I Remember You
I Remember You
By: Brian Freeman
“You’d think that once you die, things can’t really get much worse, but oh no, you’d be wrong. That was when my nightmare began.”
This is a stand alone psychological thriller.
The subtitle for this book should be ‘I see dead people.’ Because Hallie, our protagonist, seems to have a hobby of witnessing murders.
There were a couple things that kept this book from being 5 stars, see below, but overall it was a pretty good read with an ending I surprisingly didn’t figure out.
Would recommend, from Las Vegas to Boston, it’s a wild ride!
Summary
Living with the repressed trauma of supposedly watching her schizophrenic mother kill herself, Hallie’s life has been peppered with bulimia and drugs. On July 4th, after losing her best friend, boyfriend, job, and apartment in one fell swoop the results of her reactive poor choices leaves her dead at a conference for doctors.
Until one doctor miraculously revives her.
But is it a miracle or a nightmare?
She begins remembering things and knowing things that she shouldn’t. Memories of a person dying. Someone else’s memories.
What’s happening to her? Is she turning into her mother?
“Paranoia. That was how it had started with my mother, too.”
That’s Part 1. Background context and Hallie dealing with the paranoia of what’s going on in her head and the suspicion that someone is after her.
Finally it coalesces into a need to escape Las Vegas. All roads lead to Boston.
Part 2.
This is where the action really starts. Part 1 is a bit slow, but now the pace picks up. Hallie is on a mission to figure out who these people are and what really happened in the memories popping into her head.
“No— somewhere, somehow, I had to believe in myself. I was not crazy. I was not inventing another world.”
Comments
First, trigger warning for sexual abuse, bulimia, self-harm, and suicide.
There are a couple scenes where Hallie purges and attempts to hurt or kill herself.
There are some f-words (11 f-words, 27 s-words) but they are more heavy in the first part than the rest of the book and almost all of them are in the context of Hallie’s angry outbursts at people.
There is also some sexual content. There is a painter who paints nude portraits. So there are some descriptions of the pictures and during the painting of the picture.
At first I didn’t think I was going to like this book. The first part was not my favorite, but it got better as it went along.
Although I didn’t like Hallie’s profanity, I did like her character (maybe not right away). She was highly intelligent and bold. She had a bit of a ‘I’ve got nothing to lose’ mentality throughout the book which made it more exciting. She wasn’t hiding behind her trauma and insecurity, she charged ahead to get answers. And yet, she wasn’t entirely reckless because she was smart.
If you are interested in the setting of the wealthy Newport families and mysterious deaths, definitely read An Extravagant Death by Charles Finch.
If you are interested in the idea of a person’s memories being in someone else’s head, check out Memory Lane by Sara Sheppard. Quite a few similarities.
If you like fast-paced thrillers, check out some of Brian Freeman’s other books in the link below!
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
This book just released August 9, 2022. You can use my affiliate link below to order.
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