Sharon Sala's The Chosen is a thriller, but it's definitely not a typical one!

The plot in a nutshell: January DeLena is a reporter, dealing with typical issues of a career woman, fighting her way in a man's world.  While investigating one story, she stumbles onto another.  It seems several homeless men have gone missing.  There's also a dead body, and a grave-robbing.  The police don't have a clue what's happening; only January figures out the pattern that ties these events together.  Of course, getting the police to listen to her will be another story.  Because the last thing the police want is a female reporter telling them how to do their jobs.   Only one detective, Ben North, gives January the benefit of the doubt.  Of course, part of his motivation to actually listen to her comes from the romantic attraction they share. 

The story is, in many ways, a standard thriller.  There's a "bad guy" and some victims, and the "good guys" trying to catch the bad guy.   But this book is very different from the typical thriller, in one major way. 

Note that what follows is not a spoiler - it's all explained in the first few pages.
 
In this case, the "bad guy" is not truly evil, in the usual sense.  Despite the fact that he calls himself "The Sinner", he doesn't do mean things because he enjoys them, or for greed, or for any other selfish reason.  In this book, the "bad guy" is sick.  The man has an illness, one that affects his brain, and his ability to reason.  As his illness progresses, his thought processes become more and more skewed, causing him to act in ways that are typically thought of as pure evil.  But can we blame a man who does bad things, if it's the result of an illness beyond his control?

This book examines this theme, as well as a few others, while we, the readers, get to enjoy an extremely exciting cat and mouse chase. 

I found this book enjoyable, for the most part.  In fact, it was difficult to put down at times.  In typical Sala fashion, we get a very good understanding of the main characters.  January is extremely likeable and well-drawn so that we really get to understand what drives her.  The Sinner is, perhaps, even better-defined.  Sala lets us get right inside his head, to understand what he's thinking, twisted though his thoughts may be. 

What brought the book down, for me, was the romance between January and Ben.  It happened at warp-speed, and felt forced down our throats.  They went from mere acquaintances to "in love" in the blink of an eye.

I also hated how January had to fight for every ounce of respect from the other police officers.  Over and over, she gave them information which they initially dismissed as "ridiculous" only to find out that she was 100% correct.  I felt sorry for her.

On the other hand, January caused some of her own problems, by keeping some information to herself, information that could have helped the investigators immensely.  And her reasons for keeping this information to herself were not particularly compelling, as far as I'm concerned.  So my sympathy for her drops a couple notches.

And I do have to point out that this book contains a very high level of graphic details, mostly having to do with the condition of the missing homeless men.  You'll need a strong stomach to handle some of this information.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and cautiously recommend it for those who enjoy an interesting thriller, that's different from the rest.  But don't say I didn't warn you, about those graphic details.

Also by Sharon Sala:
Butteryfly
Remember me

Recommended: Yes