Fatal Choice

Sydney Best #1

by Mia Gold

As an agent of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Service, homicide investigator Sydney Best relies on her brilliance and grit to solve murders involving embassies, Olympic athletes, and trafficking.

When the death of a high-ranking government aide doesn't add up, DSS Agent Sydney Best plunges into a web of treacherous alliances. In this race against the clock, can Sydney expose a conspiracy rooted in America's corridors of power?

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Contemporary

161 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 23, 2024

About the author

Debut author Mia Gold is author of the HOLLY HANDS COZY MYSTERY series, comprising three books (and counting), and of the RUBY STEELE COZY MYSTERY series, comprising three books (and counting).

Mia would love to hear from you, so please visit www.miagoldauthor.com to receive free ebooks, hear the latest news, and stay in touch.

Reviews

[Deedra Dail-whitley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m going to write this to the author & pray she actually gets it & NOT her editor!!! Mia you had a really good plot. Things were moving at a nice pace after about the middle of the second chapter, but I’m just going to be blunt, whomever is doing your editing, if you are paying them & they aren’t your children - take them to court for everything you paid them for this book!!! Then sue them for reprints to your book, the delays on getting your product to market shelves a second time cause girl you are missing partial to entire scene descriptions(but the next scene will allude to a scene we know nothing about, but clearly are supposed to, you are missing words, I noticed at least one symbol in a place it did not belong & the list goes on!!! I quit reading it at 65% because of the typos & then read the last chapter. I’ll consider this book read with my review at 1 star, but if you go to reprint & the book is available for free I will read it again, just email me & tell me it’s fixed or my review on this book will stand & until another of your books show up free on my Kindle Unlimited(though would I use a coveted spot for one of your books?!? Hmmm…probably not tbh) or better yet just free on my eBooks deals. That way the only harm will be my time up to the point I come across the first typo that was not caught by your “crack” team of editors(~more like Cracker Jack) failed to catch & I’m done & the next review will be just as straightforward & honest! I wish you the best. I really hope it’s not your kids doing the proofing!! Don’t let them read this!! I’m not trying to be mean, but this book is like your baby & somebody isn’t taking care of the baby correctly!!! I hope you are able to get the typos cleared up.

To the Reader: This book has an excellent plot & begins to move quickly after about the 2nd chapter which is about average. Unfortunately Ms Gold didn’t have very good editors & there are a great deal of typos. The book is definitely readable, I choose not to continue after reaching a bit over 60%, but then I read the last chapter. It all seems to tie together quite nicely & with less typos I would still be right beside Agent Best going after the bad guy & never doubting herself!! It’s a great book, just needs some touch ups!! Once they’re corrected I would recommend to a family member or a friend who has similar interests in reading as I do.

[Miguel Villasin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this but had to know how it ended. The writing style is bloated and wordy, almost as if the writer was being paid by the word. There was so much repetition (yes, DC is a nest of vipers, we get it) that I was skipping through long, boring and predictable sections. You could make a game of having a shot every time you see the word ‘undercurrent’ and you’d be drunk midway through the book. In short, it was more of an ordeal than an enjoyable read.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fake And Frustrating

One of the reasons I enjoy reading is for mental travel. I love "visiting" new cities as well as places that I hold dear. DC is one of my favorite destination cities. When the book mentioned a park that was unfamiliar to me, I looked it up. It was fictitious. Then a historic site, then a building, a country; the list goes if plot.


Third, who is Mia Gold? I previously read a couple Ruby Steele books which were light, fun, and fast past. Could this even be the same author? Maybe it's the first book "she" ever wrote? I tried looking up Mia Gold. No information. Gold has published a dozen novels since 2020. Is this one author or a team? The style was so different. Were these new books or a mix of books written over the last twenty years? That would make more sense.

And last, the frustrating part. 50% of the book could have been removed without hurting the plot. Extensive sentences and paragraphs are spent inside the main character's head, which wouldn't be horrible if it was redundant, tiring information. Seriously, I can remember what was written on the previous page, it doesn't have to be restated.

So why did I read this book to the end? I'm an insomniac who reads at night to calm my brain. Yes, this did put me to sleep.

[Cris Armstrong · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay read

Not the most edge of your seat thriller I have read, but it is well written. A few too many repeated references, but a solid plot and good character building.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author is so much fun! I would call her books "cozy mystery books with a lot of criminal activity" ! Great reads if you need an escape - the characters are so good!

