Book Review: Memory Man

I've read a few of David Baldacci's books in the past, but I don't think I have ever written a review of one. During our book club Christmas gathering, we all brought a book for a dirty Santa gift exchanged. This is the one I took, and I was excited to read it.

Pros: A lot of great suspense, characters with depth, and plenty of twists

Cons: bad language and a good bit of gore

My Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My Thoughts:

Amos Decker's life changed forever when during his first (and last) pro football game he was knocked unconscious and died, twice, on the field. His brain sustains injuries that causes him to remember everything, always, forever. He puts his new skills to good use as a police detective. His life changes again when he arrives home to find his brother-in-law, his wife, and his daughter murdered. Decker leaves the police department and sinks into a deep depression. He scrapes by as a private investigator.

Then a man walks into the local police department and confesses to murdering Decker's family. Decker is determined to find out if the man is telling the truth. As he sneaks into lock up to question the suspect, his former colleagues are called out to a school shooting. Decker soon sees connections between the school shooter and his family's murder.

It's hard to write a believable character arc for a man whose entire family has been murdered. How does a person pick up the pieces and move on? Baldacci writes it so well, you realize Decker can't sit still and mourn. He has to act or his family's killer will go free. And that action of doing something, no longer being the victim, pulls Decker back into the land of the living.

I love a good police drama where the clues gradually piece together. Throughout the book, Decker realizes that what they thought was true isn't reality.

A few times I stayed up a little too late reading this one, the universal sign of a good book!