Member Reviews
Book blurb...
How do you know who to trust...
...when you don't even know who you are?
You are outside your front door.
There are strangers in your house.
Then you realise. You can't remember your name.
She arrived at the train station after a difficult week at work. Her bag had been stolen, and with it, her identity. Her whole life was in there – passport, wallet, house key. When she tried to report the theft, she couldn't remember her own name. All she knew was her own address.
Now she's outside Tony and Laura's front door. She says she lives in their home. They say they have never met her before.
One of them is lying.
My thoughts…
Review quotes on this novel use words such as “sinister, captivating, gripping, and creepy.” Often, with descriptions like this’ I can be left wondering what book readers are referring to. In the case of Forget My Name, I totally agree with all these words. This novel is sinister, captivating, gripping, and creepy and I love that!
It is hard to know if the woman at Tony and Laura’s door is genuine, or an absolute psychopath.
I did think, about half way thru the book, that the author was using a secondary plot to perhaps pad out the story. Whether or not that was the case, didn’t matter as I did enjoy how the threads came together.
Telling too much might give too much away, but the one thing I will say is, if you're worried about your memory (maybe you are starting to forget simple things…) beware of this story!!!!
A revenge wrapped in tragedy. Interesting storyline, started out well and had a good plot throughout - but somehow I couldn't quite connect with the main character. It subtracted a little from the reading experience, but all in all not a bad holiday read.
She turns up on the doorstep of her house with no idea of her name, no identifying possessions. The owners of the house say they’ve never seen her before, various people thinks she looks familiar – but who is she really?
Forget my Name seemed like it would be right up my street; a psychological thriller with sinister undertones, I was drawn in from the start. Unfortunately although it’s a quick read and I was able to power through it, I didn’t actually enjoy it. I felt it was a bit of a mess - one woman turns up in a village and there’s so many possibilities of who she could be and who she looks like from a previous, insane inhabitant to a long ago lost lover. All the possible women seem to have different backgrounds, different nationalities so it seemed very farfetched and felt a bit too convenient - just a narrative device rather than anything real and relatable.
For me there were just too many strands of the plot, I thought the main story line was interesting but the diversions of other red herrings kept it from being as strong as it could be. I also didn’t really find one character I was particularly rooting for throughout which didn’t help.
Overall I found Forget my Name to be a disappointing read from the setup I was expecting from its blurb – it’s long winded, confusing and farfetched. Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I missed the author's previous best seller so was looking forward to this latest one. However I found the story to be too far fetched to be convincing so was rather disappointed.
I have previously read another novel on amnesia and found the subject so interesting. However this novel got me very confused due to the number of characters and references to things I thought I may have missed, so kept finding myself rereading bits.
I didn’t find it entirely believable that a couple would let a random person stay in their house and just accept her word on memory loss, which then lost my interest from very early on. I am going to give it another go, I got 60% through and gave up, however I didn’t the character of Tony really dislikable and found it hard to engage. Haven’t read any of the authors stories before, although I have seen good reviews, perhaps this one just didn’t do it for me.
This was the first book I have read by J.S Monroe and i really enjoyed it the plot twists were un-expected and I found the sorry fascinating and found myself turning page after page just to see what might happen next.
This has to be one of the first books that really left me guessing right to the very end. I would highly recommend this book to others and found it gripping and interesting.
I read this in two sittings, I was completely hooked! Whilst there have been quite a few novels about people struggling with memory loss, this one really sets itself apart. The different perspectives of characters fleshes out the story, and the true nature of what's really happening is revealed extremely well.
She turns up outside her house, she has no memory other than that this is her house. Tony and Laura explain this is their house but the mysterious woman knows the inside of the house. People in the village think they know who she is but is she the person they think, who is lying and how will this end. Brillitant book, lots of twists and turns would really recommend.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* This book was full of twists and turns that I did not expect... and a couple of bodies along the way, too. The protagonist turns up to Tony and Laura's house, in a quaint little British village. She does not know who she is or why she is there, but thinks it is her house. She is even able to describe the layout of the different rooms. Tony and Laura give her a room for the night and try to help her unravel who she is and what she is doing in their home. However, all is not as it seems... More than one person in the village may have secrets to hide.
I enjoyed reading Forget My Name; it was the first Monroe I read, and I'm likely to seek out others.
This book gripped me from the start and I raced through it in a day. The story follows a young woman who doesn’t know who she is and can only remember her address. Problem is, there is a couple living in what she believes is her house.
I enjoyed the twists and turns and the story kept me guessing throughout.
Thanks Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book.
A tale of amnesia. A lady turns up at the house of a couple, claiming to live there. Why does she remember this place? Lots of questions emerge. There are several stories running through this theme of amnesia and it is a highly original, clever story. There are chilling aspects regarding photos of seahorses and the part of the brain they look like and I think fans of books like Silence of the Lambs will enjoy this very much.
Definitely a page turner. A psychological thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Well developed characters, and the author had done homework on amnesia. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
This was an interesting read telling the story of a woman who appears at the home of young couple Tony & Laura having lost her handbag with her purse, passport and ID. This woman does not know her own name or how she came to be there but is adamant that she lives in this house - right down to describing the exact layout.
Feeling sorry for the woman and suspecting that she has some type of amnesia, Tony & Laura invite her to stay the night with a view to getting her medical attention the next day. It quickly transpires that this may be a huge mistake.
There are a lot of characters in this book and an awful lot going on which did confuse me at times but overall I did enjoy it although it is hard to review without giving away spoilers.
3.5 stars and thanks to Netgalley and publishers for ARC.
This book is so complex, so clever, so cunning, so utterly disturbing. The imagery of seahorses and the hippocampus is still lingering as I write this review on the 20th November despite having finished reading it nearly two weeks ago. I finished this book shortly before I went on holiday and haven't been able to review it until now, so it is interesting to consider how the impact of this book is still so strong despite having read four books since I finished this one. This is a book that demands to be read with the same intensity that it offers the reader. A perfect read for these long cold winter evenings, wrap up warm somewhere safe and immerse yourself in this page turner.
Not the first story I've read about amnesia, but this had so many twists and different names it became a little confusing at times. None the less it was a fantastic read, excellently paced. I definitely recommend it.
Good book, very different than I expected but interesting plot with lots of twists and turns! Hope to read more by this author in the future.
Quite an unbelievable story. This book is not for me. I did not find it gripping at all just unbelievable.
One evening a woman gets off a train and makes her way to a house with no memory of her name or where she’s been. She only knows that this is her home, only it isn’t. A gripping thriller that twists and turns as we find out the story of the woman who doesn’t know her own name.
A real page-turner and sure to be a popular best seller.
Unfortunately the copy I got wasn't very well edited but I managed to get another copy and I'm glad I did. The story is part of a growing series of thrillers with people with secrets. This is one of the better ones and will keep you hooked.