First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, B.C. Schiller, and Amazon Publishing UK for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

New to the world of the husband-wife duo calling themselves B.C. Schiller, I was not sure what to expect. The short dust jacket blurb had me intrigued about this novel, though I was not entirely confident this had ‘translated’ onto the written page, if you will pardon the pun. Dr. Olivia Hofmann nervously checks the post and discovers yet another postcard with an apology and no more. It has been five years since Dr. Hofmann’s husband and young daughter have disappeared without a trace, which coincides with the brutal murder and incineration of a teenage girl, Lisa Manz. While meeting one of her clients, Hofmann discovers that he is holding onto a rucksack belonging the Manz and might have key answers to the crime, or be the murderer himself. When Hofmann agrees to meet him at his home the following day, she watched him fall from his second storey window, a shadowy figure seen pushing him. Dr. Hofmann reaches out to her acquaintance, Levi Kant, who was the detective on the Manz case, but who was removed close to its resolution when he was shot by another perpetrator. Armed not only with the rucksack, but also a diary that Lisa kept, Hofmann and Kant begin trying to piece things together, including discovering who this mystery ‘doctor’ was who is mentioned in the diary and is surely involved in abusing Lisa Manz. When someone targets Hofmann with a vehicle, trying to wipe her out, the panic level increases, but nothing will stop Kant from revealing the truth, something he has wanted to discover for the last number of years. A decent piece of crime work, though it did not jump off the page for me. I suppose those who enjoy quick thrillers will want to give this a try, though I cannot see it being catapulted to the top of many to-be-read lists.

As this was my first experience with B.C. Schiller crime writing, I have no outside context other than this novel. While the premise was good, I was left wanting much more, as I could not help feeling the entire experience was a tad beige for me. There seems to be a race for protagonist here, between Dr. Olivia Hofmann and Levi Kant. Hofmann takes centre stage early and the reader learns about her agonising confusion about a missing child and husband, though she seems to have been able to focus on her work. In an industry that has little downtime, Hofmann must juggle her patients and a mentally ill father, whose acuity is diminishing by the day. Still, she finds time to break away and join this impromptu investigation into the death of a teenager. Levi Kant, on the other hand, was one of Vienna’s great detectives, only to have his work come crashing down when a bullet entered his leg. Now teaching at the police academy, he has always wondered about that one case that slipped through his fingers. With a Jewish backstory that some may find intriguing, Kant is also a man of many passions in his current life, which he shares throughout. Others find their way directing the story in their own way, some effectively and others simply popping up to play their part and evaporating again. The story was decent and I cannot be entirely sure if the plot’s strength was ‘lost in translation’ or if I am simply setting the bar too high. I did not dislike the book entirely, but I had hoped for a more meatier tale to keep me fully captivated. The chapters were short and I flew through the book in short order, so I cannot say it was a laborious task whatsoever. I’d likely give the series another try, should something else be published, but I am not making any promises.

Kudos, Mr. and Mrs. Schiller, for a decent plot. While the delivery was not there for me, I may be asking too much all at once.

I didn't like Olivia. I feel like apart from the disappearance there was nothing fleshed out about her character. Some of the other characters were more interesting. An okay read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of Don't Forget Me, this is my honest review.
It flowed nicely and was easy to get into right from the start. Some of the passages seemed somewhat irrelevant to the rest of the story. The main story was solved in the end but the secondary plot was left with a cliffhanger. Overall, I enjoyed this book .

I loved about the first 95% of this book. I thought Levi was a great character and it was obvious that he had been well respected by his colleagues because there were so many people happy to do favours for him even though he was no longer a serving officer. I also liked Olivia and enjoyed the way the story of her husband and daughter's disappearance was told gradually throughout the book.
I hope that the author plans to write more books about the main characters as I found the story of how Levi's grandmother had evaded the Nazis when she was a young girl fascinating. When I think of the holocaust I visualise most of it happening in Poland and tend to forgot that Jews in Austria and Germany were also sent to the death camps. I am really keen to read more of this story.
The only problem I had with this book was that the conclusion seemed to come out of the blue which made it a bit of an anticlimax. I would have liked to see the author really ramping up the suspense for the last couple of chapters before the final denouement. Having said that it won't stop me buying more of the author's work. In fact I'm hoping the next book will be on its way to the publisher very soon.
Review posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

Thanks Netgalley and to the publisher for the ecopy. Not the best read. I read halfway through but just could not keep going. Dragged out. Choppy writing in spots.

