Cover Image: The Choice

The Choice

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Member Reviews

A whirlwind of a story, where heart breaking and life-changing stories lie on every corner. Starting where a seemingly ordinary wife and mother Jane Bell deliberately runs her car into her neighbour James, intending to kill him, We quickly find out that Jane suspects James of being a domestic terrorist - but does this excuse her actions? The story is told across multiple viewpoints including Jane, her husband, local journalists and police officers and with angles from before the incident up to Jane's arrest and subsequent trial. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't be sure which way the story was going to go. A fascinating read,

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Fabulous! When Jane's neighbour James starts to act suspicious she becomes worried and that fear is heightened even further when she finds a receipt that leads her to believe he might be a terrorist. When all her efforts to seek help fails she takes matters into her own hands. She has to protect her children at all cost, even if it mean she loses her freedom…thought provoking interesting read!

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Narrated from multiple perspectives, The Choice by S J Ford is an intriguing psychological fiction. A woman drives her car into a neighbour one evening as he puts out his rubbish bins. The narrative then reveals the detective, husband, local journalist, lawyer, juror and even the murderer’s experience of events. So is Jane Bell a hero, a murderer and what are the legal repercussions of her actions? Ultimately, the reader is challenged to ponder this moral dilemma and what legal ramifications should result. So, with its variety of interesting characters, fascinating premise and moral conundrum, this work makes for a four-star rating. If you like stories with ethical ambiguity, this first-time author is well worth a read. With thanks to Head of Zeus and the author, for an uncorrected advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given, without coercion.

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Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.
It took me a while to write this review as I am speechless as how the book made me feel.
It gripped me from the very first page with enough about each character to make you feel like you know them on a personal level.
Each chapter made me think about what I would do or what id think about the situation all of the characters were in- would I have done the same or something different?

I felt a lot of emotions in this book, from anger and hatred that Jane was forced into the situation of killing a man, to upset when she was targeted and caused a death in which Aneesa never got her happy ending with Simon.
This book was a powerful read.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Absolutely phenomenal.
The intricacies of right and wrong, of one life versus many and of "vigilante justice" are all explored in this book. Should one woman take the life of a man who seems to be planning to kills tens of children?
The whole process of the investigation and court case are fantastically written and will have you swaying between empathy for Jane and for her victim but always with the underlying "but if he actually did live to set off his bombs..."
great characters, great details and a great ending!

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Such an emotionally challenging story! Being a parent this challenged every bone of my morel fibre. I am Team Jane all the way!

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I absolutely loved this! What a fantastic plot, beautifully written, intertwining the relationships between the characters in such an ingenious and realistic way.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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I thought the premise was really interesting but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into the book. It felt poorly executed which is such a shame as I really wanted to love it!

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A very well written book that gets you thinking yourself what would you do if you was in that position. Will it bring the good or bad out in you.

A dramatic suspense thriller that follows Jane who kills her neighbour to stop him from setting a bomb off at an elementary school which I’m doing so stops him from killing hundreds of children.

In the book we go through the investigation and court case following Jane and the other characters.

The choice she made for herself was terrifying for oneself but I found myself routing for her and found it a enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my arc in exchange for my honest review.

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The Husband.
The Lawyer.
The Detective.
The Journalist.
The Murderer.
You are the jury.

Jane Bell has killed a man. Mowed him down with her car. She's a criminal, a murderer. So does that make her a villain?

Maybe, but what if we discover that the man she murdered was a neighbour who was planning to kill an entire school full of children and nobody would help her stop him, so she stopped him herself. She saved the lives of countless children. So does that make her the hero of the story?

Now, we follow the stories of all the lives tangled up in the aftermath as Jane is tried for everyone to watch on … and you, dear reader, are the judge and jury.

The Choice is a uniquely interesting experience. With unpredictable, unreliable storytelling that jumps from person to person, this story moved quickly and didn't relent. We get to know family members, police officers, court officials - and how their unique experiences might shape their opinions. Ironically, the person I felt least connected to in the story was Jane herself.

Jane was a perfect antihero. She wasn't perfect, she did something bad but for a good reason and now she is aware there's consequences. Raising ethical dilemmas about the difference between what is lawful and what is right, and if doing bad things makes someone a bad person, this is a brilliant moral thought experience that could be all to real with the dangers the world has faced recently.

At times, however, this felt very much like a primetime police procedural, clever and astute, but overly descriptive in places to the point the story got lost in the details of the clothes someone is wearing.

A wickedly clever crime drama that delves into the blurry grey that is the human condition.

