Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

In a small coastal town in Normandy a young man, Jamal, is training for a gruelling running race when he tries to help a distressed woman on a cliff-top path. He tries to help her away from the edge with a scarf he found moments before but she seems to grab the scarf and jump: when he rushes to the beach to see if he can still help she is dead but, somehow, in the seconds it took to fall the scarf was tied around her neck. Jamal, disabled, a stranger to the area and an immigrant, becomes the main suspect for the woman’s murder but he knows he didn’t do it. Or, at least, he is fairly sure he didn’t as events pick up pace and he goes on the run – yet even in hiding somebody is sending him clues to this murder and two others, with uncanny similarities. Can he solve the mystery or will he be framed for crimes he didn’t commit?

Sinister And Twisted.....
Is Jamal an innocent bystander or is he a killer? A sinister and twisted suspense with a compelling premise. Plot is certainly engaging and the unexpected twists keep coming as the plot gets more and more complex. An engaging rollercoaster of a read in true Bussi tradition.

I really like this author and all his book ,black water Lilly’s my fave
This is intriguing has a good mystery that u try to puzzle out
I did guess a part of it and not all and is a little convoluted and confusing at times personally .
I found it a bit slow and wasn’t as involved middle to the end
It’s alwats over all though an author I read and enjoy and will read another of this authors
Ty netgalley and publishers

I’ve heard lots of good things about Michel Bussi’s books, but never actually picked one up myself, so Never Forget is the first I’ve read of his novels, and I was really impressed.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this book! It’s a dark, creepy, and twisted psychological thriller, that is incredibly immersive, and has you gripped from the get-go. Part of this I think is due to the first-person perspective, that really makes you feel present in the events as they continue to unfold.

A good thriller has to keep you guessing until the very end, and not be too predictable, and Never Forget most definitely keeps you questioning absolutely everything until the final pages. It was dark, mysterious, oozing with suspense, and had so many twists and turns that I truly didn’t see coming. This is a fantastic read for those who enjoy a compelling and page-turning thriller, and I’m definitely going to be on the look-out for more of Bussi’s novels in the future.

A thriller that will get you hooked.
Whilst running on a cliff path Jamal comes across a woman on the edge of the cliff. He tries to help her but the woman tumbles over the cliff edge to her death. Jamal, an unlucky bystander at a suicide, finds other witnesses and the police don’t quite see it like that and he finds himself being considered as a rapist and murderer. Jamal takes it upon himself to investigate and receives clues from a mysterious helper and finds out there was a similar murder ten years earlier.
Definitely a page turner; however, your final opinion of this book will depend whether you go along with all the twists and turns when all is revealed or find it all a bit too much. This is the first book that I’ve read by Michel Bussi and although I found the ending a bit too contrived I’m sure readers who have enjoyed his other books will not be disappointed.

A great story that kept me hooked. The storyline is great, the storytelling is fascinating, the cast of characters well drawn and interesting.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the arc of Never Forget by Michel Bussi.

This follows Jamal whom in which has a dream in which is to run the toughest race of all in France with his own prosthetic leg. Then one morning during his training session in which he discovers a woman in which is on the edge of committing suicide. So he ends up trying to save her in which is by handing her over a red scarf which he ended up finding on the trail nearby....

But the girl ends up jumping off the cliff and then when he ends up reaching the beach in which is where her body ended up falling, Two other witnesses whom have seen the body but not the fall itself.

Mysteriously, the red scarf in which he gave her has ended up now wrapped around the dead girl's neck. This is just the beginning of his nightmare. This suicide echoes two murders in which happened in the year 2004, ten years from the book's actual setting, and he is determined in that the police are trying/wanting to frame him for all of the deaths.....

This was such a gripping and mysterious book in which made me wanting more, and i was on the edge of my seat start to finish.

Definitely recommend
5 Stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

An excellently written tale of murder, betrayal and revenge. This book had me gripped from the offfset, with an intriguing writing style that benefits from the first person perspective, allowing the reader to be immersed in the events as they unfold. The affirmation of innocence by the narrator at the beginning of the tale is especially effective as the story depends so heavily on the psychological aspects of the murders. Where the author could have reached a satisfying and appropriate conckusion, they add yet another dimension to the story, a twist which shocks the reader and was incredible. Finally, despite the darkness and crime, the author constructs a wonderfully relevant and beautifully poignant final scene. I loved this story, and would definitely recommend it to others.

Michel Bussi has a reputation for writing the most twisted of psychological thrillers, and this is certainly true of his latest offering, set in the coastal town of Yport in Normandy, France. It begins in 2014 where part of a cliff has collapsed revealing three male skeletons, each meeting their death at different times, and given the murders and rape of young women within the time frame, a connection between them appears to be clear, but what exactly? 5 months earlier, a young disabled Arab, Jamal Salaoui, working at the Saint Antoine Institute in maintenance, a paralympian with a prosthetic leg, dreams of competing in one of the toughest of races. Staying at a local hotel on a break, he is running early one morning on the coast road when he picks up a expensive designer Burberry red cashmere scarf left on a fence. To his horror he then comes across a distraught beautiful young woman, far too close to the cliff edge, offering the scarf to edge her away from danger.

