Something isn't right, but Kathleen isn't sure what. It starts the night that she goes to a New Year's party. She's only there because her best friend Jen begs her to come. Now she's stranded, because Jen, who never drinks and never does drugs, picks tonight to do them both. Kathleen calls her brother to come and get here, but it's taking him forever to arrive. Maybe the icy roads are holding him up. She's not sure. When a policeman pulls up into the driveway, the teens in the house panic, hiding drugs and alcohol. Kathleen answers the door, relieved to leave with him. He doesn't take her home, though. He takes her to the hospital.
Kathleen's wonderful brother Nick is killed the night of the party because a van slid out of control on the ice, hitting his car and sending him into a utility pole. It's almost too much for Kathleen to bear, and somehow, her reality splits into fragments, alternate universes, which she shifts between. In each reality, she has made different choices based on how she handles her grief in the loss of her brother. In one, she's self-destructing. In another, she's the responsible daughter. Her choices spin her into different futures, all without the brother she loved.
No matter who she is, Kate, Kathleen, Kay or Kathy, she's wrapped in mystery. Who is Luke, the young man who showed up at the funeral? How is he able to follow her as she shifts from reality to reality although no one else can? What is it that causes her to shift, and will she become trapped in the worst reality of all?
Deborah Lynn Jacobs has written a suspenseful book in which the roads not taken are full of twists, turns, and mystery. As you read, you'll wonder if we are slaves to fate, or do we hold the future in our own hands?
A note to parents: You might want to pre-read this book so you can talk to your teens about the issues it touches on, such as drugs, under-age drinking, and how far an unmarried couple should go in their physical relationship. Choices contains a tremendous message about the power of our decisions in determining our own futures, even when tragedy strikes.
You can check out Choices locally at the Schaumburg, Gail Borden, and Poplar Creek libraries.
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