Chris BeakeyRecensioni

Not one of the better books I've read lately.

This book is the perfect example of how one mistake can ruin a life.

Stephen Porter, depressed after the death of his wife in a car accident only five months earlier, had a bit too much to drink – okay, he had a lot too much to drink. Stephen cannot accept that his wife’s death was a suicide. His son Kenneth is sleeping right down the hall, and his teenage daughter is at her friend’s house just four blocks away – or so he thinks. He gets a late night call from Sara. Crying, she begs him to come get her. Her Jeep won’t start and she’s scared and stranded – in a snowstorm. She admits to having gone up the mountain to meet a boy. Being the typical father he quickly gets dressed. However, it has only been an hour since he had his last drink. He knows he shouldn’t be driving – but he has to get to his daughter.

At the same time Kieran O’Shea, a high school teacher, is searching for his younger brother Aidan who has run out into the snowstorm. Kiernan has his own demons – hearing voices and seeing his long dead mother. And he has an inappropriate relationship with his student, Sara.

So many lives will be forever altered on this fateful night when Stephen and Kiernan are thrown at each other and suffer the consequences of bad decisions.

The story has many flawed characters, just like real life. I felt the characters could have been better developed, and there were just too many flaws presented. Take all the bad qualities you can think of and sprinkle liberally. Popular girl Madison, a high school student, has spread gossip about Sara and Kenneth while her boyfriend Marco is the local bad boy. They both have their secrets. The plot had twists that each time I thought I knew what was unfolding, I was thrown in a different direction.

Even with all its flaws, I still was totally engaged in the story and held my breath awaiting the next move.

**This book was reviewed via Netgalley**

Fatal Option, by Chris Beakey, is a whirlwind collision of time, place, and players, where synchronicity is revealed in the obscuration of a ferocious blizzard.

As snows pile high, Stephen Porter is woken in the middle of the night to pick up his daughter whose car has died. Having had a prodigious amount of alcohol earlier that night, Stephen knows he should not drive. When AAA and the police both cannot help, Stephen makes the decision to go retrieve Sara despite the double dangers of ice and alcohol, rather than leave her to freeze or worse in the harsh winter weather. This choice sets off a chain of events that weave together the stories of no less than five different families, and reveal the truth behind a series of tragedies stretching back a decade or more.

Beakey’s fast-paced thriller snared my attention, and kept me up reading long after I should have retired to bed. A good book is a balm to the bittersweet of lost sleep, turning what insomnia makes an irritant into something savoured as time well spent, which Fatal Option surely did. This was a story showcasing both the absolute worst, and best of humanity, and all the gamut in between.

Da Vinci said ‘....everything is connected to everything else.’ This is a story of just how connected we all are. There are no coincidences; there is only synchronicity, and our ability (or not) to read it. The snowstorm is a catalyst that serves to reveal to those involved the truth of this. For some, it offers closure, for others, the astringent sting of new grief, and for yet others….perhaps it's the universe’s way of putting down the rabid dogs among us.

It isn't all about the darker side of life though. For several of our players in this dark drama, the destruction has prompted new growth in positive ways. It has offered second chances, and new beginnings. It is a story of life and love, of death and grief, and ultimately, a story of interconnection, growth, and change.

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻 Highly recommended if you enjoy suspenseful thrillers/dramas like James Patterson's Alex Cross books, or Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme novels.

Fatal Option is about choices and consequences. How seemingly random decisions by various people can align into the perfect storm. This is exactly what happened to the Porters.

Stephen is still mourning his wife’s death and after an evening of drowning his sorrows in a bottle he receives a panicked call from his daughter. She was supposed to be spending the night at a friend’s house just a short distance from their home. However, she has lied and instead gone to a teacher’s home. Now she is scared and wants to leave, but her car has died and with a snowstorm raging outside she calls her father to rescue her.

Stephen knows he should not drive drunk, but when he calls 911 and gets no help he feels he has no other option but to attempt to rescue his daughter. This decision is the fatal one that will touch and change so many lives and someone will pay.

The first third of the book starts slow and is setting the stage for the heart stopping action that follows. While some information is revealed, there are surprises along the way that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The characters in the book are very tangible, especially the teenagers, the way they think and act is portrayed expertly. Then there is the ending, it is just perfection. My rating is 4.5 only because the first is a little too slow for a thriller.

If you enjoy a good thriller, Fatal Option must be on your TBR list. Don’t let the pace at the start deter you from a great story.

I received a free galley copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

You can see other reviews, and author interviews, on my blog at www.thespineview.com.

