⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Karen Thompson Walker's The Strange Case of Jane O. offers an intriguing blend of mystery, memory, and the complexities of the mind. It follows Jane’s unsettling journey, where hallucinations, forgotten moments, and premonitions create a story of trauma, identity, and the bonds that hold us—even as reality begins to slip away. The pacing is steady and keeps the reader engaged, especially with Jane’s letters to her infant son, which give a glimpse into her mind. This narrative device intimately explores her need to protect her child from the strange experiences that haunt her.

While I wouldn’t call it "spellbinding," I found it unique, well-crafted, and absorbing. The visions, the love between mother and child, and the mysterious link to a man from Jane’s past add layers to the puzzles contemplated within.

“In a mystery novel, when a person goes missing, someone else does the looking. But at this point, I feel as though I am the searcher and the sought. I am found but still lost.”

WHAT’S THE STORY?

Jane is having trouble. She’s living alone with her infant son when her mind becomes a strange, seemingly unknowable place. Enter Dr. Byrd, a psychiatrist with whom she seems mysteriously connected. Alternating between Dr. Byrd’s case file and Jane’s journals, the reader puzzles to understand the mystery of Jane herself. What can these premonitions and amnesic episodes tell us about the nature of memory, selfhood and love?

WHAT WORKED?

Anything Karen Thompson Walker writes works for me. I too am consumed with questions about identity and the nature of memory and time, and am always eager to see how Walker plays with these ideas. What stands about this novel for me, is the authors’ ability to raise questions about the linearity of time without writing a time travel story. Brilliant.

WHAT DIDN’T?

Although it certainly worked for the story, I never felt emotionally connected to either Jane or Dr. Byrd. I cared about what happened to them, but they both struck me as removed and distant personalities. This is not necessarily a flaw in the story telling, but had they felt closer, the themes would have hit even harder and closer to home.

HOW DID IT WORK FOR ME?

This novel was a treat from start to finish. Having the perspectives of both Dr. Byrd and Jane contributed to the foggy tension of the narrative. I’ll never tire of this kind of nuanced exploration of the mind.

𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝒓. 𝑩𝒚𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈- 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚.
This novel stole my breath. I love it so much I need to buy a copy. How do we know ourselves if we lose time, or memory? I can’t think of anything more terrifying than not being able to rely on your own mind, except being swallowed by that darkness when you’re a single mom raising an infant. Dr. Henry Byrd’s first appointment with Jane as his patient is abrupt, but he senses her soul deep loneliness. She stands up after a short time, unable to unload what is pressing on her mind, and flees only saying ‘this was a mistake.’ It was a fourteen-minute meeting, and she leaves before he can convince her to stay. Three days later he is stunned when he gets a call from the emergency room about a woman found unconscious on a field in Prospect Park. He learns there was nothing to identify her until she woke up and remembered her name is Jane and that he, Dr. Henry Byrd, is her doctor.

When he arrives, Jane is pulled together, no longer in the disheveled state she was found in. The last thing she can recall is that she dropped her son off at daycare and then went back to her apartment to make tea, her daily routine. Nothing else that followed makes sense. It is a black hole in her memory. How could a rational woman with nothing traumatic in her history suffer such an event? The only thing she remembers is feeling dread, as if waking from a terrible dream. Is she to be believed? She tells him that she had been his patient before, years ago. How could he have forgotten?

Perplexing as disorders of the psyche can be, Jane’s case is particularly disturbing. He feels unsettled when he leaves her, as if her sadness covers him. He is surprised when she shows up for her appointment, opening up about her greatest fear- that it will happen again and how it feels when she returns to herself. It was if she didn’t exist during those lost hours. She seems to be probing him, to be sure she can fully trust him. She admits to hallucinations, seeing a man she knows is dead, talking to him as if he is still alive and startled by the warning he gave her to leave the city. As she reveals more with each session, he learns just how gifted her mind truly is, adding another layer of mystery to diagnosis. Dr. Henry Byrd longs to keep clinical detachment, but he cannot deny he is deeply invested, more so than he has been over any other patient. He is drawn to her, doctors are people too, and there is much to be fascinated and intimidated by behind Jane’s eyes. Doctors too have favorite patients.

Could her extraordinary memory be the cause of the terrors of her mind? She is often suspicious, distrusting of other people. When it happens again, the detective doubts her story, but will Dr. Byrd believe her?

