All is Not Forgotten
Wendy Walker
St Martin’s Press
July 12th, 2016
320 Pages
Book Summary
In the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut everything seems picture perfect.
Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as she heals from her physical wounds, and with no factual recall of the attack, Jenny struggles with her raging emotional memory. Her father, Tom, becomes obsessed with his inability to find her attacker and seek justice while her mother, Charlotte, prefers to pretend this horrific event did not touch her perfect country club world.
As they seek help for their daughter, the fault lines within their marriage and their close-knit community emerge from the shadows where they have been hidden for years, and the relentless quest to find the monster who invaded their town – or perhaps lives among them – drive this psychological thriller to a shocking and unexpected conclusion.
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My Thoughts
*ARC provided by Publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review*
All Is Not Forgotten is a masterfully plotted, darkly compelling, psychological thriller that is as uncomfortable as it is intriguing. Throughout my reading of this book, I found myself shifting in my seat, unable to believe what I was reading on the page. The brutal rape of a fifteen year old girl at a high school party, told through the eyes of her psychologist is hard enough to stomach on its own. Add in the decision of her parents to use an experimental drug to erase her memories of the rape, the leftover feelings of anxiety and fear that did not disappear with Jenny Kramer’s memories, and the psychologist who wants to try and bring those traumatic memories back—after they’ve been “erased” from her mind, and you’ve got a serious mind-boggling story that will not let you go.
There are so many disturbing things about this story it was hard to focus on which one horrified me the most. And yet, I kept reading because I couldn’t not read it. I had to know the answers to all the questions the author posed at the beginning of this story, and that, to me, is what I found so fascinating about this author’s work. Because not only was this book intricately plotted, but the rape itself was presented in a way that kept me at somewhat of a distance from what happened to Jenny and yet, at the same time, a witness to it and completely invested in her recovery—not to mention the capture and punishment of her assailant. I almost felt like a juror in a courtroom, listening to the narrator describe the traumatic events this girl experienced and what he knows to be true from those involved in her case and her life leading up to and after her rape. So disturbing, and terrifying, on so very many levels.
All is Not Forgotten is a brilliant and uniquely written psychological thriller that kept me glued to my Kindle long into the night. A must read book, with both phenomenal characters and insight, it is a book I will remember for many, many years to come.
Final Analysis
Top-Shelf read!
5 “Don’t miss this book!” Stars
About The Author
