This review was first posted on http://rubysreads.com.

Part The Bourne Identity, part The X-Files, False Memory is a fast, fantastic read. Author Dan Krokos wastes no time getting started with the action, but neither does he pull any punches while introducing his characters. Miranda, our main character, woke up remembering two facts: Her name is Miranda North, and she’s 17. Other than that, her mind’s a complete blank. Well, except for those automatic responses she has–buying some clothes so she doesn’t stick out in the crowd, and searching for places to take cover. Miranda may not know much, but she knows these aren’t the actions of your average teenager.

Fortunately, someone in the crowded mall knows Miranda. Peter takes the bewildered girl home, and explains: she’s be trained from birth to be a lean, mean fighting machine. Things only get weirder from there, as Peter elaborates on her life as one of four teens raised together, and their strange, regulated, parent-less childhood. It’s a lot to take in, but Miranda doesn’t have the luxury of time. The remaining members of her team went missing when she did, and they’ve yet to be tracked down. Miranda has to process on the run, and reconciling herself to a life she doesn’t remember isn’t any easier when people are trying to kill you.

Usually, I don’t like it when authors write MCs from opposite genders. I nitpick and tear apart and whine about unauthentic voices. I didn’t have this problem with Miranda and Dan Krokos. In part, this is due to the fact that Miranda doesn’t have the time to be a girl, only a bewildered human being. However explosive the action is, though, Krokos doesn’t gloss over plot or characterization. Krokos does what The Lost Princessfailed to do–expands on the characters while the action is happening. How each character–from Miranda to Peter to Noah and Olive–responds to their many crises helps us to get to know them better.

False Memory evokes The Bourne Identity and The X-Files without ever feeling derivative. It takes the best of both creates and seriously enjoyable new tale. I had a lot of fun reading it, and I look forward to seeing more from Dan Krokos.