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The Memory Plot
Two years after the car crash that killed her family, mental health counsellor Jill Garvin’s memories of the events surrounding the tragedy are beginning to resurface. And with them, a painful and ugly secret that will shatter the way Jill views her late husband. The threat of reality may be more than Jill’s fragile mind can handle. But handle it she must, because a much darker force is at work: a man who would do anything to keep her past a secret, including destroy the new family Jill has found for herself.
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 27, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 15, 2013
The Memory Plot by D.W. Carver is a 2013 Musa Publishing publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I started this book without realizing it was part of a series. I believe I would read the book published before this one at least. I had the feeling all through the book that I was missing pertinent information about what was going on. I didn't know who to trust and who not to. Some of the main characters could have been trusted, but I didn't know that because I didn't know the back story.
Jill has lost her memory after a car accident wipes out her entire family. Now she is responsible for her niece, Sarah. Jill's husband, Paul, had been guilty of treason and there are some serious concerns that Jill will have a sudden memory recovery and then some people will be in big trouble. Jill lives on the edge coping with her memory problems, taking care of Sarah, who has had a very rough life, and worrying about the people who want to see what she remembers . She is a definite liability and getting to her is priority number one.
Thankfully, Jill does have a good guy in her life. Creel's job is to look after Jill and Sarah. The job turns personal when he and Jill begin a romance.
There is a great deal of intrigue and betrayals. The writing is sharp and the dialogue is real. These are some really bad guys, but that isn't all they have to worry about. Occasionally, Jill as severe nightmares and sometimes she has a memory come back. Most of these memories are quite traumatic.
The reader will have to be very strong and able to read about very adult themes involving child abuse and other very disturbing topics.
This book is recommended to those that like hard edged emotional thrillers and it could appeal to those that enjoy psychological thrillers as well.
Although I have not read the previous books in this series, I could still follow the plot and enjoy the book. As stated earlier, I do think I would have had a better understanding of things if I had read about Jill's husband and specifics in that situation and how she came to know Creel.
Other than that this is still a taut suspenseful read and despite some very graphic descriptions I could have done without, this was a good read.
Over all an A-
I started this book without realizing it was part of a series. I believe I would read the book published before this one at least. I had the feeling all through the book that I was missing pertinent information about what was going on. I didn't know who to trust and who not to. Some of the main characters could have been trusted, but I didn't know that because I didn't know the back story.
Jill has lost her memory after a car accident wipes out her entire family. Now she is responsible for her niece, Sarah. Jill's husband, Paul, had been guilty of treason and there are some serious concerns that Jill will have a sudden memory recovery and then some people will be in big trouble. Jill lives on the edge coping with her memory problems, taking care of Sarah, who has had a very rough life, and worrying about the people who want to see what she remembers . She is a definite liability and getting to her is priority number one.
Thankfully, Jill does have a good guy in her life. Creel's job is to look after Jill and Sarah. The job turns personal when he and Jill begin a romance.
There is a great deal of intrigue and betrayals. The writing is sharp and the dialogue is real. These are some really bad guys, but that isn't all they have to worry about. Occasionally, Jill as severe nightmares and sometimes she has a memory come back. Most of these memories are quite traumatic.
The reader will have to be very strong and able to read about very adult themes involving child abuse and other very disturbing topics.
This book is recommended to those that like hard edged emotional thrillers and it could appeal to those that enjoy psychological thrillers as well.
Although I have not read the previous books in this series, I could still follow the plot and enjoy the book. As stated earlier, I do think I would have had a better understanding of things if I had read about Jill's husband and specifics in that situation and how she came to know Creel.
Other than that this is still a taut suspenseful read and despite some very graphic descriptions I could have done without, this was a good read.
Over all an A-
August 31, 2013
Having not read any of the others in the series I will judge this purely on the merits of one book. So if anything doesn’t make sense, an insight is erroneous or something I write sounds confusing, it is my error and not a fault of the writer.
Mental health worker Jill Garvin lost her family two years ago and the memories are being just starting to resurface – which is to the detriment of the interests of certain people who need her to forget those events for good. Along the way she has Creel, her bodyguard, and Sarah her niece.
Jill is an interesting character – I like her and I feel for her. She has suffered horrendously in the last two years and it is quite clear from the get go that it is going to affect her for a long time to come. For a mental health professional, that isn’t good. At times I’m not sure whether she is fully aware of what she is doing. Clearly she is not thinking straight – why else would she invite a man to bed for non-sexual purposes, strip naked in front of him and then ask only that he hugs her tightly through the night? For me, it was this facet of her character and a desire to understand her that really drove my interest in the book.
