The Great Forgetting

September 14, 2015
In his second novel, Renner (The Man from Primrose Lane) brings readers a sci-fi journey in which the dystopia isn’t set in the future, but the present. Jack Felter, a history teacher in Cleveland, begrudgingly heads back to his hometown of Franklin Mills, Ohio, to visit his ailing father, “the Captain”; Jack’s sister, Jean; and her daughter, Paige. Once there, Jack finds more to do than just worry about the Captain’s fading mind—namely, helping his ex-lover Sam Brooks find her husband and Jack’s former best friend, Dr. Tony Sanders, who disappeared three years earlier. Jack’s search starts with a teenage mental patient, Cole Monroe, who quickly brings Jack into his delusional world, just as he did Tony. “First things first,” Cole says, “you have to start boiling your water.” But are Cole’s conspiracy theories about fluoride, HAARP radio waves, Nazi artifacts, and memory control all just fantasies, or truth? Unraveling Tony’s disappearance brings Jack, the Captain, Cole, Sam, and others into a different world and an alternate history where “the government rewrote people’s memories and reset the calendar.” Though packed with thrills, Renner’s historical revisions put the reader on the defensive, making it difficult to be fully immersed in the action. (Nov.)
★

September 1, 2015
When a man returns home to care for his dying father, he's sucked into a vast conspiracy involving his estranged childhood best friend and a paranoid (or is he?) teenager at a mental hospital. History teacher Jack Felter wanted to leave his whole past behind in Franklin Mills, Ohio-his first love, Samantha; his one-time closest confidant, Tony; his tangled family relationships-but when his father, nicknamed "The Captain," spirals further into dementia, Jack leaves his new life in Cleveland to help his sister, Jean, with caregiving duties. The Captain, a former pilot and Vietnam vet, is lost in a fog of wartime memories, and Jack must contend with his father's diminishing capacity without the help of Tony, who disappeared three years before. A long-ago betrayal split the best friends and Sam apart, but Jack's feelings for Sam burn hot, and he agrees to help her find Tony; his search leads him to Tony's job at Haven Hospital and Tony's last patient, 16-year-old Cole Monroe. It's here that Renner (The Man from Primrose Lane, 2012, etc.) shifts to a more audacious storyline, one that not all readers will embrace. Cole draws Jack into a mysterious world of alternate histories centered on the Great Forgetting, where, for example, the Allies lost World War II, and time is reset every so often because larger malevolent forces control our collective minds. It's heady stuff-Jack, Cole, and the Captain eventually set off for the mythical island of Mu, where the inhabitants still "remember" world events and where Tony might be hiding-and it doesn't always succeed. A fascinating concept that's not entirely well-executed but is worth the read.

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October 15, 2015

Jack Felter returns home to rural Ohio when his father's dementia worsens. He reconnects with former love Sam, whose husband, Tony, has gone missing. Tony was a child psychiatrist at the local hospital, and one of his patients, a boy named Cole, seems to have information about what might have happened to him. In order to find out what young Cole knows, Jack must follow him down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Cole believes that the government is drugging Americans to make them forget their history, and substituting a more palatable version of events. This great forgetting might mean that we are doomed to repeat the violent acts we are meant to forget. VERDICT Renner is skilled at constructing intricate puzzles in his books (such as in the marvelous The Man from Primrose Lane). Here, the author makes the most outlandish conspiracies plausible not only to his protagonist but to readers as well. Inventive Easter eggs are scattered throughout as part of the alternative history that Cole is convinced we have forgotten. The plot might be over the top, but it's a fun ride.--MM

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015
When Jack Felter returns to his small hometown of Franklin Mills to visit his ailing father, the last thing he wants is to see Sam, the woman he still loves even after she ran off with his best friend, Tony. But Tony has been missing for three years now, and Sam begs Jack to help her look for him. When their search turns up a dead body, the police open an investigation, and Jack turns to Cole, the paranoid psychiatric patient whom Tony was treating at the time of his disappearance. What Jack learns from Cole changes everything and sends the pair on a harrowing mission. With enemies hot on their tail and the future of mankind at stake, Jack and Cole are racing against time to right a wrong that has plagued the world for much longer than anyone remembers. Renner weaves conceivable means and motive through a variety of conspiracy theories and a reimagined reality to create a unique blend of genres. Anything but predictable, this meandering but suspenseful tale will certainly keep readers guessing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)