Home | Anime | Movies | Soundtracks | Graphic Novels

Forget Me: The Forget Me Not Series - Book 1

Forget Me by Lisa Sherman is the kind of book that will twist your brain a bit. It involves a woman who is suffering from complete amnesia following an accident where she was shot and almost drowned in the Wisconsin River. She was also 6 months pregnant at the time. Now, some 5 years later, she leads a meager and dreary life filled with painkillers to dull that dreadful experience, while being verbally abused by her deadbeat husband, Carl. The only light in the life of Wanda Dellas is her darling 5 year old daughter, Astrid. But Wanda just doesn't feel like she is actually Wanda. What if she's actually Claire Stanbrick, the successful woman who went missing around the time of her accident, her body never to be found? The one whose devoted husband is currently in prison, having been convicted of her murder?

This is the situation Wanda finds herself in these days. She cleans offices at night to support Astrid, and up until very recently, slept her days away in a fog of meds. However, ever since she saw a news report about Jack Stanbridge and the fact that he is soon to be taking a plea deal for his wife's murder, she just can't shake the feeling - or is it hope? - that maybe she IS Claire Stanbridge. It doesn't help matters that an old friend of Claire's recognizes her in a coffee shop. Could it be true that she is a marketing mogul trapped inside the body of an office cleaner? The fact remains that she was found in that river unconscious, with a purse containing a license for Wanda Dellas, with her picture.

Since she can't let it go, she decides to try to investigate the situation, by finagling her way onto the cleaning crew for the office building where Claire Stanbrick's company, Stanbrick Marketing Group, once thrived. She's not the greatest detective and gets herself into a bit of trouble, but not before finding out some key pieces of info. But the more she digs, the more someone out there wants her to stop.

Forget Me plays out across the chapters with the headings "Wanda After" and "Claire Before" so that the reader gets the perspective of Wanda, completely baffled about her life, and Claire, prior to the tragic events that happened to her. While Wanda is on her hunt for clues, Claire has built a seemingly idyllic life with a successful marketing company and a loving husband. Her husband, Jack, is a financier and has been working with her at SMG for some time, but he is ready to branch out on his own and create Stanbrick Financial, to capitalize on SMG's success. He has brought on old friend Roger Lindsey, whom he has known for years, and while Claire finds him abrasive, he knows his stuff. It's too bad he was accused of impropriety at his previous job, although Jack says it's not true.

Once Stanbrick Financial takes off, the investors start pouring in, but Jack starts to make some peculiar decisions upon Roger's urging, like selling his home on the Wisconsin River. To make matters worse, Claire's assistant is out on leave and the temp, Wanda Dellas, seems rather smitten with Jack. What's worse, she's incompetent, and Roger keeps giving her important tasks for SMG, which she bungles. When Claire notices things missing, like her favorite sweater that hangs in her office, or a special photo of she and Jack, she starts to get suspicious of Wanda and wonders if this woman isn't more dangerous than incompetent, but Roger says they could be open for a lawsuit if they fire her. If she can only hold on until her assistant returns. Soon, incorrect reports will be the least of her worries...

Forget Me is an entertaining yarn. I enjoyed the flip-flopping between the perspectives and lives of the two characters and I will say that my initial thoughts about how the story would play out were incorrect. If you enjoy a good thriller wrapped around the concept of amnesia and murder, you'll probably enjoy Forget Me. While it really seemed like a one-off story, it is the beginning of a series, so I am intrigued to see where it goes.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins
Related Links:


This site best viewed in Internet Explorer 6 or higher or Firefox.