A strange, horrifying phenomenon is sweeping across the nation.  Authorities have dubbed it False Memory Syndrome (FMS).  No one quite understands the devastating affliction, which swamps the sufferer with memories they don't recognize or understand, leading to disorientation, confusion, terror, and madness.  It's contagious—and deadly.

New York City policeman Barry Sutton has seen too much FMS violence and death.  He's determined to stop it.  But how?

Neuroscientist Helena Smith has been hired by Marcus Slade, an inventor worth billions, to create a technology capable of preserving people's most precious memories.  Haunted by her mother's rapidly progressing Alzheimer's, Helena works tirelessly in a secret lab off the coast of California to make the technology a reality before it's too late to save her mom.   

As FMS becomes more widespread and dangerous, Barry becomes increasingly desperate.  When he meets Helena, he realizes it's up to the two of them to save humanity.  As the world around them crumbles and unmakes itself, the two are swept up in a frantic race against time that's becoming more impossible to win with every passing second ...

I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but I am a huge Blake Crouch fan.  Dark Matter—which was one of my favorite reads of 2017—absolutely blew my mind, so I was all in for Crouch's newest, Recursion.  While I didn't end up loving it quite as much as Dark Matter, I still found Recursion to be a stunning, mind-spinner of a read.  The novel is tense, exciting, suspenseful, and thought-provoking.  Barry and Helen are both brave, sympathetic characters, whom I cared about easily.  I whipped through Recursion fast and furious, needing to know what happens next and if our heroes would ultimately be successful.  Needless to say, I really enjoyed this one.  If you dig complex, intriguing sci-fi puzzles wrapped in a pulse-pounding, adrenaline rush of a story, then this is the book for you.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch)

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

The Dead Girl in 2A by Carter Wilson is one of those psychological thrillers where the less you know going into it, the better.  So, I'm going to give you the most succinct plot summary I can (which is not my forte as you well know).  Here goes:

A freelance writer, Jake Buchannan is flying to Denver to meet with a mysterious client who wants Jake to pen his memoir.  When a woman settles into the first-class seat next to him, he gets a shock.  He's positive he knows her.  Clara Stowe feels the same way about Jake, but the two can find no obvious connections between the two of them.  As they get to know each other over the course of the flight, Clara finally admits her real purpose in traveling to Colorado—she's planning to kill herself.  Shocked, Jake knows he has to help her.  When Clara disappears upon landing, Jake doesn't know what to do.  He can't let Clara—someone with whom he feels such a close, inexplicable bond—go through with her plans, but how is he going to stop her?  And who is she, really?

Yep, that's all I'm going to give you.  It's better this way, I promise!  All I can say is that this novel went in a direction that was entirely different than what I expected.  In a good way, but it threw me a little.  From that simple, but fascinating premise Wilson creates a wild, intriguing thrill ride that kept me on edge and guessing throughout.  I ended up very much enjoying this compulsively readable psychological thriller.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I'm not sure what to compare it to—ideas?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language, violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Irritated with their parents, who can't even visit the county fair without making a scene, Benji and Kelly Lewis sneak off to explore the event by themselves.  When bullies drive the twins apart, 12-year-old Benji takes refuge inside a circus tent at the edge of the fairgrounds.  A sign identifies it as The Memory Emporium, a place where memories are bought and sold.  The proprietor, a strange old man named Louis, offers Benji a taste of his wares.  Benji's awestruck by the experience, which plants him in a vivid, exhilarating memory of parachuting out of a WWII fighter plane.  In exchange, all he has to give up is a tiny, inconsequential memory of his own.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of The Knowing series [The Forgetting; The Knowing] by Sharon Cameron)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of The Memory Thief from the generous folks at Adaptive Books.  Thank you!

 

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Note:  Although this review will not contain spoilers for The Knowing, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from its predecessor, The Forgetting.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.

As one of the Knowing—evolutionary wonders who possess perfect memories—Samara Archiva enjoys a privileged life underground.  Safe from the dangers of Outside, she's cloistered with others like her.  Focused on preserving and strengthening their special community, the Knowing learn to cache their memories, mastering the constant onslaught of emotions that comes with such a "gift" as theirs.  Cold, logical decisions rule underground.  Anyone who can't—or won't—comply leaves.  One way or another.

Sam has never been able to cache as well as the others.  Tortured by her memories, the 18-year-old wants only one thing—to Forget.  Barring that, she longs to be useful, to use what she Knows to Do something valuable.  As a physician-in-training, she has skills that can help the vulnerable people Outside.  Doing so, however, is strictly forbidden.  If the Council catches her sneaking off on her mercy missions—just one of her rebellions—Sam is as good as dead.  When she realizes exactly how much danger she's in, she knows she must flee, must find the Cursed City of Canaan and Forget everything.  It's the only way to save herself and those she loves.

On a long-term anthropological mission to find the lost civilization of Canaan, Beckett Rodriguez gets a whole lot more than he bargains for when he comes upon Samara Archiva in a dark cavern.  The 18-year-old Texan wants to help the desperate woman, but he has his own orders to obey.  Does Beck dare to risk both his life and mission to save a strange, intriguing girl he's just met?  Especially when his own worldview is being shattered with every second he spends in Sam's company?  With enemies on every side, the two must unite to piece together the truths of their very different worlds ...