[Avid · Rating 2 out of 5]

The audio narration was terrible. The story was okay. I'm writing this post reading and already have forgotten pieces that tell me I wasn't grabbed into the story.

My review sounds negative, but a 3 star would be a good listen, and anything above is great or exceptional. This book just missed the mark at being a 3 star for small things. It did have a strong main character, but there are gaps in places that the author puts in that would be better off just mentioned (likely for the next book) rather than attempting to start a new character and have them disappear. Those types of things were out of place, along with other things that needed work, swere why I picked a 2 star rating.

[Mikayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping to find another series like Ella Dark by Blake Pierce. Sydney Best is not it. This was not a well written book, did not keep my interest and was too short to expand on characters properly. I won’t be reading more.

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was it suicide? DSS Agent Sydney Best's instincts tell her to delve deeper even though those around her think she's chasing shadows.

This heroine is a marked departure from the ones in Mia Gold's other series who are loners and, let's be honest, somewhat scrappy fighters driven to uphold justice. While Ruby Steele and Holly Hands fall in the vigilante category, they are well-rounded characters who safeguard underdogs. Sydney Best, on the other hand, is an agent watching over those in the capital. Sydney is a flat character, competently written but without the magnetism of the previously mentioned protagonists. Her partner also felt two dimensional and her boss was a complete caricature.

The plot has nothing new; it's your bog-standard FBI thriller but with a different alphabet agency running point as a twist. Unlike the previous series, this story felt padded. Mired in needless description, the work would boil down to a novella should the wordiness be removed.

I was so excited to see a new Mia Gold series. Alas, this effort left me disappointed. Her previous stories had pushed me out of my comfort zone and proved to be vastly entertaining. That's not to say this book isn't well written—it is—but the uniqueness of the previous series was not there.

[heidi canton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know. I just don’t know. I feel I should like it. It’s similar to many things I’ve read and watched but I found it thin, like watered down gravy. It should be unctuous but instead it’s puddly. I was also very distracted by the amount of grammatical errors and missing words. It’s so frustrating to see a product that could have been that much better if it was a read by a human instead of relying on AI to find mistakes. I’ll have to read another one to make up my mind, I guess.

[Susan Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book held my attention and I wanted to know how it ended. I found the writing sloppy at times. Extra words added that made me reread sentences that took away the positive rhythm of reading. I think the editor(s) needs to do a better job of proofreading. However, I am not starting the second book in the series.

[Stephen Clynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book in the series brings readers to Diplomatic Security Service agent Sydney Best. This young woman is an all action investigator who carries a gun to protect people working in the US government and it’s diplomatic services.

This story starts off with a prologue…

As Higgins’ senior aide, it fell upon Thomas to anticipate every possible scenario, to prepare for the geopolitical chess game where nations sparred with tariffs instead of tanks.

…Laughing out loud readers, tariffs instead of tanks, this is rather funny as the current US president has caused trouble all across the globe by increasing US import tariffs! Anyway this story gets underway when Thomas’ body is discovered and DSS agent Sydney Best is on her way to find out whether it was murder or suicide.

I found Fatal Choice to be an OKAY 3 star read. The plot is not brilliant and very tame, this is not a thinking person’s read. I enjoyed the last 3 books from Mia Gold I have read, giving them 4 stars each but Fatal Choice is not of the same quality. Her writing is very descriptive in setting the scene but Sydney Best does not have the interesting personality of Holly Hands or Ruby Steele. Fatal Choice is an all action thriller and thankfully although Sydney and her partner Alex drive around a lot in cars, there are no boring car chases in this story but they always manage to get a parking space wherever they want to go and never walk very far! But this is fiction but I did find it frustrating when I read…

“El Halcon Rojo…” Sydney murmured, recognizing the infamous terrorist group’s name.

…This is fictional, no such terrorist group exists or the countries/locations of places mentioned in the back story like Santa Valoria, Xiongguo, Almeda or Shangahar. It is one of my pet hates when authors use fictitious locations etc as the reader gets no added value from the novel. Good authors do their research so their books are realistic and not set in fantasy land. Fatal Choice does have some repetitive phrases and words. I have lost count how many times Mia has used the phrase every second counts or working in the shadows plus everywhere Sydney goes is a labyrinth or labyrinthine.

