All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

Advance Readers' Edition ~ Paperback

Lucky me! I received an advance readers' edition in paperback of All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker in paperback for FREE through Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review.

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker is a psychological thriller that had me captivated from start to finish! I did not expect this book to be as good as it is... All Is Not Forgotten just has so many layers and dimensions to it... It keeps you guessing and sitting on the edge of your seat as how the story will unfold. The ending was a surprise that I didn't see coming... But when I read the ending it all made sense. I just didn't put it all together before then.

One of the key topics/themes in All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker is that 15 year old Jenny Kramer is brutally raped at a party she attends. In the aftermath, Jenny is "given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault". This 'controversial drug' used to medically erase violent memories, raises all sorts of thoughts and concerns for me... If I was a parent, would I want to mentally erase my child's violent assault completely, so he or she didn't have to needlessly suffer from PTSD? Would I want this treatment performed on me without my consent if I had suffered a traumatic event? The answer would be NO to both questions I've posed. 

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker explores the topic of  medically erasing memories in detail, which I found fascinating to read more about. See the YouTube video below of Wendy Walker discussing the memory science behind her novel. 

I also found the narrator for this novel to be a unique one as well. The entire novel is narrated by a psychiatrist named, Alan Forrester, who ends up treating Jenny Kramer in the aftermath and also treating her parents as well. Dr. Forrester is an interesting character for sure... I had a love/hate relationship with him. Dr. Forrester feels intellectually superior to his wife and comes across as cocky at times. 

Dr. Forrester doesn't official introduce himself until several chapters into this novel, which left me wondering who he was until then. I thought reading the point of view of a psychiatrist made for an interesting perspective as I had originally thought that this novel would be told through Jenny Kramer's point of view solely or alternating chapters written from Jenny Kramer's perspective and those of her immediate family members effected deeply by her assault. After reading All Is Not Forgotten, it makes perfect sense that Dr. Forrester is the narrator for this novel.

There is so much more to this novel than what I've written here in my blog post. I'm just unsure how much more to divulge without sharing spoilers to those wanting to read All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker! So, I'll stop while I'm ahead.

The following is a plot summary for All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker from Amazon:

Wendy Walker's All Is Not Forgotten 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.

I am giving All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 stars.

I've also learned that Reese Witherspoon is working on turning All Is Not Forgotten into a movie... I'd love to see the movie version of this novel as I enjoyed reading the novel so much.

Below is a YouTube video of the author, Wendy Walker, talks about the memory science from her novel.

Until my next post, happy reading!