Reviews of All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

All Is Not Forgotten

by Wendy Walker

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker X
All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
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  • First Published:
    Jul 2016, 280 pages

    Paperback:
    Jul 2017, 320 pages

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Book Summary

It begins in the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut, where everything seems picture perfect.

Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as she heals from her physical wounds, and with no factual recall of the attack, Jenny struggles with her raging emotional memory. Her father, Tom, becomes obsessed with his inability to find her attacker and seek justice while her mother, Charlotte, struggles to pretend this horrific event did not touch her carefully constructed world.

As Tom and Charlotte seek help for their daughter, the fault lines within their marriage and their close-knit community emerge from the shadows where they have been hidden for years, and the relentless quest to find the monster who invaded their town - or perhaps lives among them - drive this psychological thriller to a shocking and unexpected conclusion.

Chapter One

He followed her through the woods behind the house. The ground there was littered with winter debris, dead leaves and twigs that had fallen over the past six months and decayed beneath a blanket of snow. She may have heard him approach. She may have turned and seen him wearing the black wool mask whose fibers were found beneath her nails. As she fell to her knees, what was left of the brittle twigs snapped like old bones and scraped her bare skin. Her face and chest pressed hard into the ground, likely with the outside of his forearm, she would have felt the mist from the sprinklers blowing off the lawn not twenty feet away. Her hair was wet when they found her.

When she was a younger girl, she would chase the sprinklers at her own house, trying to catch them on a hot summer afternoon, or dodge them on a crisp spring evening. Her baby brother would then chase her, buck naked with his bulging belly and flailing arms that were not quite able to coordinate with his little legs...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. While secret after secret about the residents of Fairview add to the suspense, Forrester's secrets may be the most stunning of all.

Booklist
Some thriller fans may find the pacing slow, but the cast is immensely relatable and book groups will enjoy debating their decisions, from the drug's administration to the surprise conclusion.

Author Blurb Karin Slaughter, author of Pretty Girls
Deeply intriguing and provocative, All Is Not Forgotten explores intricate family relationships against the backdrop of searing suspense. A novel filled with twists, surprises, and a plot that keeps you guessing. All Is Not Forgotten is not to be missed.

Author Blurb Kimberly McCreight, author of Where They Found Her
With an exceptionally unreliable narrator and unique plot set-up, All Is Not Forgotten is a compelling, thought-provoking mystery that will have you looking at every therapist you know in a brand new light.

Author Blurb Mary Kubica, author of The Good Girl
Captivating and bold, Wendy Walker takes an incisive look at the importance of memory and the power of manipulation. Fascinating and at times shocking, All Is Not Forgotten is one book you won't easily forget. Not to be missed!

Author Blurb Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, author of Bittersweet
In the brutal, heart-pounding All Is Not Forgotten, memory cannot be trusted; when a girl is given "the treatment" to erase her memories of a vicious attack, a small town crumbles under the weight of its secret peccadilloes, dangerous alliances, and the question of what really happened that dark night. A fascinating and compelling novel.

Author Blurb William Landay, author of Defending Jacob
An assured, powerful, polished novel that blends suspense and rich family drama. Built on a fascinating scientific premise and laced with moral complexity, it is, in a word, unforgettable.

Kirkus Reviews
A repugnant narrator, even an unreliable one, makes it difficult to focus on the true victim, one who is crushed under the weight of this ridiculous plot.

Reader Reviews

Teresa K. (Broadlands, VA)

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
As suggested by the title, this fascinating book deals primarily with lost and recovered memories associated with a vicious sexual attack on fifteen year old Jenny Kramer.The event elicits different reactions from Jenny and her parents, Tom and ...   Read More
Betsy R. (Gig Harbor, WA)

All is Not Forgotten
I started this book intending to skim it - instead, I was riveted for the weekend. The shifts in perspective from character to character (indicated in italics) was a little hard to get used to, but it was very effective in allowing the reader to see ...   Read More
Janet P. (Spokane, WA)

I was hooked!
Wendy Walker's book lived up to its cover quote ,"The most stunning psychological thriller I've ever read...I loved it!" I was reading another novel when the book arrived, so my husband grabbed it and two days later reported, "it's great!" So ...   Read More
Janice P. (South Woodstock, VT)

All is Not Forgotten
A tenth-grade girl is brutally raped and tortured; as she lies sedated, her parents are given a choice that opens the fault line in their own marriage: whether or not to use a memory-erasing drug treatment that will spare her PTSD and a difficult ...   Read More

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More books by Wendy Walker

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    From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel - the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

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