This was a great read. There were so many twists and turns. It is hard to imagine that one decision can ruin your life. You always want to help your family but it is sometimes not the correct thing to do. I enjoyed this story. I received this book from Smith publicity for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

Stephen Porter is a single dad trying to raise his children. Having recently moved to the community, Sara and Kenneth are having trouble in school following the death of their mother in an accident that was ruled a suicide. On a snowy night Sara tells her dad she is going to a friend’s house nearby but she heads up the mountain for a romantic tryst with her teacher Kiernan, whose autistic brother Aidan she has been tutoring. The evening turns frightening and tragic when Aidan runs out into the snow. Her car disabled, Sara calls her dad to come get her. Stephen know he has no business driving after he had been drinking but the police cannot go get Sara and she sounded scared so he heads up the mountain in the worsening storm. Involved in a hit and run accident Stephen makes a snap judgment that will have terrible repercussions. With many twists and turns the story evolves until all the main characters are once again on the mountain in the snow for the unexpected climax. I enjoyed the way the story wove several subplots together. It left me pondering how far a good person would go in a bad situation to save the ones he loves.

Stephen Porter has just heard some terrible news about the insurance claim concerning his wife's death. He begins a night a binge drinking knowing that his son, Kenneth is safely in his room nursing a black eye after upsetting the school the school hot-head and his daughter, Sara is supposedly a few houses away in their cul-de-sac sleeping over at her friend Madison's house. However, when the weather begins to turn and the roads turn to ice, Stephen receives a call from Sara saying she is stranded on Rolling Road at a teacher's house and near the site of her mother's death, Stephen begins to panic. Eventually, he decides to go save his daughter himself even though he is a little buzzed. Stephen doesn't know that Aiden, the autistic younger brother of the teacher she was visiting is lost outside in the dark that night. When the collision inevitably happens, Stephen opens up a can of worms concerning the death of his wife, the death of three other women that died similarly, and the troubled mind of teacher, Kieran O'Shea.

This is the type of thriller where you just have to go along for the ride. Every time that I thought I had an idea of where the author was going with the story, there was a new twist. The suspense of the story is layered through carefully guarded secrets of many of the town's inhabitants. Secrets, the fact that we will do anything for our children and the struggle between good vs. evil were central themes. I do like that in many of the characters, there was a grey area between good and bad. Characters that I thought that I had pegged turned out to be someone different. Sara's teacher, Kieran turned out to be one of the most interesting characters, he was not exactly who I thought, but still harbored evil within. His relationship with Sara was something I'm still having trouble with, it seems like either Sara or Kieran should be smart enough to stop a romance that is asking for trouble. I also wish that Kieran's life was explored a little more; there was some back story, but it seemed like his story could have gone further. I can't say much more without giving things away, but in the end I was thoroughly surprised at how everything came out with a bang. I do wonder if anyone else in the town is alive afterwards and I truly wondered about the fate of Kieran and Stephen. Overall, an intense thriller that has a lot going on and will keep you guessing until the end.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Make sure you have a lot of day left before you start reading this book. You will not be able to put it down.

Outstanding read! My heartbeat was definitely going and it was only going one way and that was up - just like the side of the mountain which played a very big part in this story. A lot of twists, a lot of bad people which make for a lot of suspects and I thought I had it all worked out - WRONG! This was a tale that had me screaming at the characters - NO, don't go there. Like they could hear me. A most entertaining, thrilling, edge of my seat, stay up all night and read a chick lit next to calm the nerves kinda of read.

I have not read this author before, however, that will change.

Thanks to Post Hill Press for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if your child needed you but you had to break the law in order to help her? Stephen Porter is faced with this moral dilemma when his teenage daughter calls him in the middle of the night. She’s lied to him about where she was going and now her car has broken down during a blizzard on a mountain and she’s begging for help. But Stephen, who is grieving for his wife who recently mysteriously died, has just had an evening of binge drinking and knows he shouldn’t get behind the wheel. Little does he know how twisted and horrible a path his decision to go to his daughter will take him.

I read this book during a recent nor’easter here in NJ. With the cold wind howling around the house and the icy rain hitting the windows, it was a perfect setting for this dark tale. Be warned, this is a very violent story involving a large cast of messed-up, troubled people. But at the heart of the book is a loving father who only wants the best for his children. I cared about Stephen and his daughter Sara and son Kenneth and wanted things to turn out well for each of them. This book also has a clear tale to tell about the high cost of child abuse and its long-lasting effects. This is a complex thriller with plot twists galore. The touching ending was beautifully rendered. Mr. Beakey is an accomplished author and one to make note of.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by Smith Publicity in return for an honest review.

Chris Beakey's book, DOUBLE ABDUCTION, is a fast-paced mystery set in Washington, D.C. The abduction involves the kidnapping of a 5-year-old boy while the child is under the care of his uncle, Michael Bennett. The uncle becomes an immediate suspect, as the boy's older brother also disappeared years earlier, also under the care of Michael.
The plot weaves a serial murderer, hidden motives, child pornography, Internet privacy, and prejudice (both racial and sexual) into a page-turning novel.
Beakey brings to our attention the road-blocks that some prejudices cause, without banging the message over our heads. This is both appreciated and, for a first novel, inspiring. I very much look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
--Stephanie

This is the author's first book, so I hope that he will improve in his storytelling. The book was short on action and the author did not give up anything until the end. I think if he could have dropped clues along the way of the story, it would have held my interest better. Often the characters talked of this or that, but the reader was not let in on the discusssion.