Zack's Choice

Zackery Gresham has his life all planned. His mother is a lawyer; his father is a federal judge; and he is Pre-Law at Yale, with Harvard Law School to follow before he joins his mother's prestigious law firm. He plans to marry his high school and Yale girlfriend once he graduates from Law School. During a school break Zack takes a once-in-a-lifetime motorcycle trip through the southern states. In New Mexico he has a chance encounter with a strange hitchhiker. The resulting chaos will bring Zack face-to-face with a choice that could alter his life forever. Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite: 5-stars Zack's Choice is an adventure story written by Harry E. Gilleland, Jr. Zack is having a last adventure before going back to Yale for his final year of pre-law studies. His life is planned and set out: a law degree from Harvard and then a career with his mother's law firm. He's been touring the Southern states on his Harley on his way home to Portland. While Zack's parents were not at all enthusiastic about this trip, Zack stood his ground and has been having a great time. Everything changes when he stops to pick up a young hitchhiker in the deserts of New Mexico. The hitchhiker, Bobby, seems aimless and too young to be on his own, so Zack treats him to dinner and shares his motel with him. When Zack wakes up, Bobby is gone, along with Zack's wallet. Zack calls home for extra cash and continues on his trip, stopping in Las Vegas for a show and some gaming before going home. He's surprised to find Bobby walking down the street and, on apprehending him, hears a very strange story indeed. Harry E. Gilleland's contemporary fiction novel, Zack's Choice, is a first-rate adventure tale. The plot is fast-paced and very entertaining. Zack is a good boy when the reader first meets him, whose big act of rebellion from somewhat domineering parents is a summer trip on his Harley. He's already resigned to it being his last big thrill when life interrupts. Bobby's story is so crazy, yet compelling, that I was taken in as well and began to think Zack's Choice was another fiction genre altogether. There's a lot of humor as Zack blithely goes off to school, not fully realizing what he's done, and a grim peek into the legal machinery the unwary can get enmeshed in. Zack's Choice is literate, fun, and entirely unpredictable, and I enjoyed it immensely.