Backstory is a dark thriller, full of surprises, that makes for a very enjoyable summer read.

Bob wakes up with a huge bruise and bump on his head, and no memory. He only knows his name because he is with people who know who he is. He slowly realizes that his wife has just died from suicide, and he works at the Goodyear factory. But he also knows how to box and kickbox, and looks like he's had quite a few fights in his life. His late wife's brother tells him he's been clean and sober for 10 years, but he has memories of drinking that don't seem to back that up. There's a gray car that is following him, and memories that are telling him to run away, to go back East, to where he grew up.

This is a book that works best if you learn along with Bob about his life, so I'll stop the plot summary there! Suffice it to say, Bob has led a very interesting life, and it comes back to him in drips and drabs as the book progresses. The story is very dark, with a good amount of violence toward both good guys and bad guys. But even when you aren't sure which side Bob falls on, you want him to recover his memory and figure out what is going on.

Pick up this book to read on a bright summer day - it needs a little light to keep you from falling into the depths of Bob's shady world.

This one caught me by surprise. I don't think it was what I was expecting. I mean that in a very good way. Very interesting plot and it was fast-paced enough for me to sit back and enjoy the thrill.

Our main character, Hunter , wakes up all banged up and bleeding in a bar and struggles to remember who he is. With bits of information hurled his way he learns that he is in his BIL's bar, his wife took her life in a fit of depression but is that all. Not ready to accept as is, Hunter starts searching for the truth about himself and the person whom he loved.
This was an excellent read and the pace gathered so quickly that it was hard to put down the book for a break.
Definitely recommended read for the time when you want some fast paced exciteing plot.

Overall rating 4.5

Our main character has amnesia and is trying to solve the death of his wife. He has periods of confusion along with instant recall of events when others mention names. His confusion doesn’t make this novel easy to read.
Three women or four (Helen, Pam, Vanessa, Jackie) are in the story.

Jackson Robert Hunter wakes up in a pub after a head injury without his memory. He remembers flashes, and people know him. His wife apparently committed suicide, but other memories indicate she was likely murdered. In trying to avenge her murder, he discovers a lot about who he used to be, and not all of it is savory.

Backstory is billed as a thriller in the vein of The Bourne Identity and Gone Girl. Bob's clues, in the beginning, are subtle: flashes of violence, a gun under the bed, people that he used to know. What he finds are clues that lead him across the country, from Kansas to Philadelphia, back through Kansas on the way to Las Vegas. Bob had also gone by Jackson, and he traces his history as a college student, then back to Philadelphia as a police officer, then off to Kansas where he reinvented himself as a Goodyear employee. Flashes of memory kick off other avenues for him to explore, and he finds that he has demons of all kinds in his past, all of which he had been running from.

I love how Bob never blames Helen for the depression that she suffers through, sits with her at her low points, and tries to understand her point of view. She's never vilified for it by her family or friends, and Bob never thinks less of her for having a mental illness. The only thing vilified is the hidden well of violence that had found multiple avenues throughout Jackson's life, which led to his poor choices that upset the good he had in life. Later on, we see how much he fears falling back into that well, but he also realizes that it's not the violence itself that's the thing to be afraid of, but misdirected and aimless violence. If it's channeled into righteous fury, into the need to do better, that could be something used to make the world a better place.

Reading this book has been a fascinating experience. It moves quickly, grabbing you by the throat and refusing to let go. While Jackson certainly isn't a good guy, he's not the evilest one in the book and he has an awareness that keeps him from repeating his mistakes. Most of the time. His backstory is full of mistakes, after all, but he reaches the end of this book having learned from them, finally changing and trying to do the right thing.

🚘 Book Review 🚘

#Backstory
#williamlmyersjr
#mystery
#NetGalley published 6/7/2022
#oceanviewpublishing

🚘🚘🚘🚘/5

Bob has just woken up from a struggle in a bar. He has no idea who he is until the people around him fill him in unknowingly. He has not told anyone that he has amnesia. Slowly his memory comes back to him. One small part at a time. The big thing he realizes early on is that his wife has been murdered. The whole book is him trying to find her killer. He finds his previous life. A man named Jackson.

The book is well enough written. The back story is told one bit at a time. The timing of the discovery is done well enough. I just feel like it was missing something for me. I didn't have that urge to have to pick the book up instead of watch TV. It was good. Not great thus, only 4 Jaguars not 5. That's part of the story. Not a spoiler.

#arc
#thriller
#bookstagram #booknerdsbookreview #bookreview
#bookrecommendation #ilovebooks

Is a tale of psychological terror that begins when a man is attacked in an alley, where his head is repeatedly slammed face first into a brick wall, leaving him bloody, disoriented and without memory of who he is . . . or where. When he comes to, he stumbles into the bar he’s behind, and learns he’s a regular there, he’s called Bob—a name he doesn’t recognize—and that the town they’re in is called Kournfield, somewhere in Kansas.

For some reason, Bob thinks something, or someone, is telling him to leave, to run away, and get out of there. And for some other, unknown reason, it’s important for him to conceal his amnesia . . . but he gradually learns that his beloved wife Helen, has recently committed suicide with an overdose of pills. He fakes his way back to his job as a supervisor at the local Goodyear Tire plant and tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered existence. But it’s just not working. As his memory comes back in fits and starts, his paranoia grows by leaps and bounds. He believes someone is chasing him and that that someone murdered his wife and broke into his apartment. Flashes of memory come back, like lightning in far away storm clouds, and he realizes that his search must take him to Philadelphia, where hints of dirty cops, stolen bribe money, and criminals itching for revenge haunt his mind. As the suspense builds, his delusions begin to lessen and the picture of who—and what—he really is becomes slightly clearer as he learns more about his secret, and dirty past. Is he a good guy? Or a bad guy and a bully with a badge? You can only find the answer by reading this eerie and suspenseful, well-plotted yarn to it’s stunning conclusion. It will not only keep you on the edge of your seat . . . you’ll never guess the ending!!

Sometimes our mind makes us forget things because they hurt us too much when we remember them. In Backstory that's exactly what happens to Bob/Jackson, one day he realizes that he does not know who he is or what happened to him, and starts, slowly, to put together the recollections he is able to have and the stories that are told by those who knew him. Sometimes he likes what he sees/hears, others he hates it until he decides to go after the truth and face his past and his family. Life is not easy and the information he is able to recall is not pretty, leading to an unexpected ending. I loved the way the story was told/written and will be looking for other books from this author.
I downloaded a free copy of this book through NetGalley and this is my unbiased review.

Jackson wakes one day and can’t remember anything, not just from the night before but nothing. After spending some time in town, he finds out he no longer drinks and apparently his wife had just committed suicide. As Jackson tries to remember or rebuild his life he finds he has demons and he must stop them before anything else and that takes him on a county wide roller-coaster ride.
This was a non-stop action, suspenseful thriller of a book that I enjoyed very much. It was exciting and the flashbacks into his forgotten memories helped put this book over the top.

I …. did not like this one.

the writing style just wasn’t for me, and maybe because it seemed like the amount of grammatical errors and spelling errors were so great (like where is the editor my guy), but hopefully, I’d give it another shot in the future.

other than the writing style and long chapters though, the characters were just not likable in the slightest. and in thrillers, I usually am the love to hate type of reader when it comes to it, but there was nothing redeeming about anyone.

I swear, I was rooting for the bad guy the entire time 😅

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tightly woven mystery, reminiscent of the movie MEMENTO, BACKSTORY follows a man seeking his own story while suffering amnesia. He finds a few clues and begins his journey to learn who he is and how or why his wife died. He isn’t happy with what he learns. But readers will enjoy the rollicking ride. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

As the writer of legal thrillers and the Philadelphia Legal series, William L Myers Jr has now published Backstory, his first standalone novel. A man wakes up outside a bar with a head injury and no memory. So begins an intriguing saga as Jackson Hunter has to navigate his way in a world where people know him but he is clueless, apart from the impression his wife’s recent suicide was actually murder. Jackson’s discoveries take him from Kansas to Philadelphia and even Las Vegas, as he tries to find the killer. A dark gritty tale of a man with a violent disreputable past, who may even be a killer too. In battling amnesia and dealing with flashbacks of damning deeds, betrayal and an irredeemable treacherous past, this unfolding gem of a tale with plenty of action and twists, make a four star rating. With thanks to Oceanview Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

The synopsis for Backstory sold me on the request for an advance reader copy. The story moves slowly through the series of event, some are nonsensical - How does he sell his house, belongings in a day and hit the road to head east. I also found the transitions from past to present hard to distinguish in the writing.

Overall I'd give Backstory a 3 out of 5 stars. Thank you OceanView Publishing for the advance reader copy.

Backstory, by William L. Myers, Jr., is a dark psychological suspense novel. Jackson Robert Hunter has just suffered severe head trauma and now has generalized dissociative amnesia. He is told his wife Helen is dead, but he can’t remember his past, recent or distant.
The entire book follows his efforts to figure out who he is and what has happened to his wife. The story unfolds in present day, with informative flashbacks to his life in the past from his youth, through college, and finally to his present life in Kansas.
I really liked how this story unspooled, with his recollections popping up unexpectedly, filling the blanks in his life memory. Ancillary characters, in past and present, added color and more fullness to the tale.
While not necessarily a sympathetic protagonist, Hunter is complicated and multilayered, so his quest to relentlessly reconstruct his past and reactivate his memories kept me engaged and immersed in this man’s journey.
I recommend this to readers who like their thrillers with a healthy dose of dark domestic drama, damaged families, and flawed individuals seeking redemption from their past misdeeds.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my unbiased review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC for an honest review.

I found this to be a very interesting read. However, the ARC copy was difficult to read due to typos and errors throughout the story. Not faulting the author at all, as despite these errors the story itself was still interesting.

The story moves between the 'present' time and flashbacks as we delve deeper into the mystery that haunts Jackson (or Bob at certain points in the story) who has lost his memory after having his head bashed against the wall of his brother-in-law's bar.

Throughout the book, he slowly regains his memory in dribs and drabs and becomes convinced that his wife's apparent suicide has been murdered. But along with Jackson, as readers, we learn that not everything presented is what it seems and that there is something darker at play.

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

This was a good story, though the galley I received, like others have mentioned, was missing words/sentences and was a bit trying to read though I did finish it. Jackson (or Bob at points) has lost his memory after having his head bashed against the wall of his brother-in-law's bar, his drivers' license tells him his name and address. Over the course of the book he regains his memory in bits and pieces, sometimes when he meets someone and other times something will trigger a memory. He becomes convinced that his wife, who had passed recently from suicide, was killed and decides he's going to track down the person that did it. He thinks an old acquaintance from the Philadelphia police department where he worked until he stole 1.2 million from this person and left town, faking his death. There is a lot that goes on, each memory leads him to another part of himself and he realizes that he was not a nice person. The story unfolds in memory flashbacks and his journey to discover what happened to his wife. With the exception of the missing words, this was a good story and I would recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Oceanview Publishing for the ARC.

Not a big mystery reader but it was an interesting read that could keep my attention till the end. Would love to read more of this author's works

What happened to Hannah? Did she commit suicide or was she murdered? That's the question Bob/Jackson sets out to answer after he loses his memory. He knows his address. he knows bits and pieces, he knows enough to know where to travel. This has big (big) plot holes and it's implausible. That said, I did keep flipping the pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Backstory
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 6/7/22
Author: William Myers Jr.
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Pages: 320
Goodreads Rating: 3.58

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: In the aftermath of his wife’s apparent suicide, Jackson Robert Hunter wakes up outside a bar with a badly battered head and no memory. Revelations convince Jackson that his wife’s death wasn’t a suicide, but a murder, and he sets out to find the killer. While hunting the villain and struggling with his amnesia, Jackson discovers that his own backstory is a dark one: a wife he betrayed; a lover he abandoned; a squad of crooked cops he double-crossed; and a city that lives in fear of his name.

My Thoughts: Usually Myers is known for his legal thrillers and this was a bit different, it shows that the author can be versatile between sub-categories of thrillers. The first part was a bit of a slow burn and that was primarily due to the author building our MCs backstory. The story is narrated from the voice of Bob, from is POV. The author does a good job of developing the characters, you could feel Bob’s emotions and connect well with him, and there are various layers to the character. Overall, this was a good read and I would recommend to people who likes police corruption, spy type books.