However, she tugs the scarf from him as she deliberately topples over the edge to her death. Jamal runs towards the body on the beach, where the fall has been witnessed by a dog walker, Denise Joubain and Christian Le Medef. However, the scarf is now impossibly tied round the neck of the dead woman, and she is strangely sporting injuries she did not have mere minutes previously. The police arrive, and Captain Piroz is in charge of the investigation into the strangulation and rape of Magali Verron, a pharmaceutical sales representative. It soon becomes clear to Jamal that the police have him as the prime suspect for her murder, an easy patsy, and he is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and prove his innocence. He starts to receive brown paper envelopes containing information, including press articles and witness statements pertaining to earlier murders of women, with the same MO as Verron . Jamal's life begins to spiral into a nightmare, descending into horror after horror that has him questioning his memories and his sanity.

Bussi writes a dastardly twisted psychological thriller that will have your head spinning, some way in I began to feel echoes of a classic Hitchcock film starring Jimmy Stewart, and, sure enough, the author references it later on. Jamal, helped by Mona, begins to uncover some uncanny commonalities between the female victims, a succession of coincidences that raise suspicions, of police investigations that failed to find a murderer, and a victims family group, Fil Rouge, determined to persevere and pressurise the police to continue trying to find the killer through the years. I have loved some of Bussi's previous novels, particularly Black Water Lilies, and whilst I enjoyed reading this, for me it stretched my credulity a little too far for my liking. However, it is still a great read of smoke and mirrors that many readers will love and adore. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Wow! This took me all round the houses and back again as I tried to get ahead of the game and figure it all out first. I failed, but I did have a cracking time trying!
Jamal is on holiday and out running when he sees a red scarf. He takes it and turns to see a woman on the cliff edge. She looks distressed so he races to try help her. He throws her the scarf to try and pull her back but she jumps. She land up on the beach, dead, but with the scarf wrapped round her neck. She's been strangled? It doesn't make sense. The police are called. It should be straight forward - suicide and all - but it appears not. And then Jamal is pointed to an old case and it's at this point that things start to go south for him...
This is a crazy ride from start to finish. It had me spinning around, chasing my tail, pretty much all the way through which is as it should be for this genre book. There were also quite a few things that jarred with me along the way, things I had to hold on to for a while, things that didn't quite make sense. But, I've read this author before and have been down a similar road with him and never been let me down so the trust is there, I held on, and was eventually satisfied!
It's a weird old story, confusing in parts as there's a lot of obfuscation to be found along the way from some of the rather colourful and intriguing characters. And if that wasn't enough, there's the discovery of some bones to keep in mind along the way too... but, as already mentioned, it does all come together at the end, very nicely too. You might have to suspend belief a tad, but over nothing major and it is definitely worth carrying on if you do get a wee bit confuzzled along the way.
All in all, another cracking addition to an already well impressive back catalogue. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This was an amazing drama that literally took my breath away. The characters were realistic and well depicted. Highly recommended!

4 stars! This was a another wonderful book by Michel Bussi, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Jamal has a dream - to run the toughest race in Europe. When one morning during his training, he comes across a woman on the verge of committing suicide, he tries to save her by handing her a red scarf he found on the trail. But the girl jumps off the cliff and when he reaches the beach where her body has fallen, there are two other witnesses who have seen the body but not the fall. Curiously, the red scarf is now wrapped around the dead girl's neck.

This is just the beginning of Jamal's nightmare. This suicide echoes two murders that happened in 2004, ten years from the book's setting, and Jamal is sure that the police is trying to frame him for all the three deaths. And someone is leaving his packets that contain information of the previous deaths. Aided by Mona, a young mysterious researcher, he decides to go on a run when he injures the police in charge of the case.

This was a helluva twisted ride that kept me guessing throughout. What is the connection between the cases? Why is the police out to get him? Why have the two other witnesses disappeared? Why do the life histories and faces of two victims match each other? These are some crazy questions that get answers in this crazy ride.

Like his other books, here too, there are multiple timelines that intersect to create a tale of intrigue and suspense. However, I did feel that at some points it demanded too much of a suspension of disbelief from the reader. That was what made me take away one star from this otherwise good read. Also, there are some explicit scenes that appear time and again.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in return for my honest opinion.

#NeverForget #NetGalley
A suspenseful novel.
A man running along a remote clifftop path on an icy-cold February morning.
A woman standing on the cliff's edge.
A red scarf on the ground between them.
The man is alone on the cliff - adrenaline pumping through his veins.
The woman is on the beach below - dead.
The red scarf is also on the beach - beautifully (and impossibly) wrapped around the woman's broken nec
Two lives colliding by chance?
Or a revenge decades in the making?
I loved the characters but I found its narration slowly going towards its end. Although some twists were the same as I predicted.
Overall it's a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for giving me an advance copy.