This is such a beautiful story; I am not a sappy person, but I got choked up. Her letters to her little boy, the state of feeling like an outsider, the breaks in her mind, the longing to connect with people who do not remember as hard as she does, that ‘false sense of familiarity’ she carries, like a curse. Loneliness so deep you can taste it, remembering sharp sadness. She is very afraid and cannot say why. Haunted by Nico, is he a ghost, a hallucination? Then there is the sweet relief of love, of a hand that lifts you. Do you trust Jane, who cannot trust herself? Will Dr. Byrd? Or will he turn his back on her in her time of need?

Yes, read it. I don’t think my review begins to express how much I was absorbed by Jane whose life I could only endure as a witness. A gorgeous, mysterious read that found me at the perfect time. How do books do that anyway?

Publication Date: February 25, 2025

Random House

This book was amazing. The story was so unique, but something so very clearly written by this author, it is hard to describe. The story, unlike many that I have read, has stuck with me so long after having finished this book. We follow a story of a woman who begins forgetting periods of her life, and the story does not end there. The woman appears to be misremembering periods. The story was so well thought out, and so pertinent but extremely engaging and interesting. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed this author's previous works, or who enjoys a good mystery/thriller/fiction.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. I was thrilled when I received a copy of The Strange Case of Jane O. to review for Netgalley. Karen Thompson Walker has been one of my favorite writers since her first book, The Age of Miracles. I consider that book one of my top five favorite books of all time and I'm about to add The Strange Case of Jane O. to that list. Ms. Walker never ceases to amaze me with her writing. Jane is a woman who seeks out a psychiatrist that she is convinced she met many years ago. Dr. Bryd is trying to come up with a fitting diagnosis for her and the closest he can come is dissociative fugue." Jane is the single mother to a one year old son. Her confusion and loss of time starts to alarm the doctor and her parents. She sees a man she knew long ago but knew him to be dead. She wanders the city with and without her son and doesn't remember what happens during the episodes. The story is part mystery, part light science fiction and part literary fiction. Ms. Walker draws the reader into the story with interesting characters and a setting that is relatable.

I have read both of KTW's previous works and both of them were pretty good 4 star reads. They weren't books that particularly stuck out or that carved outa place my memory, but they weren't entirely forgettable either. I can look back and remember what they were about even tho it's been years since I read them, which is more than I can say for a lot of books. I remember enjoying them as I was reading, the sort of books that keep you reading consistently and often, without ever crossing over into 5 stsar territory. And that was exactly how I felt about this one. While I was reading this, this was probably my favorite of the 3, the most enticing, the one that I read the fastest in the shortest amount of time.

BUT. It was the ending that lowered this to a star book. So basically a guy dies, and a relative that's sniffing around discovers that there are similarities between that death and several other deaths--all of them had a mysterious woman in common. So then we proceed to follow all the various POVs of the people who have these encounters with said woman. It was actually quite interesting, but the last quarter of the book got a little tedious, it was one of those situations where you're into something in a book and it's working until it stops working bc it's been going on too long. Like ok now we've gotten like 5 stories of people with this chick, I'm ready for the next thing now, but you still have to endure more stories.

AND THENNNNN. The ending. I'm not gonna spoil anything, but I AM going to say that you're not going to get any resolution. ANd if there's anything that I absolutely despise, is a book with a mystery that never gets a resolution. So the 4-4.25 star reading experience dropped to a 3 bc of the disappointing ending. It was still an entertaining read and certainly a page turner, it was a thriller horror mix. There were obvious super natural vibes which I wasn't expecting, but it was very light so non horror readers can still partake. it was just that ending, Too bad but I'd be interested in her future releases.

This starts out as a really interesting thriller and becomes something very different. The voices of the characters are clearly developed.

I feel like this was good on an objective level, but I did struggle to get through it. I haven't read Walker's other two novels The Age of Miracles and The Dreamers, but seeing how well-liked they are, I'm going to assume my inability to stay checked-in when reading this is entirely my own fault, but my mind wandered a lot when reading.

It ends interestingly, and the way the book is built is clever, but I feel like the actual content just couldn't keep me hooked without a struggle.

Like another reader I felt this book was a little all over the place and hard to follow and just didn’t hold my interest. I felt it could have used more editing to make it more readable
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting novel about a woman with a strange way of remembering.

I am giving this a five because I had to keep reading to see what was happening to Jane….and then to Mr. Byrd. It unfolds from his perspective, and then from hers, and yet it isn’t the same, even when it should be. A book of how a mind can work, while the reader wonders if it is just the way it is or if it is being manipulated. Curiosity turned those pages!