It is well written and flows incredibly well. Before you know it, you’d have covered quite a substantial quantity of the book and not realise it. The plot is largely intriguing and you don’t really know where it is going. What is the conspiracy? How deep is it? What is her involvement? Her dead husbands? This alone makes it a bit of a page turner so for that the author deserves to be commended. Too many books fail that simple test of keeping your reader interested.
Now for the bad points: Jill and her niece Sarah spend an inexplicable amount of time (especially in the first half) either in their underwear discussing sex, naked discussing sex or generally sitting around discussing sex. Now I’m no prude, but it does get a bit wearisome. I get that they are modern and independent women and talk about that stuff… all well and good but at times it feels that it is all they talk about. Oh and there are lots of descriptions of Jill taking her clothes off – presumably to go to bed for some shut eye but I never figured out why it was necessary to have so many descriptions of her getting undressed.
This book deals harshly with some brutal issues so in that respect. Mental abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, rape… it is not an easy read but only with one of them did I feel it was particularly distasteful: two protagonists inventing a plot to falsely accuse a man of rape. The fact that they justify this to themselves means that I lost all sympathy for these characters. The ends do not justify the means.
In many ways a very good book but you should probably start at the beginning – this is the third in the series.
See more book reviews at my blog
Mental health worker Jill Garvin lost her family two years ago and the memories are being just starting to resurface – which is to the detriment of the interests of certain people who need her to forget those events for good. Along the way she has Creel, her bodyguard, and Sarah her niece.
Jill is an interesting character – I like her and I feel for her. She has suffered horrendously in the last two years and it is quite clear from the get go that it is going to affect her for a long time to come. For a mental health professional, that isn’t good. At times I’m not sure whether she is fully aware of what she is doing. Clearly she is not thinking straight – why else would she invite a man to bed for non-sexual purposes, strip naked in front of him and then ask only that he hugs her tightly through the night? For me, it was this facet of her character and a desire to understand her that really drove my interest in the book.
It is well written and flows incredibly well. Before you know it, you’d have covered quite a substantial quantity of the book and not realise it. The plot is largely intriguing and you don’t really know where it is going. What is the conspiracy? How deep is it? What is her involvement? Her dead husbands? This alone makes it a bit of a page turner so for that the author deserves to be commended. Too many books fail that simple test of keeping your reader interested.
Now for the bad points: Jill and her niece Sarah spend an inexplicable amount of time (especially in the first half) either in their underwear discussing sex, naked discussing sex or generally sitting around discussing sex. Now I’m no prude, but it does get a bit wearisome. I get that they are modern and independent women and talk about that stuff… all well and good but at times it feels that it is all they talk about. Oh and there are lots of descriptions of Jill taking her clothes off – presumably to go to bed for some shut eye but I never figured out why it was necessary to have so many descriptions of her getting undressed.
This book deals harshly with some brutal issues so in that respect. Mental abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, rape… it is not an easy read but only with one of them did I feel it was particularly distasteful: two protagonists inventing a plot to falsely accuse a man of rape. The fact that they justify this to themselves means that I lost all sympathy for these characters. The ends do not justify the means.
In many ways a very good book but you should probably start at the beginning – this is the third in the series.
See more book reviews at my blog
September 2, 2014
I received a free ecopy of this book for an honest review.
The Memory Plot is a suspense/thriller. I wish I had known there were other Jill Garvin books but this one does stand alone.
The book is well written and, for the most part, it flows well. There were a couple times when I got a little lost.
The characters are described well. I liked the relationship between Jill and Creel as well as Jill's relationship with Sarah. Amazingly, even though she had some serious memory problems and past psych issues, she was able develop these meaningful relationships.
There were some spots where the story got a little slow but the last quarter of the book was very suspenseful.
The Memory Plot is a suspense/thriller. I wish I had known there were other Jill Garvin books but this one does stand alone.
The book is well written and, for the most part, it flows well. There were a couple times when I got a little lost.
The characters are described well. I liked the relationship between Jill and Creel as well as Jill's relationship with Sarah. Amazingly, even though she had some serious memory problems and past psych issues, she was able develop these meaningful relationships.
There were some spots where the story got a little slow but the last quarter of the book was very suspenseful.
January 1, 2014
* I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I found the book to be a suspenseful, exciting read with interesting characters and snappy dialogue.However, I could have done without some of the graphic depictions and done more with Jill's back story because I found myself confused at times. Otherwise it was an enjoyable read.
I found the book to be a suspenseful, exciting read with interesting characters and snappy dialogue.However, I could have done without some of the graphic depictions and done more with Jill's back story because I found myself confused at times. Otherwise it was an enjoyable read.
dnf
December 7, 2013Did not Finish
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews