of bloke who wouldn’t leave a distraught woman, so he decides to take her to a police station. It seems like the obvious and safe solution….right? It appears that the woman, Liz Smith, has other ideas and persuades Karl to hide her away for the night so that she can get back to her husband in the morning. Unfortunately, Karl has no idea that her husband is gangland boss, Ron Grafton, and also that Ron has just been killed!

All of what I’ve already said is spoiler free as this all happens relatively early on in the book. I’ll stop now before I do give away any spoilers, as this would really ruin the story! I have to admit when I got about half way through and it all become clear what was going on I was really surprised as I certainly hadn’t see that one coming The story is fast paced and the action just kept on coming. There wasn’t many likeable characters though, but I suppose that’s about right in books like this. I did though like Karl. He seemed a really decent man and didn’t really deserve everything that happened to him after meeting Liz.

The ending was a great twist, and it is definitely worth reading this one until the very last page to make sure you don’t miss anything! A word of warning – it does have a lot of swearing in it and is a bit violent, so if those aren’t your thing you may want to give it a miss. For me, it added to the atmosphere of gangland killings and chases through the night!

A great first book for me by this author, and I will definitely be looking out for more. Highly recommended!

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I liked the premise of this story. I was intrigued by the woman on the road. Naturally, I was curious about what had happened to her. The blurb hints that stopping to help her had an impact on Karl’s life. I was intrigued! The premise and the cover are what made me decide to read the story.

I liked the fast-pace and the suspense especially when Liz and Karl were on the run. I also liked the twist towards the end with the reveal of the real masterminds’ motivation and how everything went down.

With such a promising story-line, the story could have gone in a variety of directions. However, the direction it took wasn’t for me. I am not a fan of mob/gangster kind of stories and the action was a bit too much for me. I don’t think that this will be an issue for most readers though. Readers who like action-packed crime thrillers will enjoy this one more.

Thank you for the ARC and truly sorry that this one wasn’t for me.

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I'm so sorry but I just couldn't get into this book at all! It has never happened that I don't finish a book but I was sorely tempted with this one! I gave it a really good try but it just seemed all over the place!! No good storyline either. So sorry Netgalley and Bookouture. This was a first disappointment for me.

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I found it a little difficult to get into this story, unfortunately. The characters were all unlikable and though the story was intriguing, it was quite slow moving. I am sure many readers will enjoy this, but for me it wasn't terribly satisfying.

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While I have seen some reviews that this book was hard to put down, for me it was easy. There was just something about the book that I could not connect to. I found no likeable characters to which I could bond. It may just be a personal preference but I found the story boring and it did not move fast enough. I would be willing to give the author another look should they release a new novel.

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This type of this book is not the right one for me or they are different than me . Ron and all his friends were having a dinner party . But having this dinner the couple of those who harmed them Dave and Brad was looking for Rons wife who is called Liz .
Liz ran out of her house as soon as she saw them and stopped Karl Seabury running about in his car. I thank Netgalley for my ARC

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I chose to read this book as the details caught my attention, it sounded like an interesting storyline. However I found it heavy going and difficult to follow.
I did persevere and read the whole book but was left with the overwhelming feeling of "why did I bother." Sorry it just wasn`t for me.

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