The novel is about five people, chosen to receive a key that will give them whatever they require. None of them know how they got the key, or who it was from, which adds mystery to the story. It's set out so that each chapter is about one of the five people, and in places they intertwine the characters which I liked. There are also flash backs, which are about another man. The story is very clever in its links, and I liked that about it. Some of the links were more obvious than others, but some of them were surprising, and I did like that element - there's nothing worse than predicting it all from the start!
I found this book addictive, I just wanted to know what was going to happen, and where they got the keys from. I was also interested in the moral side of it all; who was actually going to use their key for the good? I definitely had my favourite characters, and I do think they were the ones you were supposed to like. Out of the 5 chosen, I only liked three of the characters, and the book was much better this way. If you were supposed to like or dislike all of them, I think it would have made the book monotonous.
One of the greatest things about this book was that each of the different people brought something completely unique to the book. One of them was a banker, the other a teacher. There was sushi factory worker, a doctor and an actress which are obviously all very different careers. I liked this variety because it meant that they were all at different stages of their lives. They chose to do very different things with their gift of the key, and it got me thinking about what I'd ask for if I were to recieve one. It was definitely a very interesting read!
Unfortunately though, the ending wasn't as dramatic or in depth as I would have hoped. I'd have liked to learnt a bit more about the characters after the realisation of who had given them the key and why. I wanted to know what they had done with their lives a bit more. It was a shame that the book did end quite ubruptly.
Have you ever read The Key To It All?