Fast Forward

by Judy Mercer

Awakening bruised and bloody, with no memory, in a ransacked house, Ariel Gold begins a stubborn quest to reclaim her past, searching through a stranger's unknown life to find herself, but her investigation is leading her into the sights of a killer. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Adult, Suspense, Crime

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Jeanne Adamek · Rating 5 out of 5]

After all these years I still love the story. Somethings I saw through different eyes and this was exciting. I DO have to admit that this wasn't the most realistic story told but the authors characters were written so vibrantly that it didn't matter.

This story was the first book in what turned out to be a series. I tried book two and book three and in my opinion the author wasn't able to hold up that "special something" that I so loved in this story.

If you are interested in a exciting, unusual story and fantastic characters AND do not mind that the story is terribly realistic this could be something for you. Recommended!

[Blondish And Bookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ariel Gold wakes up, beaten up, and in a destroyed house, and she can't remember what happened. Of course, she also can't remember who she is--except that when she sees herself in the mirror she knows that that HAS to be wrong--that is NOT HER!!

She has no idea who broke in and assaulted her, and no idea why anyone would. Since she doesn't know who to trust, she tries to hide the fact that she has complete amnesia. When a coworker, Henry, calls to see why she's not at work, she claims to be sick. That night she is attacked again and ends up shooting--and killing--the intruder.

Ariel gradually starts to trust her neighbor, and Henry, and reveals the fact that she doesn't know what she did or who she angered. She is pulled back into the world of television as her natural talents assert themselves, even though she having to improvise her entire life at this point. She starts interacting with other coworkers, interviewing crime victims, and even dating--all the while trying to seek her past and determine her future.

There were a surprising amount of major characters in this book (enough to be slightly confusing at times) but everything was nicely tied together at the end, with some good twists in the plot.

[Tk Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book 4 stars because it was defintely suspenseful and hard to put down. The pluses: the story draws you in immediately; the protagonist is very likeable; good descriptions of her friends and neighbors. The bad: there's several situations that are difficult to suspend belief about, right from the start. Like why wouldn't she tell anyone she has amnesia? Why would she return to a house where she is obviously in danger? I could go on. But very good for a first book.

[Pen Pen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judy Mercer only wrote four books that I can find. This is the first of a series featuring protagonist Ariel Gold.

Ariel awakens one morning with no memory of who she is or what her life is like. As she stumbles and fumbles around to figure this out, she is pursued by a killer.

Mercer is a masterful storyteller. I only wish she had written more.

www.penspen.info

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I’ve reread this one,
is an easy good read, mystery, what happen, and cool, she found
info about herself! love the whole series, easy reads, interesting from begging to end!
as before, loved the book, couldn't put it down!

[Margaret Boehm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting mystery that completely baffled me. There were twists and turns and the ending was not predicatable. Excellent

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy great read. Keeps you involved

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised how much I like this series. It was a impulse purchase and I'm glad I made it.

[Kathy Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It kept me guessing to the very end.

[Gema Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reseña completa en el blog La Contraportada: https://lacontraportadablog.blogspot....

Amnesia cuenta con todos los ingredientes para ser un gran thriller: un misterio (la protagonista no recuerda su pasado), personajes redondos, intentos de asesinato, persecuciones y relaciones de poder. Hay que reconocer que durante una gran parte del libro, aproximadamente un tercio, la trama del principio es lenta, la acción es más bien escasa, y el lector está perdido entre los entresijos de los pensamientos de Ariel encerrada en su casa. Cuando la protagonista empieza a salir, va a visitar a sus vecinos, a trabajar en su programa de TV, etc. es cuando Amnesiarealmente empieza. La intrigra llega cuando descubre en una de las investigaciones de su programa la muerte en un coche-bomba de una modelo llamada Jane. A partir de este momento el libro se vuelve adictivo. El misterio es absolutamente cautivador, todos los misterios se cruzan y se enlazan entre sí, de modo que el lector solo puede elucubrar sobre quién será el "malo", "qué relación tienen estos personajes" y "qué pasará a continuación".

Recomiendo Amnesia a cualquiera que logre hacerse con un ejemplar. Yo descubrí el mío en un mercadillo de libros, y os aseguro que por un euro fue una compra más que rentable.

[DAB-E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Split Image first and then read this one. I really enjoyed it. This gave me the background of all the characters from the 3rd book in the series, that I read first. I just started Double Take and am enjoying that as well.

