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carrieleaharris's review against another edition
4.0
I'm giving it 4. There were definite faults. Underdeveloped characters, especially the love interest. (I mean he proposed, and she asked what I was thinking "do u even know her?!") A few eye roll moments when he just had to explain every thought over and over again or he did something that was not in line with the character at all. And such a buttoned up ending.
But it was gritty. And it was good. The story wasn't predictable, and I did find it addictive and entertaining.
Possibly the weirdest mystery I've read.
And worth the read just for that.
I would have loved an alternate ending where the entire story was a hallucination, and he died from the brain cancer.
But it was gritty. And it was good. The story wasn't predictable, and I did find it addictive and entertaining.
Possibly the weirdest mystery I've read.
And worth the read just for that.
I would have loved an alternate ending where the entire story was a hallucination, and he died from the brain cancer.
beckic's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book. The writing style made it so easy to imagine what Nick was going through with his memory loss. Speaking from experience, I can tell you, his reactions and thought processes are very true to life. Also, it ended right without being forced.
zzzrevel's review against another edition
4.0
This one starts out like a run-of-the-mill PI
story, a case of a missing girl that the PI begins to
investigate. And he is fairly successful, actually
finding the girl, ready to return her to her
guardian, when suddenly the story takes an
abrupt right turn.
The PI has a stroke, gets laid up in a hospital
for a few weeks, and has lost most of what he
learned in that investigation as well as a very
shoddy memory overall.
Now the story begins so to speak, and it's a good one.
Sort of like "Memento" where he has to find all
the clues all over again but now it happens in
reverse order.
Clever plotting and I really liked how the PI had
to recover his lost memory while also recovering
from his stroke. Very realistic I thought.
The ending is very clever too. At first you think
one way about who did a crime (and that would have
been an absolute mindblowing climax!), but then the
actual denouement is not too bad either. Everything
is tied up cleanly.
I wasn't too happy with the last chapter, but oh well
I guess the author needed to have the reader get even
more upbeat. I thought it was unnecessary.
This is RECOMMENDED reading for a whodunit thriller.
story, a case of a missing girl that the PI begins to
investigate. And he is fairly successful, actually
finding the girl, ready to return her to her
guardian, when suddenly the story takes an
abrupt right turn.
The PI has a stroke, gets laid up in a hospital
for a few weeks, and has lost most of what he
learned in that investigation as well as a very
shoddy memory overall.
Now the story begins so to speak, and it's a good one.
Sort of like "Memento" where he has to find all
the clues all over again but now it happens in
reverse order.
Clever plotting and I really liked how the PI had
to recover his lost memory while also recovering
from his stroke. Very realistic I thought.
The ending is very clever too. At first you think
one way about who did a crime (and that would have
been an absolute mindblowing climax!), but then the
actual denouement is not too bad either. Everything
is tied up cleanly.
I wasn't too happy with the last chapter, but oh well
I guess the author needed to have the reader get even
more upbeat. I thought it was unnecessary.
This is RECOMMENDED reading for a whodunit thriller.
bookish_ann's review against another edition
4.0
While I did sort out whodunnit well before the big reveal, and though the ending was just a touch rushed and tidy, this was a page turner. I could not wait to get back to it, thus it mertis 4 stars.
The plot was interesting enough, but they way the story is told is what made this a truly good read.
The plot was interesting enough, but they way the story is told is what made this a truly good read.
msinformation's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe I would have liked this more if I had read it as opposed to listening to the book. I didn't care for the narrator as he seemed to use the same tone of voice throughout the book.
spygrl1's review
4.0
I went into this with lowered expectations in spite of the positive EW review that put this on my list. There are so many serial killer thrillers that inevitably many of them are bad, so I don't often dip into that genre.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Abrahams has a deft touch with both prose and plotting -- the story zips and zooms, and while a point-by-point, death-by-death recitation might seem outlandish, he sweeps you along with no time to doubt the plausibility of the callous crime spree.
Cop-turned-PI Nick Petrov was played by Armand Assante in the TV-movie depiction of how he caught Gerald Reasoner, the serial killer responsible for the deaths (and partial flayings) of seven young women. It's a Friday afternoon and Nick has just finished testifying in a rape case when he's approached in the parking lot by a woman who wants his help in finding her missing teen-age daughter. Nick takes the case and her $500 retainer, and spends the next couple of days accumulating clues. He's also fighting off an unusual headache. On Sunday, the case and the headache both come to a conclusion, of sorts, as Nick suffers a seizure just outside a hospital. When he awakes, he learns that a stage-IV tumor is growing in his brain. And he can't remember anything that happened after "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Can Nick piece together what happened during his lost weekend? Can he pick up the threads of who he is and of the case he was working? Among the clues he has to work with are: his notebook, written in a personal code he can no longer decipher; a volleyball; the sound of a motorcycle speeding away; a framed photo of the 1950 Desert High School football team; a check for $450; a card for Candyland escorts; a hole torn in his navy blue suit jacket; a torn greeting card signed by Amanda and addressed to Rui; a CD by the band Empty Box; and the fleeting memory of a vulture.
A little bit Memento, a little bit Case Histories.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Abrahams has a deft touch with both prose and plotting -- the story zips and zooms, and while a point-by-point, death-by-death recitation might seem outlandish, he sweeps you along with no time to doubt the plausibility of the callous crime spree.
Cop-turned-PI Nick Petrov was played by Armand Assante in the TV-movie depiction of how he caught Gerald Reasoner, the serial killer responsible for the deaths (and partial flayings) of seven young women. It's a Friday afternoon and Nick has just finished testifying in a rape case when he's approached in the parking lot by a woman who wants his help in finding her missing teen-age daughter. Nick takes the case and her $500 retainer, and spends the next couple of days accumulating clues. He's also fighting off an unusual headache. On Sunday, the case and the headache both come to a conclusion, of sorts, as Nick suffers a seizure just outside a hospital. When he awakes, he learns that a stage-IV tumor is growing in his brain. And he can't remember anything that happened after "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Can Nick piece together what happened during his lost weekend? Can he pick up the threads of who he is and of the case he was working? Among the clues he has to work with are: his notebook, written in a personal code he can no longer decipher; a volleyball; the sound of a motorcycle speeding away; a framed photo of the 1950 Desert High School football team; a check for $450; a card for Candyland escorts; a hole torn in his navy blue suit jacket; a torn greeting card signed by Amanda and addressed to Rui; a CD by the band Empty Box; and the fleeting memory of a vulture.
A little bit Memento, a little bit Case Histories.
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