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What a brilliant, thought provoking book.
Book clubs will have a lot to talk about after reading this!
Was Jane right or wrong? Morally and lawfully?
Would you or could you do what she did?
This book throws up so many questions and has you placing yourself into the protagonists shoes like no other book I have ever read.
This book is powerfully captivating, from beginning to end and one that you will never forget!

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What a brilliant, thought provoking book.
Book clubs will have a lot to talk about after reading this!
Was Jane right or wrong? Morally and lawfully?
Would you or could you do what she did?
This book throws up so many questions and has you placing yourself into the protagonists shoes like no other book I have ever read.
This book is powerfully captivating, from beginning to end and one that you will never forget!

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I’d like to thank Head of Zeus and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Choice’ written by S J Ford in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Jane Bell would never describe herself as a hero but when she learnt that her new neighbour James Foster was going to blow up nearly three hundred children in the local primary school she had to stop him. When she saw him pushing his wheely bin she put her foot hard on the accelerator crushing him between her car and a wall. She’s regarded by many as a hero and a murderer by others, so it’s up to her barrister Simon Rafferty to put the facts in front of the jury and let them decide.

‘The Choice’ is an unusual story as it starts with Jane Bell driving her car at James Foster and then waiting for the police to arrest her. The first quarter of the book is interesting and kept me engrossed but then the pace slows right down until we get to the trial and what happens at the Court. I liked the descriptions of the main characters, Jane and her family, DI Bill Simmons, reporter Aneesa and Simon Rafferty, which gave added depth to the story, and also how it mentioned the jury members during their deliberations. It’s an entertaining story and well worth taking the time to read.

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Thank you for the review copy, but I just couldn’t get into this book. From the first description of a skirt ‘caressing’ a character’s legs it was downhill all the way. Clunkily written, never letting a cliche go by without including it…..
A rare misjudgement on my part when requesting it. I won’t publish my review as I am sure it will find its audience on publication, but it wasn’t for me.

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I really enjoyed the plot of this book, someone doing something bad for a good reason, it was very thought provoking. The characters were good and well rounded apart from Jane, I didnt really connect to her, Other than what she did, I didnt really know much about her as a person. While I thought this was a brilliant idea for a book I struggled a little with the writing, it was somewhat over descriptive at times, every character went into full detail on everything they did, which is great when setting scene however I felt its was over done

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A very thought provoking read that makes you think about what you would do in the same circumstances! Thanks for the opportunity to read & review this book.

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This book sounded so good and I wanted to enjoy it but I couldnt get into it. I see that I am in a minority so may go back and try again in the future

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What a read …. well written keeping the reading gripped until the very end . Jane has killed a man .. was it murder or defence as she had uncoiled his plan to bomb the local school and potentially kill or injure hundreds of children including her own . An original story with great characters depth and a real life plot … read it !!

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This book grabbed my attention from the first page and didn’t let go, I finished it in an evening. There was a lot to like about the book, the premise itself is very clever and very current with terrorism taking on many new and unexpected forms. Ford is a master of characterisation. I loved pretty much all of the characters in spite of their flaws and flawed thinking or actions, Bill being my favourite with Aneesa a close second. That said I felt as if I never really knew Jane. When Jane was the narrator of the chapter she spoke a great deal about the events that led to her arrest and also a great deal about how she felt about being in prison and potentially losing her family to a life sentence but other than that she is a blank. I don’t know if she drinks chamomile tea like Aneesa or full strength freshly brewed coffee like Simon. I don’t know what her thoughts were about the police service before Foster came into her life or how she felt about Neil’s leaving the bulk of the parenting to her.
The result of this meant that while I was invested in the outcome, and wanted to know if she would be found guilty or not, it wasn’t because like Simon and Neil, I truly cared about Jane. It was because the whole raison d’etre of the book was “Innocent or guilty?” I should have made my verdict with my heart based on how I felt about Jane and honestly? I’m not sure it mattered who was behind the wheel of the car. I made my choice based on the crime that was averted.
It’s a great little read, but it could have been an incredible read and left the reader genuinely grappling with the morality of the story rather than just enjoying the characters and reading on to find out the outcome which itself is something that we don’t need to be morally invested in as we can’t affect it one way or another.

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The choice is a story about doing something wrong, but for the greater good.

Jane kills her neighbour James, in order to stop him from detonating bombs at an elemantary school, thus stopping him from killing hundreds of kids

What follows in the book is the investigation and the court case, all written out and seen through the eyes of different characters.

Very interesting read

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