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Life is filled with pivotal moments. Getting up the courage to ask a colleague out on a date might lead to a lifetime of marital happiness or the awkwardness of rejection. Quitting a stable company to take a job with a promising new one could make a career or break it. In the author's novel the plot hinges on three fateful decisions by the main character. Two will ultimately plunge his life, career, and family into chaos and heartbreak, but the third could very well bring about his salvation.
Chip Keller is a man at the top of his game. As a partner in a respected public relations firm he has made powerful friends and enemies as well as a great deal of money. But that success has come at a high cost: a neglected family. Perhaps things might have turned out differently if he had taken time over the years to meet his wife and children's emotional needs as much as he had strived to fix the problems of others. But that built-up trust and closeness is absent the night he decides to not go home as early as planned but instead try to talk to and comfort his secretary over the breakup of her marriage. That choice is the first of his fateful decisions, for if he had not veered from his expected course he might have somehow been able to save his wife and home from falling prey to a vengeful arsonist and perhaps kept his youngest daughter from suffering such devastating injuries.
The second fateful decision happens when he lies about where he really was that night, because like most lies it soon is revealed for what it is and creates a seemingly permanent rift between him, his remaining family members, and his partner. With his personal life and career in tatters, Keller is at the lowest point of his life, but then he meets Sable, an exotic dancer who turns out to be the ex-wife of one of his worst enemies. Keller makes his third fateful decision when he decides to help her find her missing child, but will he be able to do so before the arsonist finishes the job by taking Keller's life, as well?
Jay's plot moves with a smooth pace while pouring on enough suspense to keep the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next. The dialogue is realistic, and the political intrigue may remind some readers of the early works of David Baldacci. But it is Jay's ability to create sympathetic characters that raises this novel to the next level. Although not all of the personalities are given equal treatment or enough stage time to become fully developed, those that are such as Keller and Sable prove that the author has the skills necessary to craft a story with protagonists the audience can like and relate to. In addition, Jay's obvious yet never heavy-handed messages about the importance of family, integrity, and not jumping to conclusions give the novel added depth. Overall, it is a book that introduces us to a writer with promise.