3 out of 4 stars
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“Hey, do you remember when...” is a phrase I'm sure we've all uttered at some point in our lives. In Mike Thorne's Murder in Memory, Dr. Jon Evans does remember when. Unfortunately, what he remembers are actually fake memories that have been planted in his mind by his trusted psychologist. For his part, Dr. Henry Andrews turns the Hippocratic Oath into a hypocritical oath, as he does a great deal of harm to a great many people.
Dr. Andrews has been suffering from terrible headaches for quite some time, and he uses murder to assuage his pain. Afraid he'll get caught, he uses hypnosis to plant memories in his patient's mind so the hapless professor, Jon, will think he committed the murders. Will Police Chief Grady Noland figure out the dastardly doctor's plan before he can kill yet again? Will Jon realize that he's remembering things he never actually did? Will Dr. Andrews get help for his headaches before it's too late? You'll need to read Murder in Memory to find out.
You'll notice that I gave the culprit's identity away. In this scenario, it's not a spoiler because author Thorne does so, as well, early on. I've read very few books where the killer was named up-front, so I was quite intrigued with how it would play out. I'm happy to say that despite knowing “whodunit” early on, I was still eager to continue reading; I wanted to see how long it would take the police chief to figure everything out. All told, I think this book was well-paced with a great balance of action and suspense.
In addition to the murder spree, there are a few other plots, such as Jon's wife's affair with a police officer, which actually becomes a key factor later in the book. I think the author did a fantastic job tying all the pieces together, and it made for an even more spine-tingling read.
Alongside Jon, Henry, Grady, and Jon's wife, there are quite a few other characters, all of whom are important to the story. Police Chief Noland's wife, Marge, for instance, plays an integral role throughout the tale. With a cast this large, none of the peripheral characters are fully fleshed-out, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment. I also think it's a testimony to the author's writing skills that I was sometimes able to feel sympathy for Dr. Andrews, our "bad guy".
Events in Murder in Memory take place in a small town, and I did get a Mayberry vibe, but much of the scenery was left up to my imagination. Again, this didn't lessen the book's value in my eyes.
With so much to enjoy about this story, I was really let down by the finale. Without giving anything away, I will say that I was less than pleased with how things played out. After becoming fully immersed in the tale, I was waiting for a great climax, yet there was none to be had. While I'm not sorry to have read the book, I still have a feeling of 'I read all that for THAT?' Suffice it to say, the ending left a rather bitter taste in my mouth.
Though I'd hoped to give Murder in Memory four stars, I'm forced to go with 3 out of 4 stars due to its ending. I kind of hope there's a sequel so as to tie some things up, but I also realize that some things cannot be fixed at this point either. On a good note, I didn't notice any grammatical errors, so it was really close to being a winner.
Since this was a good tale over all, I do recommend it for those who enjoy crime stories, especially the kind that reveal the killer early on. Also, while the ending wasn't to my liking, the twist may be more agreeable to others, so please don't let that turn you off too much; I'm just giving my opinion.
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Murder in Memory
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