The characters are fun and a little quirky. The book is a quick read since you want to know what will happen next.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable mystery. A little convoluted, but definitely kept my interest. The author actually had me wondering if the character just had amnesia or if she was somehow transported into someone else’s body! So it was a fun read.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donated to Friends of the Library 2019

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read of a book I read in the '90s. Still enjoyable. I know this was the first of a series by Judy Mercer, but I haven't seen anything since. Too bad, she was a great writer.

[Akira Schranz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Aysha Maas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het verhaal intrigeert vanaf het eerste moment en neemt verrassende wendingen. Een van de betere thrillers die ik gelezen heb.

[Christine Mathieu · Rating 1 out of 5]

No keeper.
I've read this book some 35+ years ago and liked it way back then, but it has not passed the test of time.

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad book. You can tell it was the author's first novel. Not that it mattered, but there were punctuation missing in areas as well as misspelled words, but it took nothing away from the story. I did find myself getting lost on occasion, because of how something was written and I would have to re-read to see who really was supposed to be talking at that time. I do like the story line, twins, separated at birth, raised differently, but yet ending up in the same area at the same time. Tragically, the one is killed because she was mistaken for the other one. They even drove similar cars. The story focuses on Ariel, who wakes up one day, can't remember who she is, the day, or anything about her life. She finds her house in shambles, a bloody shirt with a gun wrapped in it. She finds a mirror, stares at herself, but feels a dissociation with herself. Telling herself that whoever this person is in the mirror isn't her. Instead of calling the police or seeking help, she cleans up the house, showers, puts on clean clothes. Finds that she has a dog she doesn't remember. Then the next night, someone breaks into her house, she assumes it is the same person that may have broke in the day before. She struggles with the person and ends up shooting him. After this, her life takes new twists and turns as she is silently trying to find out who she is. As time goes on, she finally confides in a friend what happened about her not remembering. He has her seek help. All the while, someone is watching her, watching her house and trying to figure out why she isn't dead. I did not figure out who this person was until close to the end. I thought maybe it was her husband, that maybe she had ran from him, was in hiding because of abuse or something. Along the way, she encounters the grandfather of the person that was killed when Ariel went to the house of the widow with the tv show that worked with to conduct an interview. It was there that she finds she bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman. So much so that they could be sisters. She starts doing her own investigation into finding out who she is, why someone would want her dead. Through all the twists and turns, she finally finds out that she was adopted and tried finding out about her birth parents. As she was researching the death of the woman she looked like, Jane, she began to befriend the widow. Went out with him a few times. Then when she started to check into his background, she found out he wasn't who he claimed to be and started having suspicion about him. It was when she was lured to the same restaurant where Jane was killed, by who she thought was Henry, a co worker, that she finally realized who was after her. After all was over, she continued on to find out about her birth parents. It was during this time, she discovered she had a twin sister, Jane. This wasn't bad, I am looking forward to reading the next one to find out more about Ariel and how her life has changed since everything that happened to her.

[Briana Gomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was really interesting and compelling but I hated the writing. I didn't finish the book because it was too much work reading it. Sometimes I felt like the author was writing just for the sake of making it longer. I appreciate descriptive language but that's not what I found. It was just wordy and long for the sake of being long. If the writing was more concise I probably would have loved this book! I might go back and read it because I'm really curious to find out what happened...but I didn't enjoy actually reading it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really 3.5 stars. Not my favorite book, and I won't hunt down others by this author, but still interesting. The story took some time to get into (150 pages roughly) but by the end I was caught up in the story and interested. Probably worth reading if you run across a used copy somewhere but nothing worth running out to find.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine waking up without your memory and your house ransacked. (this is the first page. I promise I didn't just spoil it for you.) This book was fun and about a strong woman. It's one of those reads that makes you wonder what you would do if it were you.
This was an RD condensed version.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

RDC-M V 4 1995 @ 1995, 3/13. Fast Forward. Judy Mercer. A woman wakes up in a ransacked house, alone with a german shepherd, and a face and body she doesn't recognize as her own because she has amnesia. Very good.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ehh! I kept falling asleep when I was reading it and I usually don't have that problem when I'm into a book. Just felt it was slow and predictable.

[Karen]

This book starts out slow, but it gets better.

[Lysergius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unutterably tedious, written for 12 year olds.

[J R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheesy as hell, but entertaining enough for those times when you want to read something that doesn't tax the brain too much.

[Stacey Leahey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only 4 stars because ending was confusing and rushed to make sense it seemed. Good mystery though

[Chris]

Ned. Titel: het andere gezicht

[Arwen Fowler-jonsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked the book but the ending was definitely setting up for a sequel and I felt a little let down since I will have to wait until I find the next book.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story, good characters, just rushed the ending a little!