Close to Me

October 2, 2017
Partial amnesia has become an overused gimmick in psychological thrillers, as shown by British author Reynolds’s mundane debut. Jo Harding wakes up in the hospital following a fall down the stairs at her home. She can’t remember anything that occurred during the past year, and her husband, Rob, seems determined to keep her in the dark. Her grown children, son Fin and daughter Sash, also are vague about the previous year. At home, Jo wonders if her fall happened during an argument with Rob, or if he pushed her, especially since he barely lets her out of his sight. As flashes of memory return, Jo worries whether Rob was having an affair—or whether she was, since she keeps seeing images of a naked man in bed. Jo’s search for her memory quickly becomes wearisome. Whiny, self-centered personalities give little reason to care about any of the characters, and the banal denouement is more of a shrug than a surprise. Agent: Sarah Williams, Sophie Hicks Agency (U.K.).

October 15, 2017
In this domestic thriller debut, a woman with post-traumatic amnesia struggles to regain her memories only to realize that perhaps ignorance was bliss. After 55-year-old Joanne Harding tumbles down the stairs and strikes her head, she's distraught to discover that she has forgotten the past year. The last thing the former stay-at-home mom remembers is being sad that her youngest child, Fin, has gone off to college, leaving her with an empty nest; according to her husband, Rob, though, that happened a year ago. Rob insists that everything is fine and nothing significant has transpired, but when Fin and his sister, Sash, come over for dinner the next night, it's obvious to Jo that Rob is lying to her and that he's ordered their children to do the same. Jo starts digging to uncover the truth, but the more she learns about her missing months, the more convinced she becomes that her family members aren't the only ones keeping secrets. British author Reynolds uses lush, evocative prose and a first-person, present-tense narration to create an immersive tale that's fueled by anxiety and dread. Chapters set in the present are interspersed with flashbacks, tension mounting as the storylines converge, but while Reynolds' structure is elegant and her plotting is precise, the book's interpersonal conflict feels soapy and manufactured. What begins as an intriguing twist on a tired trope ultimately falls prey to ill-defined stakes and underdeveloped characters.

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October 15, 2017
Head injuries are always bad news for domestic-suspense heroines. After a fall down the stairs, Jo Harding can't remember the past year of her life. And she's beginning to become suspicious of her husband's insistence that she needn't bother to remember. As bits and pieces do come back, the newly empty-nested housewife discovers that her husband is leaving out some pretty significant events from the last yearlike her son's dropping out of college for mysterious reasons and the fact that Jo was planning to leave her husband the day she fell. Even as the secrets come pouring out, Jo distrusts her foggy recollections and the versions of the truth she's getting from her family. A perfect fit for fans of Judy Mercer and Nicci French.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)