The Choice

Name: The Choice
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Gillian McAllister
ISBN: 9780593289334

Author: Gillian McAllister

Narrator: Katharine Lee McEwan

Unabridged: 11 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 06/02/2020

Categories: Fiction, Family Life, Women

Synopsis

“I literally could not put this book down. Razor sharp, brilliantly written, and utterly gripping.” —Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of The Love of my Life

From the author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick Wrong Place, Wrong Time and Famous Last Words comes a captivating, Sliding Doors thriller about a woman with a dark secret who must make an impossible decision that threatens to upend her world...

It's the end of a night out and Joanna is walking home alone. Then she hears the sound every woman dreads: footsteps behind her, getting faster. She's sure it's him—the man from the bar who wouldn't leave her alone. So Joanna makes a snap decision. She turns, she pushes. Her pursuer tumbles down the steps and lies motionless, facedown on the ground. Now what?

Addictive and compelling, The Choice follows the two paths Joanna's future might take, depending on the choice she makes. If she calls the police right away, she can save the man's life. Yet doing so puts her own innocence at risk, as she waits for judgment on a charge of assault and the hope that her husband and everyone she loves will stand by her. But if she runs and goes home as if nothing has happened, no one will ever know. No one saw her do it, and it's only up to Joanna to keep quiet...forever.

About The Author

Gillian McAllister has been writing for as long as she can remember. She graduated with an English degree before working as a lawyer. She lives in Birmingham, England, where she now writes full-time. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time and the Sunday Times bestsellers Everything But the Truth, Anything You Do Say (titled The Choice in the US), No Further Questions (titled The Good Sister in the US), The Evidence Against You, How to Disappear, and That Night. She is also the creator and co-host of the popular Honest Authors podcast.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jayme on May 07, 2020

Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t… I remember, as a younger, single woman, going to a bar with a friend, and having drinks sent over. If you acknowledged the sender with a raised glass as a “Thank You” it was misconstrued as an invitation to join you. If you did not, you were labeled as rude. Dam......more

Goodreads review by Irena BookDustMagic on January 22, 2021

So… Do you know that case when you read a book and you want to talk about it with everyone around you, even though they didn’t read it nor they’re familiar with the story?And you just want to question them all the time “What would you do?” That is what happened to me with this book, and I dare to sa......more

Goodreads review by Gary on September 20, 2017

This psychological thriller by Gillian McAllister is like the film Sliding Doors where the story moves between two possible scenarios / outcomes and makes the reader question what they would do in the same situation. The main character Joanna faces a life changing decision when she pushes an unknown......more

Goodreads review by Maxine on August 14, 2023

This is an intelligent and deep novel. I dove into the book without any expectations and found it gave me back more than I'd hoped for. This is a book that makes you think, question "what would I do?" and challenge your own morals and beliefs. The clever plot is actually two plots. This is like two b......more

Quotes

One of Wisconsin Public Radio’s Summer Reading Picks

"A Sliding Doors thriller with a moral dilemma at its heart. Brilliant." —Claire Douglas, author of Last Seen Alive

“The Choice, Gillian McAllister’s almost unbearably tense novel, divides its narrative into alternative stories, ‘Sliding Doors’-style, playing out two possible futures in one person’s life. It’s such a fascinating thought, how a moment can change everything….The Choice is less a conventional thriller than a morality tale, a granular exploration of secrecy and guilt—how they corrode, how they poison a psyche—in the manner of Crime and Punishment or The Tell-Tale Heart.” –The New York Times Book Review

“[A] moral thought-provoker. [The Choice] seeks to give readers that glimpse of how differently a life can unfold based on one simple action (or inaction).” –Self

"The suspense of each story line is compelling in this well-written novel, but the weightier value of The Choice is in author Gillian McAllister's probing questions about morality and responsibility, questions which—like most things related to human nature—have no easy answers.” —Mystery Scene

"[A] smart, ferociously paced novel...The clever, fresh structure...will keep thriller enthusiasts glued to the page as they flip by." —Booklist (starred review)

“I literally could not put this book down. This isn’t a far-fetched psychological thriller; this is a deeply human novel about a split-second, life-changing decision any woman could find herself having to make. What would I do? I found myself asking, from the very first page. Razor sharp, brilliantly written, and utterly gripping. Highly recommended.” —Rosie Walsh, author of Ghosted

"A terrific premise, delivered with panache." —Clare Mackintosh, author of After the End

"Assured and gripping." —Alex Marwood, author of Wicked Girls

"An addictive, exciting and devilishly clever book." —Holly Seddon, author of Try Not to Breathe