There is one snippet that made me smile however when they are frustrated by a reporter showing up…

“He’s connecting dots that anyone with half a brain and an internet connection could see. It’s his job, just like it’s our’s, to get to the bottom of what happened to those people without broadcasting it on the evening news.”

…You too can connect the dots as all the clues are plainly laid out with no big surprises.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fatal Choice, A Sydney Best Suspense Thriller Book, by Mia Gold was ... just average. It was good but not thrilling. I can't put my finger on what kept this book from being great or a 4-5 star book. But it wasn't great; it was just okay.

The storyline itself had potential for a great story. I just don't feel it was executed as well as it could have been. There was no real excitement, no "thrill of the catch" to the story or the actual capture of the person of interest.

There were a few errors, added words throughout the book, including a slash mark in the middle of a sentence.

I may read Fatal Mistake to see if Mia Gold has improved her story writing skills ... and to see if her proofreader or editor has gotten better at their jobs.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

DSS Agent Sydney Best is a sharp, no-nonsense homicide investigator whose cases intersect with embassies, Olympic athletes, and human trafficking. When a high-ranking government aide dies under suspicious circumstances, Sydney dives into a tangled web of political intrigue and betrayal. The plot moves briskly, with just enough twists to keep you guessing without losing clarity. Sydney is a compelling lead—tough, intelligent, and refreshingly grounded. While some secondary characters could use more depth, the story’s momentum and the stakes more than make up for it. Fans of political thrillers and strong female protagonists will find this a satisfying read.

[SylviaV · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fatal Choice by Mia Gold. (Sydney Best #1)

This book is marketed as a suspense thriller with "an exhilarating cat-and-mouse saga that weaves through nail-biting moments of tension". At the time of writing this review July 2025, there are 5 books in this series. In theory, the setting, the plot and the characters should result in a page turning edge of your seat story. For me this book fell short of it's potential.
In my opinion this is an OK read. 2 stars.

[James f. white, jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fatal Choice is a great read with plenty of great, page turning action

If you’re like me and enjoy the intricacies of today’s political landscape then you will want to check out Fatal Choice, cause it’s jam packed with action right off today’s news headlines

[Linda Look · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a detective working for a Government agency, Sydney Best & her partner are assigned to investigate primarily political crimes. The supposed suicide of an American activist led to her investigation of her own government agencies. Strong characters. I rate this a 4.0.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first book

Very good introduction to the cast and characters of the suspense thriller. Character development was very good and the story line was well written which pulled the reader into the action.

[Deena Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was pretty good, but I wouldn't recommend the audio book. I'm not familiar with the production of audio books, but the narrator made, or was instructed to make, some odd inflection choices that almost made me stop listening at about 50%.

[Sam Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

So it took me a while to get into this book maybe because it wasn’t my usual genre but I did enjoy it and the plot was good. It does happen over 2 days and I think I just wanted to delve more into the characters and have more time.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was a good story, the huge number of missed edits got in the way. Continuity issues. She was driving and in the same paragraph he was driving. She looked at him and she looked back at her. Not just once but over and over. Lots of flowery descriptions where simplicity would be better.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

SYDEY IS A DDS AGAENT WHO IS SAVING A MUDER OF RICHARD AND HER BEST FREIND WAS FRAMED WAS ALL OF REVENGE AND SHE SHOOT THE GUY WHO SET UP AND MADE LLOK LIKE SUSCIDE AND OTHRE FROM A RIFLE THAT HE KILLED BOOK ON SEIRES GOOD ONE NEXT ONE SOUNDS GOOD TO FATA MISTAKE

[Claudete Takahashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fatal Choice is an easy read, with a good plot and lots of action, providing good entertainment for a few hours.
I thank Ms. Gold for this ARC.

[Lorna Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmospheric, descriptive and beautifully written read.

[patricia sendelbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of another series worth reading.

[Maggie Casteen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was clean and really well written. I enjoyed the characters and how the author kept the story moving.

[CAROLAVANDENHOEK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I really enjoyed the story line and the action kept rolling so that it was hard to put the book down with its twists and turns

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Okay.

[George Stenger · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick audiobook that just didn't hold my attention. Very light and not engaging.

I'm happy that others liked the book better.

2.5 rounded down.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Job doing the right thing

[Bryanna Minick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly really liked this book, I found the plot well written and look forward to reading the next book in the Sydney Best series.