This was a very interesting book read like case notes of a therapist and the letters a woman wrote to her infant son for the future. It explores both psychological and philosophical ideas about what is reality and what do we know of the past and the future to come. It explores both the minds and the hearts of these two people,, as she undergoes some kind of psychiatric break , as well as the relationship between them. It was easy to read, despite the depth of the subject matter. I got involved right away 4.5

It’s hard to describe this book exactly, but it could most succinctly be labeled as a mystery centering on a patient and her psychiatrist. Jumping between the psychiatrist’s notes (the MMC) and the patient’s letters to her son (the FMC), the narrative follows the slow unraveling of the patient’s unknown psychological disorder. It’s fast-paced, full of foreshadowing, and surprises as well. I’ve been known to flip ahead and read the ending while I’m still at the beginning of the book, but not with this one. At the end, this book starts to shift into a sci-fi and romance direction, and I wasn’t sold on the romance aspect. Themes revolve around memory, motherhood, and the workings of the mind. Be mindful of trigger warnings if you have triggers (I don’t want to spoil them here).

This was such an interesting read. It explored all sorts of topics, and I really connected with the two main characters. I'm a new mom, so I really enjoyed the parents to young kids component. I also loved the ending. I really enjoyed her prior books too, so I was really excited to be approved for this one and it did not disappoint!

This book was propulsive - I'm not the fastest reader, yet I read this over a weekend. I was sure Jane was a fraud, and to be honest I think I would have liked this story better if she had been. The conclusion was too hasty, in my opinion, and the concept wasn't explored deeply enough to be satisfactory. All the red herrings about Jane's involvement in one death or another that went nowhere was frustrating too.

Come into this novel cold. There are twists and surprises galore, interesting psychiatric developments and a sense of discomfort, disbelief, and menace. Karen Thompson Walker has written a thriller that will make you question everyone and everything that happens. I'm being careful of spoilers, but "The Strange Case of Jane O" is a mystery like any other.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was unbelievably excited to be able to read and review the new novel by Karen Thompson Walker. I love that her books are a mix between science fiction and mystery, always with a strong human relationship aspect. The Strange Case of Jane O. was no different. It was a quick read, one that I did NOT want to put down. At first, I wasn't sure I would be as drawn in as previous books, given the clinical voice of the narrator, but it makes sense because the book is being pulled from his case notes. It was a joy to read, but I was left feel conflicted about the ending and the way it left some questions unanswered, but that's more my problem/preference than the author's. Overall, it was a wonderfully fun read, and as always, I'm left wanting more from the author. I was provided this book via NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions here are my own.

'In this spellbinding novel, a young mother is struck by a mysterious psychological affliction that illuminates the eerie dimensions of the human mind—and of love. A provocative literary puzzle from the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Miracles.'

The Strange Case of Jane O. was written in such a clinical way, I can only assume it was Walker's intention for it to read like non-fiction, like a legitimate first-hand experience. That's how it felt for me anyway.

This story unfolds for us in alternating perspectives; one being Dr. Byrd, the psychiatrist treating Jane O., and the second is through Jane's letters to her son.

I started reading this yesterday, without any expectations, and found I could not stop. I couldn't and I didn't. Not until I finished last night. I just sat down and read the whole thing.

Even though this comes off very scientific and straight-forward, and maybe lacking some emotional aspect and character connection/draw we long for when reading, it was also intriguing, surprisingly gripping and wildly thought-provoking. And because of this juxtaposition, I find it difficult to articulate how well and truly sunk I was from beginning to end.

It was impossible to discern if either POV was trustworthy. At times, neither of them felt like it and for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. I appreciate unreliable MCs/POVs WHEN they're done well. I like the pull of curiosity without feeling like I'm being dragged, and naturally, I want to be kept on my toes - neither of which is a given, obviously. But it was certainly given here. That's exactly what this book did for me.

Do I recommend? Absolutely. Especially for those who find psychiatry, diseases and disorders of the mind fascinating like I do.

In the end though, you may find yourself wondering if it was Jane's brain on fire, or if all of the bizarre occurrences we experience with both Jane and Dr. Byrd, were something else entirely....

.....but you'll have to find out for yourself........ ;)

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this arc in exchange for review!

Pub date: 2.25.25

A story to keep you guessing. And then to make you think. Everything’s wraps up in an interesting way and there was enough questions and shifts in point of view to keep the reader engaged throughout.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A psychiatrist meets a patient who has losses of memory and hallucinations. And that is just the start of the strangeness that the title promises (and the book delivers on). Walker's writing is really compelling, drawing in the reader little by little and then asking the reader to take a leap. The payoff happens fast at the end but it's very much worth it if you've like Walker's brand of smart, fantastic explorations of connection and identity.