The Unforgotten

November 27, 2017
In her thoroughly satisfying and suspenseful debut, Powell offers a twisty, dark murder mystery that is as much about taboos and secrets as it is a whodunit. Fifteen-year-old Betty Broadbent’s Cornish village, St. Steele, is usually fairly quiet. But when a series of young women are brutally murdered in the area during the summer of 1956, the coastal community—not to mention the inn managed by Betty’s volatile and promiscuous mother—is inundated by journalists. One of them, a Mr. Gallagher, takes an interest in Betty that quickly goes beyond mere friendship and that affects the shape not only of the investigation but also of both their lives. Scenes from that brutal and eventful summer are interspersed with a more contemporary narrative set 50 years later, in which a woman known as Mary—recently diagnosed with breast cancer—grows increasingly determined to connect with a figure she once knew in St. Steele. While some of the narrative’s revelations will come as little surprise, others are genuinely unnerving. And the final twist in the murder plot will catch many readers unaware, as will the surprising emotional heft of the narrative, which traces the damage wrought by secrets and good intentions gone awry.

December 1, 2017
Cornwall, 1956: a young woman is drawn to an older man who's come to investigate a string of murders in Powell's debut psychological thriller.When a series of gruesome murders terrorizes the seaside town of St. Steele, reporters descend on the Cornish coast to get the scoop. The men take up residence at a boardinghouse run by the lovely and unstable Dolores Broadbent and her daughter, Betty. At 15, Betty often takes on the responsibility of running the hotel because of her mother's tendency to drown her loneliness in alcohol. She exudes confidence as a flirt with the local boys but finds herself tongue-tied around the male reporters, especially the irascible Mr. Gallagher, who seems content to tap her as a "cheap source" for information about the chief murder suspect. Soon, however, they develop an undeniable attraction despite the fact that Mr. Gallagher is twice Betty's age, and, against the grisly backdrop of the town tragedy, they begin a star-crossed love affair. The novel cuts between the story of that summer in 1956 and the actions of a character named Mary 50 years later. No spoilers here, but the two narratives are, of course, inextricably linked. While it's a bit hard to accept the May-December romance between the main characters, the effect that this relationship has on Betty is harrowing. The second half of the novel, tracing Betty's psychological trauma, is haunting and complex. It's a real portrait of mental illness, and while it doesn't make for light reading, it creates an emotional impact. There is, of course, also a reveal of the real killer in the last 20 pages, and the mystery is fairly believable and chilling.A satisfying mystery as well as a complex portrait of the effects of emotional trauma and mental illness.

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January 1, 2018
In Powell's gripping debut novel, there is a murderer on the loose in the Cornish fishing village of St. Steele. It's 1956, and Betty Broadbent lands in the middle of a media frenzy, along with her capricious mother. As the murders continue, Betty finds herself attracted to a particular reporter, Mr. Gallagher. Her initial feelings of admiration develop into affection, and he reciprocates her advances. Their relationship holds one problem: Betty is 15, and Gallagher is 30. Their relationship necessitates secrecy, which becomes a dilemma when, following one of her meetings with Gallagher, Betty sees the killer. She is faced with two options: tell the truth and expose her relationship, leaving Gallagher likely to be imprisoned, or protect Gallagher and allow the innocent man who has been arrested to rot in prison. From Powell's vivid descriptions of the seaside to the sensitive handling of the moral implications of Betty and Gallagher's relationship to a genuinely surprising plot twist, The Unforgotten is entirely unforgettable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)