2.5. Close to me is a suspenseful psychological thriller. The premise is intriguing: a woman (Jo) who has brain trauma after a fall down the stairs, loses her memory of the previous year prior to the fall. The structure of the novel is also intriguing: each just chapter alternating between days after The Fall and the months prior to the fall, as Jo seeks to reclaim her memory. It is a story of a terribly dysfunctional family, riddled with lies, fabrications, and betrayal, to others and oneself. Reynold's writing delves into these issues in a deft manner. The ending is absolutely stunning!
This is Amanda Reynold's first novel, and a good one. The lower rating is due to the execution: the litany of the lost memories become drawn out and their reveal too wordy; the pieces of the puzzle revealed too slowly;too many descriptive details of non essential scenes, that a added nothing to the storyline, all of which caused the plot faltered and the pace became sluggish. Deleting 50+ pages would have helped to propel the plot along.
I would be interested in reading more of Reynold's works, however.

Great psychological thriller! Definitely a page turner I will recommend to friends.

Why do so many characters in English mysteries have amnesia? Okay, we have another, Jo falls down stairs and loses a full year of memory. Of course, it is the most dramatic year of her life. We move through her slow retrieval of these incidents up to the stunning recall of how she fell.

Most of the characters are stereotypical, the rebellious daughter, the lost son, the predatory boss, a smarmy boyfriend and sadly a cheating husband.

It's very predictable and not especially exciting. It is very simply a perfectly fine mystery which the reader will read, enjoy, and forget.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this title which releases in December of this year. Jo suffers a fall at home which causes her to forget the last year and everything that happened during that time of her life. Her husband and two children try to “protect” her from those memories. As she works to discover her immediate past, Jo finds out things were quite different before her fall.

For a debut novel, this author knows how to turn the screws on compelling and gripping. I couldn’t wait to get back to this book every time I had to put it down. What would Jo uncover next? Was she in danger? Who could she really trust?

Reynolds drew well defined characters, ones you hated and others who you suspected were on Jo’s side. Although amnesia is not that unusual a plot, she gave it a different twist. I recommend this book to all thriller and suspense readers. You won’t be disappointed.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Check out all my book reviews at www.myliterary2cents.blogspot.com

My star rating system:
1 star – Awful! I couldn’t even read it.
2 stars – I only read part of it, couldn’t finish it.
3 stars – I read it all, and it was okay – not one of my favorites.
4 stars – I read it all and loved it!
5 stars – I read it all, loved it, and I would read it again!

What if you couldn't remember the last year of your life? Jo woke up in a hospital room after a mysterious fall knowing who she was, recognizing her family, but not remembering the last year of her life. She could tell that something was different. She felt like her husband and children were keeping a secret from her. What awful things could have happened in this "lost year" of her life? On top of that, how did she fall and hit her head anyway?

The author, Amanda Reynolds, spins a very captivating and suspenseful story of Jo gradually gaining back bits of her memory from the "lost year". The books flip flops in time between days "after the fall" and months "before the fall". Eventually time catches up with itself and the reader finally finds out what everyone was trying to hide from Jo.

I loved the way the book was written in two different time periods. Sometimes this style of writing can be confusing for the reader, but I felt that in this case, the writing style actually kept the level of suspense increasing. I would have rated the book a little higher, but unfortunately it was a little bit disappointing at the end. Maybe it just didn't end like I would have liked it to, and that is not the fault of the author.

The main female character, Jo, takes a fall. When she wakes up from the fall, she has no recollection of what happened on that fateful night. As she tries to recover her memory, she meets with lies, secrets and more. We also learn about her relationship with her husband and children. The character development is very good and the book holds your interest. The writing is very good. The book is written in third person so some may find this a bit hard to read. I do not think that took away from the book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

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