4 out of 4 stars
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Murder in Memory by Mike Thorne is a suspenseful thriller that keeps the reader captivated by the story and characters. The story takes place on the campus of a small southern college in a town called Harper. Life in the small town is disrupted when a female student, Heather Conley, is brutally raped and murdered on campus. Grady Noland, Harper’s Chief of Police, doesn’t waste any time attempting to track down the murderer.
Through the course of his investigation, Grady interviews both students and professors. The reader learns about each of the main characters through this interview process. This was a very clever and creative way for the author to introduce his characters. As Grady is in the midst of his investigation, a second murder takes place. Millie, another student at the college, is the murderer’s latest victim. With two murders to solve, Grady faces considerable pressure from the mayor and the community to find the killer.
Mike Thorne was an academic psychologist for 40 years and his knowledge on this subject adds to the story. The author explores the issue of whether a person can be hypnotized and influenced to change his memories. The reader discovers that the killer suffers from terrible headaches that only murder seems to appease. The killer feels that he has no self-control and must kill. However, he is desperate to cover his crimes and decides to create fake memories in another person through hypnosis. In this way he hopes to conceal his identity as the killer and shift the focus of the police investigation to another person. As a result of hypnosis, an innocent man becomes convinced that he is the killer. The tension builds in the book as Grady continues to investigate the murders following false leads and the reader is anxious for him to discover the truth.
The author has created an extremely well-written story that keeps the reader engaged. Each main character is complex and has depth. Readers will be eager to keep up with the fast-paced action in the book. The central theme of hypnosis and whether it would be possible to create these false memories in someone is a very intriguing concept. It was a creative aspect of the book and the author was able to explain the psychological theories involved without any loss of interest in the part of the reader.
I really enjoyed this book and was captivated by the twists and turns that the author incorporated into the story. I believe this book must have been professionally edited as I didn’t find any grammatical or typographical errors while I was reading. I found some of the scenes to be extremely graphic in descriptions of sex and violence, therefore I would not recommend for young readers. However, I would highly recommend to anyone that enjoys mysteries and suspenseful books. I found this book hard to put down as the story was so riveting and give it a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.
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Murder in Memory
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