Saturday, August 6, 2022

Book Review: In The Dark We Forget

Two in one day, who 'dis? I know, I've finished a few books kind of all at the same time so I'm getting them out to you before I forget all about them. (I'm absolutely guilty of that and it's terrible!)

In the Dark We Forget - Sandra S.G. Wong

A jolting psychological suspense novel from an up-and-coming Chinese-Canadian crime writer about missing parents, a winning lottery ticket and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Some things are better left forgotten . . .

When a woman wakes up with amnesia beside a mountain highway, confused and alone, she fights to regain her identity, only to learn that her parents have disappeared—not long after her mother bought a winning $47 million lottery ticket.

As her memories painfully resurface and the police uncover details of her parents’ mysterious disappearance, Cleo Li finds herself under increasing suspicion. Even with the unwavering support of her brother, she can’t quite reconcile her fears with reality or keep the harrowing nightmares at bay.

As Cleo delves deeper for the truth, she cannot escape the nagging sense that maybe the person she should be afraid of...is herself.

With jolting revelations and taut ambiguity, In the Dark We Forget vividly examines the complexities of family—and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.

What interested me in this book originally was the concept of a main character having amnesia and trying so hard to get back any kind of memory back. As someone who actually has short term (and some long term) memory loss, the feeling of not being able to remember key events in your life is really unsettling. It's creepy and actually kind of scary. You have to trust what other people say, and the information they give you, and it could be completely wrong. The vulnerability in that is scary. 

In this book, we have Cleo, who literally wakes up in the middle of a gravel road and she knows she's been teh victim of something violent. Where she is, how she got there, why, but also who she is all information she does not know and she is tasked with figuring that out. It turns out she isn't the kind of person to rely on others, but being a Chinese-Canadian woman, in the middle of nowhere Canada makes her an outsider of sorts. She quickly finds commonality with an officer of sorts who agrees to help her out. Of course though, how easily would you believe someone who can't tell you where they are or how they got here, but oh yeah, has no idea who they are? I think any of us would have a healthy amount of doubt.  

Once we start unraveling this crazy ball, we start getting small pieces of the story at a time. We meet Cleo's brother and sister in law (both of which you never really get a good feeling from), you find out Cleo's parents won some crazy lottery, and as the story goes on more and more starts coming out all of my original theories were being tossed out one by one. 

I will say, I was starting to figure it out, and I felt like the author kind of pooped out. I was really expecting a more major bang at the end. It is a debut thriller from Sandra S. G. Wong and I was hooked on this one so I will absolutely read the next book she gives us. Can we also get excited about a Canada based novel? I feel like I've read books from lots of other countries but I truly can't think of one set in Canada. I also love the diversity of the characters but also like the inclusion of how that diversity would affect how authorities would treat them. 

Overall? I really liked this one and I'm really looking forward to the next book from Sandra S.G. Wong. Thank you to TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins for having me on this tour and sending me a copy for review!  

1 comment:

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Ooh sounds pretty creepy. Glad it was a good one overall. And I have read some books set in Canada, but not tons!

Lauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net