The Memory Collector

April 27, 2009
Near the start of Edgar-finalist Gardiner's solid follow-up to The Dirty Secrets Club
, San Francisco forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett examines Ian Kanan, a distressed airline passenger who turns out to be suffering from anterograde amnesia, which makes it impossible for him to form new memories. Kanan, who's sure that his family has been kidnapped and he's been poisoned, disappears from the hospital before Beckett can learn more. When she starts digging into his background, Beckett discovers not only that Kanan was a security consultant for Chira-Sayf, a nanotechnology company, but that he may have been exposed to Slick, an experimental bioweapon. Along with her SFPD contact, Lt. Amy Tang, and para-jumper boyfriend, Gabe Quintana, Beckett races to find Kanan before the people he's pursuing unleash Slick on San Francisco. Gardiner more than compensates for the sometimes implausible plot with her effective use of Kanan's amnesia and her heroine's resourcefulness.

April 15, 2009
Jo Beckett, the forensic psychiatrist in the excellent "Dirty Secrets Club", is back, only this time she is evaluating suspects instead of doing "psychological autopsies." She is called to the airport to determine whether Ian Kanan should be arrested or hospitalized for acting erratically on his return flight from a business trip to South Africa. Apparently Kanan picked up a rare disease called "anterograde amnesia," causing him to forget all new information every five minutes, including the fact that he's carrying "Slick," a highly volatile explosive with devastating side effects. In addition to the rare disease that appears to be spreading and taking lives, this thriller encompasses just about every device used in the genre: a race against the clock with a kidnapped family in peril, high-tech super-deadly explosives, international terrorists, high-speed car chases, and a couple of strong women who can make jokes while outrunning a homicidal maniac. The complete lack of character development and terse writing style makes for a fast-paced story, but not necessarily a good one. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/1/09.]Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2009
Pursuit of a sinister drug that short-circuits short-term memory drives Gardiners second taut thriller starring San Francisco forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett (after The Dirty Secrets Club, in 2008). The doctor, who is accustomed to conducting investigations on the dead, has a live one this time: an airline passenger named Ian Kanan who became unhinged during a seemingly routine landing at San Francisco Airport. (He thrust open the emergency doors in a panic before two fellow passengers wrestled him away.) Turns out Kanan, an exSpecial Forces agent now working asa consultant, was sent to South Africa to intercept a rogue employee bent on stealing a cutting-edge drug called Slick. Designed as a bomb-killer, Slicks untamed technology does more damage than good, prompting further explosions and rewiring the brains of those who come in contact with it. At some point, Kanans brain became infected; it now resets every five minutes, leaving him incapable of forming new memories. Its up to Dr. Beckett to piece together Kanans past before Slick slithers its way into her beloved city. Bad guys, betrayal, and a beastly technology propel Edgar finalist Gardiners heart-stopping plot. Mystery fans are sure to embrace this whip-smart novelist, who gets better with every book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)