Remember Me? by Amanda Rigby
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 10th December 2021
Published: 18th November 2021
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A perfect life…
Paul Henderson leads a normal life. A deputy headteacher at a good school, a loving relationship with girlfriend Jenna, and a baby on the way. Everything seems perfect.
A shocking message…
Until Paul receives a message from his ex-fiance Nicole. Beautiful, ambitious and fierce, Nicole is everything Jenna is not. And now it seems Nicole is back, and she has a score to settle with Paul…
A deadly secret.
But Paul can’t understand how Nicole is back. Because he’s pretty sure he killed her with his own bare hands….
Which means, someone else knows the truth about what happened that night. And they’ll stop at nothing to make Paul pay…
A brand new psychological thriller that will keep you guessing till the end! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Nina Manning, Shalini Boland.
MY REVIEW:
So many authors, so many books...and yet so little time to discover them all! And yet here I am delving into another unknown author to me for a psychological thriller with a completely unreliable narrator. To be honest, unreliable narrators can either make or break a book...and while I did feel REMEMBER ME? lacked a little something (I'm not sure what), for me, it was still an engaging read from start to finish that I completed in almost one sitting.
Meet Paul Henderson. He's currently deputy head at a prestigious school where he teaches, his girlfriend Jenna is pregnant with their first child and he has never been happier. He is looking forward to a promotion that will see him as permanent deputy head and the prospect of fatherhood...and yet something is holding him back. You see, Paul is hiding a deep dark secret...something so big it could destroy everything.
And then one day his world comes crashing down when he sees a social media message from his ex-fiance Nicole claiming she is back from Australia after a two-year long absence. There's only one problem...Paul killed and buried Nicole two years ago.
And so Paul's carefully constructed life and new-found happiness is threatened by whoever is playing this game with him. It can't be Nicole, surely? He vividly remembers the fight they had; the one that saw her end up dead; and then driving to the forest and burying her in a grave. He even went back to the grave-site to see if she was still there...but all he found was the crucifix she wore. Could this be another one of Nicole's nasty little jokes? She was, after all, a master manipulator.
And just like that, Paul's works is turned upside down.
He then stumbles along popping amphetamines and diazepam to get him through the day, with the added help of a bottle of gin his predecessor left in the bottom drawer of his office desk. He desperately searches his memory for clues as to what really happened two years ago...but all he comes up against are various versions of his own nightmare which tell him nothing except that he has something to fear.
One major mistake Paul makes is to not share this valuable information with Jenna. She is, after all, his girlfriend and carrying his child. They should have no secrets. When on the day that denotes the end of their first trimester, he buys her a gift to mark the occasion, and upon arriving home presents her with the little box. Jenna is speechless and a little excited, thinking that at last he is going to propose...and then fights to hide her disappointment when she opens it to find a delicate necklace with a daisy (her favourite flower) on. Paul sees her disappointment and realises she thought it was an engagement ring...but he cannot marry her. Not with the secret that he carries or the burden that he bears.
Jenna knows the reason why he won't propose. Nicole. A shadow from his past that continually lurks in the background. She hurt him terribly. Left him just days before their wedding and emigrated to Australia. And then Jenna starts receiving messages from Nicole...some threatening and some disturbing. Then her necklace disappears and reappears with a disturbing note. She confronts Paul about them and he is forced to reveal the fact that Nicole is back. But what she wants, he doesn't know.
What then ensues is a cat and mouse chase between fantasy and reality, truth and fiction, real and imagined. Threats are delivered, ultimatums given until things get out of hand and begin to threaten lives; the lives of those who Paul truly cares about.
And as the race is on to find Nicole before she can deliver her final blow, they receive some news that changes everything. But before they can relax into their false sense of security, another blow is dealt in the form of a twist they don't see coming...although I did from waaaaaay back...and suddenly lives are on the line once again.
It's really difficult to review REMEMBER ME? without giving too much away because it really is a rollercoaster ride of emotions as we witness Paul's internal fight with what he perceives and what he is unsure of. He is a terribly unreliable narrator in the sense we don't even know what is real or imagined. But it makes for an absorbing read that really pulls you in. The fast pace keeps you turning the pages as each new twist is revealed and yet you are left questioning the reliability as well as the truth.
What really happened to Nicole two years ago? Did she really walk out? Or did Paul kill her as he imagines he did? He remembers the grave; and he remembers burying her. But did he kill her? But even if he buried her, shouldn't she still be there? So why isn't she? Or did he just imagine the entire thing, confusing what happened with Nicole to what happened to his parents when he was a child?
REMEMBER ME? is a tightly-plotted, carefully constructed tale that is as thrilling as it is addictive. You want to find out what really happened. You want those answers and you keep delving further into the mystery that is Nicole and the mystery of Paul's past.
I thoroughly enjoyed REMEMBER ME? and, while I did find something was lacking (as mentioned before), it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the tale that I found completely engaging, thrilling and addictive.
I would like to thank #AmandaRigby, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #RememberMe in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Social Media links:
Website (Amanda Ashby) | Website (Sally) | Twitter (Amanda Rigby) | Twitter (Sally) | Facebook (Amanda) | Facebook (Sally) | Instagram | | BookBub | Goodreads
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