Member Reviews
WOW!! Just wow! This book was absolutely amazing.
This book was thrill after thrill, shock after shock, twist after twist. I loved how the novel kept me guessing to the very end, and you never knew which way the story was going to turn next. With an unreliable, untrustworthy and shady main character, to other characters you will learn to love (or love to hate!), this novel was a heck of a ride and a pleasure to read. From the beginning to the end, I was immersed in this story. Who is this strange woman that comes knocking unexpectedly on Tony and Laura’s door? Why does she think she lives there? And if she does, what are THEY doing in HER house?
Nothing is as it seems, so who can you trust? When you cannot separate the truth from the lies and deception, what are you to do? It will leave you wanting to know more as you read through the chapters and more of the story unfolds.
I found myself wanting to know how the main character had lost her memory. Will she be able to regain her memory and piece back together the pieces of the puzzle that is her life and regain her life back? Or will her life remain a mystery?
A definite must-read that you need to add to your TBR list! You will not be disappointed.
Losing your identity and turning up in a place that you vaguely recognise, the house you think is yours, but someone else is living there, and they don’t know you are, is the idea behind #ForgetMyName, a classy, well researched psychological thriller.
This thriller works, because this type of crisis is a fear for many people. We are grounded by familiarity, we feel safe, and not being able to fall back on things we recognise, is a shattering concept, for most people.
The everyday setting, makes the woman’s situation more frightening, she wants to fit in, remember, but she can’t. Is she running from something terrible? Something she’s done or been done to her? Do others know more about her situation than she does? Why are they keeping secrets? Do they really want to help her? All these questions make this a believable, twisty thriller. It has the ambience of a gothic style plot. Creepy, evil, lies, secrets and the main protagonist who doesn’t know who to trust, and whether she can even trust herself.
Chilling, compulsive reading, with realistic characters, hard to spot clues, and a relentless pace make this an addictive book that you read with the fervent hope you never forget who you are.
I received a copy of this book from Head of Zeus in return for an honest review.
A mysterious woman turns up on the doorstep of Laura and Tony’s home. She’s lost her bag which contains her whole life – passport, purse, ID and keys. She’s also lost her memory and can’t remember her own name. The only thing she can remember is that she lives at this house. Yet, Laura and Tony have never met her before. Wanting to help they invite her to stay, but do they really know who they have invited into their home…
This was my first book by this author. When I saw this book I thought the idea of a woman who can’t remember who she is turning up at a house that she thinks she lives in completely original and really enticing! The mysterious woman, given the name of Jemma, remains mysterious until well into the story. I really felt for Jemma and couldn’t think of anything worse than to not be able to remember anything about my life, and then forgetting everything I’d learnt the next morning when I woke up as well. It was also hard to work out whether Jemma was genuine or not and this kept me right on the edge of my seat trying to work it all out.
Most of the characters had something about them that meant I didn’t know which ones to believe and which ones to trust. The chapters are told from different characters points of view and the storyline keeps twisting and turning throwing red herrings and dead ends into it at every turn. Without giving away too many spoilers, just when I thought the story had all ended, it went off tangent and carried on a bit more! It felt like I was getting two books for the price of one! The storyline does though, in parts, get a little bit far-fetched and I was left wondering what the likelihood of some of things happening was! But, this didn’t detract at all from the tension, suspense and enjoyment of this book.
Overall, this was a fabulously dark thriller which will keep you wondering what the hell is going on and turning the pages furiously just to find out! It’s well written, with some great research and I really enjoyed it! Would definitely recommend!
To be fair, whilst i had guessed a character had something to do with things straight away, i had no idea where it was going or why certain things had occurred - this book definitely had me intrigued, which is no small feat! From small town England to Berlin and the world J.S. Monroe created, Forget My Name was very much a mystery, a good one at that!
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is an AMAZING story! I wish it was receiving more buzz online, and that more of the readers I know were reading it. It absolutely deserves to be a best-seller and to be made into a movie.
This is one of those stories that draws you in from the very beginning. With a first line like "I can't remember my own name," you just KNOW it has tons of potential.
There are so many twists and turns to the plot that I was always coming up with a new theory--and I never managed to get it entirely right.
The story is told from several different perspectives, which adds to the twistiness of the plot. It is sometimes difficult to know which characters are telling the truth and which are lying, and sometimes you may want to shake the main character for her life choices. But it is definitely worth reading this book from beginning to end.
A fantastic gripping thriller that had me on he edge of my seat. Js monroe is an exceptional story teller. Highly recommended
I actually quite liked this and thought the book itself was an interesting read, I wasn’t quite sure myself who to trust and what a frightening thing to have happen and be in that situation!
Not your average book about the usual who to trust/can’t remember what happened and I thought it was pretty decent, it lagged in parts but not enough to spoil my enjoyment. A new author for me and one I’ll look out for again.
I received a copy of this from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I literally could not put this book down from the first page. As things began to unravel I was on the edge of my seat trying to establish motives and connections, and which theory was right. At 77% of the way through the book I was still none the wiser! I could not work out who was lying and who was telling the truth! When it was all revealed I thought it was a great twist. Really enjoyed this book.