For me, 2017 started off on a lovely reading high thanks to a gem of a book called The Forgetting.  The first in a YA trilogy by Sharon Cameron, it's a beautiful, compelling novel about the power of memory.  Its follow-up, The Knowing, takes the story in an unexpected direction, expanding the world Cameron introduced in The Forgetting.  With fresh characters, a unique setting, and a different (but complementary) plot, it rises above any second-book syndrome, taking the series in a compelling new direction.  Packed with action, it provides an exciting, engrossing reading experience.  Lest you think it's all adrenaline all the time, The Knowing also offers some fascinating explorations of pain, emotion, memory, all part of what makes us human.  In short, it's a great, clean read that will appeal to a variety of readers. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

(Readalikes:  The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron)

Grade:

 

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

 

for violence and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of The Knowing from the generous folks at Scholastic via those at Edelweiss.  Thank you!

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

The walled city of Canaan provides a safe, protected atmosphere for its small population.  Citizens go to school, work their jobs, care for their families, and—most important of all—write daily entries in the books they keep on their person at all times.  They're instructed to pen only the truth.  Fanciful scribblings will not help them when the Forgetting comes.  Only honesty will let them remember who they are when the veil of forgetfulness drops over Canaan and everyone's memories are wiped clean.  Without a book, a person has no identity, no family, no position in the community.  They are Lost, a fate almost worse than death.

Nadia, the dyer's daughter, is unlike anyone else in her isolated village.  Every 12 years, every person in Canaan loses their memories completely.  Not the quiet teenager.  She never forgets.  Nadia is the only one who knows that some people use the Forgetting to purposely erase their identities or to commit unsavory acts, the consequences of which they will never have to face.  Even the perpetrator won't remember what he/she has done.  With the time of Forgetting fast approaching, Nadia is wary.  What will happen on this night of danger and chaos?  Nadia's hateful older sister has a sinister plan—surely she's not the only one.  

When Gray—the handsome glassblower's son—catches Nadia slipping over the wall into the forbidden beyond, he gives her even more reason to worry.  Not only are the pair growing closer, but they're discovering some shocking secrets about Canaan.  With the Forgetting only days away, Nadia is desperate not to lose Gray.  She needs him—not just to confront the Council with what they know, but also to fill the emptiness in her aching heart.  How can Nadia make him remember?  Can she survive if everything Gray knows about their duty, their friendship, and their love just ... disappears?  If a person doesn't live in another's memory, do they even exist at all?

The Forgetting, a new YA novel by Sharon Cameron, explores some fascinating issues about memory, truth, and identity.  While the story's set-up is a little confusing at first, the rules of Canaan society soon become evident, allowing the novel's tense, exciting plot to take center stage.  The characters are complex, engaging, and empathetic.  Nadia and Gray make an appealing couple whose love grows naturally.  Their romance offers an engaging subplot, but one that never upstages the real story.  All of these elements come together to create a taut, fast-paced tale with surprising twists and turns.  It's the unsettling philosophical questions it asks, however, that make The Forgetting so compelling.  Who are we now—and who will we become—if we have no memories of who we've been?  Without our memories, is life even worth living?  And, the most disquieting question of all:  What would you do on the night of Forgetting if you knew no one—not even yourself—would remember it come morning?  Despite the chilling implications proposed by these questions, The Forgetting is, at its heart, a hopeful tale.  A perfect read to start off the new year, I loved this book and recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys an engrossing yarn that truly has it all.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't really think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence, blood/gore, and mild sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of The Forgetting from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

When Alice Love tumbles off her exercise bike during her weekly spin class, she knocks her noggin so hard she's thrown back a decade.  She wakes up from the accident convinced she's a frazzled, frumpy 29-year-old, who's happily married to the man of her dreams and pregnant with their first child.  Imagine her surprise when she discovers the truth—she's actually 39, a fit and formidable mom of three, and in the middle of a nasty divorce.  With no memory of anything that's happened over the last ten years, Alice is completely flummoxed.  How can her life have gone so completely awry in such a short period of time?  What happened to her marriage?  Her relationship with her sister?  And, most disconcerting of all, who is the stranger Alice sees when she looks in the mirror? 

As Alice struggles to make sense of her "new" life by piecing together vague recollections of the past decade, she makes some startling discoveries about herself.  Not all of them pleasant.  Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become, but she can't turn back the clock.  Or can she?  Is it too late to salvage the life she once loved?  Will she get a second chance to make things work between her and Nick?  Or will mistakes Alice doesn't even remember making launch her into a future she's too terrified to contemplate?

Although Big Little Lies remains my favorite of Liane Moriarty's novels, I've thoroughly enjoyed all of them.  What Alice Forgot is no exception.  Filled with the Australian author's trademark warmth and humor, it's a thought-provoking novel that asks some very intriguing questions.  Moriarty's deft exploration of familial relationships keeps the reader engrossed, while forcing them to examine their own priorities and choices.  Both funny and poignant, What Alice Forgot is a heartfelt novel about forgiving, forgetting, and fighting for what's most important.  I loved it.

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of Moriarty's other novels, including Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find