As a kid, I loved the choose your own adventure series of books. My sister and I both devoured each new story and I’m sorry now that I didn’t save those books. So, today, when I am introduced to choose your own adventure-type books, I am quick to grab and read them.

In The Friar’s Lantern, I am a voluntary participant in a scientific study that begins by completing an fMRI. In the course of the scan, I learn that I could potentially win a million dollars in one week’s time. In the intervening days, I am called to serve on a jury for a murder case. The choices put before me are complicated questions of moral conviction. (Not quite the same kind of adventure in the stories from my youth!) The writing is, at times, academic and complex; long descriptions packed with an abundance of adjectives, that was a little distracting. Overall, though, the choices presented to dictate the plot are thought-provoking. An interesting read.

About the Book
You may win $1,000,000. You will judge a man of murder.

An eccentric scientist tells you he can read your mind and offers to prove it in a high-stakes wager. A respected college professor exacts impassioned, heat-of-the-moment revenge on his wife’s killer—a week after her death—and you’re on the jury. Take a Turing test with a twist, discover how your future choices might influence the past, and try your luck at Three Card Monte. And while you weigh chance, superstition, destiny, intuition and logic in making your decisions, ask yourself: are you responsible for your actions at all? Choose wisely—if you can.

About the Author
Greg Hickey was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1985. After graduating from Pomona College in 2008, he played and coached baseball in Sweden and South Africa. He is now a forensic scientist, endurance athlete and award-winning writer. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Lindsay.