I have read and loved all of her previous thrillers, especially ‘Behind Closed Doors’, and I have to say this was not what I had expected but enjoyed reading it nonetheless. Though not a thriller, the writing in ’The Dilemma’ had all the elements to keep you going. There is a big party. There are family secrets. Secrets that could change how this family would see each other ever again.
The day is finally here, Livia’s 40th birthday. The day she’s been waiting for and planning for almost 20 years. To make up for the wedding Adam and her never had. This party was going to be huge, pouring in with guests, food and drinks all night. Everything was going to go perfectly, just as Livia had planned it, an unforgettable night.
Adam wants this to be the best day of Livia’s life and does everything he can to not ruin this day for her. While their son Josh helps set up for the party, Livia’s best friends take her out for a spa day and Adam sets off to execute the big surprise he has been planning for Livia’s big day. Their daughter, Marnie studying in Hong Kong won’t be making it to the party but she too has planned a few surprises with Josh, for her mother’s birthday, some bigger than others. Livia is glad and sad that Marnie won’t be there, but mostly relieved. She didn't want Adam to find out what she knew, not today.
Adam has his own secrets he’s keeping from Livia. He is torn between telling her about what he’s hiding. He knows it will destroy her and their lives forever. More than that, Livia will not look at her husband the same way again and Adam knows that.
The intriguing story-line is what kept me turning each page, just so I find out what happens when they find out the truth. The lengths Livia and Adam go to keep such life altering information to themselves just to protect each other for a little longer is slightly unnerving. Paris delivers a family drama with a lot of intrigue and many layers of human behaviour unfolding in each chapter. She explores all sorts of relationships - friends and family with enough details to define each character completely.
The story spans over the 24 hours leading up to the party and morning hours after she turns 40. What happens when all the cards of the secrets are laid out on the table and the family has to figure a way around this horrifying set they have been dealt?
“There was a sort of gap, a moment in time when nothing was happening and there was nothing to do. A moment when Adam and I ran out of words. A moment where it seemed as if the world had stopped turning and we were suspended in time, waiting for it to move on.”