Books, tea and kitties: The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff review

The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff

The price of a sacrifice,

When extremely ill children suffer through pain, fear and isolation anything that springs them back to life is considered a miracle. Charismatic District Attorney Will Sullivan is making his way though the corrupted world of politics when his race to be Massachusetts governor is stopped short by his five year old daughter's sudden illness. Sydney develops a tumor that is malignant, growing each day and engulfing her tiny body, reducing her to a sheer copy of the bubbly, happy girl she used to be. Will's wife Joanna spends every waking minute in the hospital room with her daughter, drifting away mentally and physically from her husband while he roams the hallways unable to think. On his walks he encounters a tall man who is always near the patients who are the sickest, after a while Will notices something strange about the man and the patients that he visits. They walk away in full health while their loved ones seem to loose something precious to them. Sheer terror takes over his mind when one day Sydney is suddenly getting healthy, her tumor vanishing while the doctors seem very nervous and unsure of the causes. What makes matters worse, it seems that Joanna made some sort of a deal with the mysterious man, and now Will fears of the price that she will have to pay. After Sydney is released, days go by in a blur but when life seems to be getting back to normal, he notices his wife acting strangely, her disappearances at night, her torn clothes, the vacant look in her eyes, he must find a way to explain the "miracle" that has tangled it's claws around Joanna, fearing the worse, the unexplainable, the darkness that holds mysteries that no one should know in life.

I really liked the book; it was dark and chilly, marvelously written. There was no gore; the psychological terror that prayed on Will and the eerie hospital corridors that had many secrets was dense and added richness to the novel. Author's descriptions of her characters were vivid, Joanna dressed in jewel toned silks, the rich plums and orange contrasting with her raven hair and snowy skin made me visualize her and made her distress that much more menacing. The discord between the married couple grew, making me a nervous wreck, hoping that it wasn't too late to save the family. The only issue I had with the story was the ending, at first when I got to the last page I was stunned thinking "that's it?" with this feeling of the ground being pulled under me, my mind still so open from the story had nowhere to grasp itself to for more explanations. A day after reading it I feel the ending was more serene than I would have wished, but still open to many terrible possibilities. It was not a loud and explosive finish, it was more suave and refined but I wanted a little bit more, just a tad of closure for one of the characters. Perhaps this way my mind can wonder about it for much longer than book that have a very specific end, maybe the author is secretly doing this to toy with the reader, overall I think she's marvelously talented and I hope she writes tons more books.

- Kasia S.

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