The blurb of this sucked me right in so I couldn’t wait to read this. I wasn’t disappointed.
A young lady is found at Tony and Laura’s front door. She’s convinced she lives there yet she can’t remember her name.
Who is she?
What’s going on? That’s what I kept asking myself.
This was an intriguing read from start to finish. I’m so looking forward to reading more from this author in the future. Highly recommend this read.
I am in charge of our Senior School library and am looking for a diverse array of new books to furnish their shelves with and inspire our young people to read a wider and more diverse range of books as they move through the senior school. It is hard sometimes to find books that will grab the attention of young people as their time is short and we are competing against technology and online entertainments.
This was a thought-provoking and well-written read that will appeal to young readers across the board. It had a really strong voice and a compelling narrative that I think would capture their attention and draw them in. It kept me engrossed and I think that it's so important that the books that we purchase for both our young people and our staff are appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible - as well as providing them with something a little 'different' that they might not have come across in school libraries before.
This was a really enjoyable read and I will definitely be purchasing a copy for school so that our young people can enjoy it for themselves. A satisfying and well-crafted read that I keep thinking about long after closing its final page - and that definitely makes it a must-buy for me!
The headline blurb for this book really drew me in - You are outside your front door. There are strangers in your house. Then you realise... You can't remember your name.
So it begins - who are the people in her house? Or is she actually in their house? I was intrigued to say the least.
Quite quickly I thought that she must have lived in the house in the past, otherwise why would she know the layout of the rooms. It seemed like a case of amnesia for sure and the couple who live in the house kindly let her stay the night as she has no belongings, only the train ticket that got her to the village. But as she falls asleep she hears the guy whisper at her bedroom door "welcome home" as he thinks she is asleep for the night. Spooky - so now does that mean he does know her.........
The book goes from a whodunnit which I began to think was getting cheesy to a really chilling thriller with a fantastic climax and I had to quickly rethink my opinion of the plot. All through the book the character who has become known as Jemma repeats "forget my name" to herself and it was only when I finished the book I realised how meaningful this was on several different levels.
This would have been a five star book for me but I have taken one off for slightly too many red herrings than I think were necessary, which just made it a little unbelievable (yes I know it's fiction) and the line "you look like a Jemma to me with a "J" - that was the beginning of me thinking it was cheesy.
Four out of five stars and my thanks to Netgalley for a ARC to review.
Thank you for sending me this copy to review.
This is a great book by an author relatively new on my radar.
This book is a great thriller that has plenty of twists and turns. The story starts with a girl who turns up at a house with a blank memory believing that it is her home. Only for it to be occupied by a young couple who claim they live there.
Also coincidently a criminal with a new identity has dropped off the radar, could these two episodes be linked?
This is a great story with some believable characters that will have you gripped from the beginning!
A very interesting book with an interesting and rather unique theme. The original premise of a strangers memory loss and arrival in an English village is complicated by the growing suspicion that she is in fact a convicted murderer. A murderer who has been released with a new identity but fallen off the radar as far as the authorities are concerned. The plot thickens and progresses with many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the very end. A good contemporary, twisted tale
Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the review copy. This is an unbiased review of the author's work and style. If you want plot lines and spoilers please see the publishers blurb and other reviewers' reports.
Published in October 2018 "Forget My Name" is the 8th novel of J S Moore (pen name of Jon Stock jounalist and writer of spy and psycholigical thrillers).
In this new book he tells the tale from various characters' view points. It is worth persevering but you need to be into puzzles to get the most out of it. If you're used to 'crime who dun it's' this may well be for you. Overall I enjoyed the book and would have given it five stars had the characters been given more rounded personalities. But it is really worth four stars.
Now I intend to look out the spy series from Jon Stock "the Legoland trilogy".
This was a really tense thriller with some great twists. Couldn't really work out who could be trusted throughout. Kept me up late to find out what happened - great read.
Tense and gripping ... How would you fee not knowing your own name, convinced that you had strangers living in your house? Makes you think doesn't it and this book certainly made me think. excellent story telling from the beginning. well written and enticing.
A tense book that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. It certainly took on ideas from my own worst fears and gave them a voiced.
One evening Laura and Tony are disturbed by a distressed young woman who has lost her memory, but claims the cottage is hers. Who is this person that Tony decides to call Jemma? A great start, the sort of book with no preambling - hits the ground running. Who is telling the truth, who can you believe and it’s not till much later that the mist begins to clear - “oh that’s why” moments, so there are plenty of twists and turns. I liked most of it, but there were a few coincidences where you think “really?”. An interesting concept with a pleasing style of writing, so overall, a good read but with some unpleasant goings on, but not too descriptive for the faint hearted reader!
Thanks NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. What a fantastic book. I enjoyed this from the first page onwards. A very gripping book with lots of twist and turns. I’ll definitely be looking out for other titles by J S Monroe.
Forget my name is a book you won’t forget in a hurry!!
A twisty thriller with some creepy characters but lacked the tension to enable me to get into this book.