A seamless collaboration between authors Tess Gerritsen and Gary Braver…this is a seductive shapeshifter of a novel, full of flashbacks and revelations.” —The Wall Street Journal
“With deceitful characters and plenty of twists, this novel is highly recommended for fans of Gerritsen or Braver, and readers who love suspense stories.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“An emotionally charged page-turner that will definitely keep readers guessing, Choose Me has all of the twists and turns in the right places. Gerritsen and Braver are definitely the co-writing dynamic duo to look out for!” —Mystery & Suspense Magazine
“In just 320 pages, Gerritsen and Braver manage to weave a tale so sordid, so shocking, that you can’t stop reading. Whether you need a solid beach read this summer or you need something for a long flight or road trip, Choose Me is the perfect choice.” —Culturess
“Pop culture-wise, Choose Me packs the same wallop as films like Body Heat and Fatal Attraction. At heart, though, it’s also a kind of throwback to the brilliant work of James M. Cain in books like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Labels aside, this is flat-out great reading entertainment.” —The Providence Journal
“Tess Gerritsen and Gary Braver win my vote for offering the most disturbing novel of the summer, crafting the story of an affair that leads to murder…[A]n unsettling tragedy that will claim you until the last page.” —The Mountain Times
“These veteran mystery novelists have a few new tricks up their sleeves.” —Toronto Star
“Choose Me is a whirlwind with sharp, fluid prose and fine depth of character, telling an age-old story with powerful and timely relevancy. Told from alternating perspectives, the story is chilly, creepy, nuanced, layered, a puzzler of the first order, and—above all—poignant. This story will hit home for many. Gerritsen and Braver really nailed this one.” —David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A spellbinding mystery. Gerritsen and Braver’s expert storytelling is on full display.” —Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 international bestselling author
“Don’t miss this edgy, twisting, rocket-paced story of marriage, betrayal, and the damage we do to each other in the name of love.” —Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Confessions on the 7:45
2021-02-10
In their first collaboration, veterans Gerritsen and Braver unfold a painful, and painfully familiar, fable of adultery and its fatal consequences.
The tale begins with the death of one of its principals: Commonwealth University senior Taryn Moore, whose ruined body is found on the sidewalk five floors beneath her Boston apartment. Detective Frances Loomis, who catches the case, wonders why Taryn, a beautiful, accomplished student who worked her way up from her mother’s hardscrabble Maine household to be offered admission to Commonwealth, would have ended her life. Apart from some backbiting by jealous students, the only flaw Frankie can find in Taryn’s litany of accomplishments is her recent breakup with Liam Reilly, the hometown boyfriend who’d joined her at Commonwealth. A series of alternating chapters, however, gradually reveal the grand passion in Taryn’s life: her attachment to professor Jack Dorian, whose course in star-crossed lovers she’s internalized to a dangerous degree. Even as she’s pressing worshipful fellow student Cody Atwood to shadow Liam and tell her what he’s been up to (no bombshells there), Taryn’s falling under the spell of her charismatic teacher, who’s feeling neglected because of the long hours his wife spends at Mount Auburn Hospital. The revelation that both his wife and his student are pregnant sends Jack spiraling into despair just as Frankie, back in the present, is absorbing the same news in the context of Taryn’s death.
The fate of this modern-day Heloise and Abelard unfolds with minimum surprise but maximum impact.