Book Review : Memory Man by David Baldacci

Memory Man by David Baldacci

I was pretty excited to read a brand new series from one of my favorite authors David Baldacci. In this book, Baldacci introduces a man who remembers everything. By everything, I mean literally everything!

After an injury during a football game, the hero (Amos Decker) “suffers” from a condition called hyperthymesia that makes him the “memory man” who forgets nothing.  The ability sounds cool for a police detective, right? But what if your family was murdered and you have to remember every bit of it? The story begins as our Detective Amos finds his family (wife, daughter and brother in law) murdered in cold blood and the killer couldn’t be found. The tragedy crushes him and he quits the police department becoming homeless. 16 months later as he tries to pull back his life, a man turns himself in and claims to be the killer of Decker’s family. At the same time, a mass shooting occurs at the local high school and the local law enforcement officials call on Decker for help. Though he refuses at first, Decker agrees to help as he thinks that all the events may be somehow related. Rest is a fast paced thriller that keeps you guessing with a number of twists and turns. The twists may seem illogical at times, but at least he has manages to keep it interesting; so it wasn’t a concern.

Amos Decker is not your typical detective. He is neither a genius nor does he makes perfect deductions like Sherlock Holmes (I can relate him to Cormoran Strike).Though his condition gave him perfect memory, it made him impervious to certain emotions that a normal person would feel. This makes him antisocial and disconnected. Throughout the book we can see the character evolve as he comes in terms with his family’s death. One complaint I had was that there was too much repetition throughout the book. Given the nature of Decker’s affliction, everything plays out in his head over and over and over; but reading it over and over bordered on the tiresome.

Overall, Memory man is a solid thriller and a great start for the Amos Decker series.

4/5 Stars.