‘Deeply intriguing and provocative,… ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN is not to be missed’
–KARIN SLAUGHTERYou can erase the memory. But you cannot erase the crime.
Jenny’s wounds have healed.
An experimental treatment has removed the memory of a horrific and degrading attack.
She is moving on with her life.
That was the plan. Except it’s not working out.
Something has gone. The light in the eyes. And something was left behind. A scar. On her lower back. Which she can’t stop touching.
And she’s getting worse.
Not to mention the fact that her father is obsessed with finding her attacker and her mother is in toxic denial.
It may be that the only way to uncover what’s wrong is to help Jenny recover her memory. But even if it can be done, pulling at the threads of her suppressed experience will unravel much more than the truth about her attack.
‘Original, compelling and very, very clever’
-B.A. Paris, bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors
Author: Wendy Walker
Published By: Mira
Date: July 12th 2016
Link: UK: Amazon US: Amazon
My Review
A thought provoking psychological thriller that grips you from the first page and doesn't let go even after you've finished reading
The story is about a young girl called Jenny who goes through an horrific ordeal as she is brutally raped in the woods. Her parents are devastated and choose a controversial method of dealing with the situation by allowing doctors to give her a treatment which will make her forget the attack. This sounds like the perfect solution until we find out that the recovery is actually hindered because the memory might not have been deleted but may just be being stored in a different place.
The narration is fantastic and is told from Alan the psychiatrist's point of view. It was an interesting style and is very personal to the reader.
As Alan is providing therapy for the whole family he is able to bring each of their stories to our attention and I really liked that approach. We were able to see the complexities of the lives of all the characters and feel the emotions that they would be going through, particularly Tom who was Jenny's dad.
Alan needs to get Jenny to remember what happened so that she can move on with her life but then that could cause difficulties elsewhere and create other huge dilemmas.
This book deals with an horrific situation so is not for the faint hearted yet is not doom and gloom and has a positive voice throughout. The characters are strong likeable and believable
The book is intriguing and unputdownable, the art of manipulation at it's finest. I can't wait to see the film.
Congratulations to Wendy Walker for what has to be the psychological thriller of the year and thank you to Cara from Harper Collins for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The story is about a young girl called Jenny who goes through an horrific ordeal as she is brutally raped in the woods. Her parents are devastated and choose a controversial method of dealing with the situation by allowing doctors to give her a treatment which will make her forget the attack. This sounds like the perfect solution until we find out that the recovery is actually hindered because the memory might not have been deleted but may just be being stored in a different place.
The narration is fantastic and is told from Alan the psychiatrist's point of view. It was an interesting style and is very personal to the reader.
As Alan is providing therapy for the whole family he is able to bring each of their stories to our attention and I really liked that approach. We were able to see the complexities of the lives of all the characters and feel the emotions that they would be going through, particularly Tom who was Jenny's dad.
Alan needs to get Jenny to remember what happened so that she can move on with her life but then that could cause difficulties elsewhere and create other huge dilemmas.
This book deals with an horrific situation so is not for the faint hearted yet is not doom and gloom and has a positive voice throughout. The characters are strong likeable and believable
The book is intriguing and unputdownable, the art of manipulation at it's finest. I can't wait to see the film.
Congratulations to Wendy Walker for what has to be the psychological thriller of the year and thank you to Cara from Harper Collins for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
See below for an excerpt from the novel.
Excerpt from All Is Not Forgotten
I don’t remember exactly what was said. I just kept
hearing the word “rape” over and over. I can tell you that it was a brutal,
merciless attack. That they had no suspects. That he had been careful, wearing
a condom and perhaps shaving his body hair. They thought, and this was later
confirmed by the forensic investigators, that he wore a black wool mask—like
one of those ski masks that covers your entire face and head. They said it
lasted for about an hour. I have thought about that more than I should. When
Jenny was back in the hospital eight months after the rape, when I knew this
was not over, I went home and lay on the floor with my face pressed to the
ground, my body positioned the way they said hers was. I lay there for an hour.
An hour is a long time to be tortured, longer than any of us can imagine. I
promise you that.
Anyway…the treatment. So they explained the process. The
drugs that would be given. How it would put her into a sort of coma for about a
day and that, if we were lucky, it might block her memory of the rape and at
the very least, and this they said they knew for sure, it would reduce any PTSD
she might suffer. They said the PTSD could be debilitating and require years of
therapy. Dr. Baird asked if we wanted to speak with a psychiatrist to better
understand the treatment and what life might be like for her without it. He
said every minute that passed reduced the effectiveness.
Charlotte’s eyes got so wide. “Yes!” she said without
even looking at me. “Do it! What are you waiting for?” She stood up and pointed
to the door like they should both rush out to follow her orders. But I grabbed
her arm. I may not be the smartest man, but this didn’t sound right to me. If
she couldn’t remember, how could she help them find this creature? How could she
help put him behind bars, where he would get what he deserved? Detective
Parsons nodded and looked at the floor like he knew exactly what I was saying.
He finally confessed that it would be very difficult. That even if the drug
didn’t work completely, anything she did remember would be ripped apart in
court as unreliable. Of course it would, right? I mean, come on. Game over.
Look—I’m not saying I wanted this guy caught and punished more than I wanted my
daughter to recover. But where her mother saw her recovery in forgetting and
pretending this never happened, I saw it coming more by way of facing the
devil, you know? Looking him square in the eye and taking back a piece of what
he had stolen. And I was right, wasn’t I? Jesus Christ, I wish I wasn’t, but I
was.
Sincerely
Book Angel x
About the Author
Wendy Walker has worked as an attorney specialising in family law. She lives in Connecticut where she is at work on her next novel.
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