2½ ⭐️

I don't know if it's just the author's style or the fact that it was translated from the original and some things got lost in translation.

The synopsis of the story tells of two mysteries: the unsolved murder of a girl who was recently seen alive and the possibly connected, and also unsolved, disappearance of the main character's husband and daughter. One mystery was resolved and the other one wasn't, and I felt that it was misleading as the second mystery wasn't really dealt with at all...perhaps only the groundwork was laid for a sequel.

I would agree with other reviewers that the characters were not developed well at all (Levi in particular had potential to be developed into such a great character). I didn't like Dr. Hoffmann as much as I probably should have and again this is probably due to lack of development and what I can only assume is backstory I should've known but didn't. The relationships between the characters did come across as unrealistic and stilted, as did the conversation, and the story jumped ahead a few times in a way that made it hard to follow. Perhaps these are due to the nuances being translated out, perhaps it is just the author's style. Either way, all of these things combined really took away from the story.

I was drawn to this book by the synopsis and the cover art so I wanted to like this book more than I did but sadly it only gets two and a half stars. And the only reason it got the extra half star is because the final chapter did have quite a hook that rekindled my interest in the story, so I'm guessing there will be a part two that will provide closure. However, I'm not 100% sure if I will pick it up and invest the time.

Thank-you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy!

Unfortunately I found a number of things about this book frustrating.

Translated books can often be a bit hit and miss. The flow and poetry of a narrative comes from more than just the meaning of the words; translating word for word isn't the same as translating the author's style and the emotional heart of their work. As a result, I often find translated works to be curiously detached and rather alien to me, and that was the case here.

Not only that, but the plot itself was a bit of a disappointment. Some of that is down to the cover copy, which promised two intertwining mysteries. Only one of those is explored in any detail in this book. The other is left fully unresolved, presumably for another book – which feels like a cheat given that it was so prominent in the description.

I also found the characters two-dimensional and the ultimate revelation of the murderer to be implausible. I didn't believe in anyone's motives and they never came alive as real people for me … though again, some of this may be 'lost in translation'.

The random backstory about the grandmother's coat was interesting but belonged in a completely different book. It had no relevance to anything in this one.

A quick read, but I'd find it hard to recommend.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book. It was a bit complicated and hard to understand. Not one for me.

A decent story but I struggled to hold my attention and ended up not finishing. Not as thrilling as I’d have hoped x

Overall I did not enjoy the book and would not be inspired to seek out more by this author. Sadly I found the two narrative threads did not work very well together - a mystery within a mystery is difficult to pull off successfully, and in this case I don't feel either story line was particularly compelling or well thought out. A lot of plot points felt as if they were added as an afterthought to keep the pace moving. Only after finishing the book did I realise it had been translated from German, which explains the very stilted and awkward dialogue between the characters. I found it difficult to finish, even though it is a short book.

This is very short and mostly fast paced so it’s easy to read in a night or two. The writing is very awkward at times and the dialogue even more so. I think that is due to this being a translation from the original German. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t follow the story or anything but it did seem choppy and strange. The two main characters seem emotionless towards each other and I just didn’t feel the ease and warmth of friendship between them.

While the writing/translation was not great the mystery and general plot were quite good. I felt involved in the case and I really felt bad for Lisa and all that she suffered. I very much wanted the person responsible to pay! It is pretty amazing that one girl could be surrounded by so many horrible people, mostly horrible men. Her diary entries are appalling and very sad. I think her story affected me the most out of all the characters.

The majority of men, good and bad, in this story are incredibly, offensively misogynistic. The main character Olivia was a respected psychiatrist and yet she was constantly dismissed, gas lighted, subjected to copious amounts of mansplaining, and general condescension. She was a highly educated, intelligent, and independent woman and yet the men treated her like a meddling teenager. It was pretty infuriating especially since she doesn’t call them out on it. I’m not sure if this is a cultural issue or what but I would be livid if men talked to me like they do to Olivia! They would most definitely be called out for their atrocious behaviour.

Levi Kant is a mostly likable protagonist and apparently this series is going to be built around him as it continues. At the end the main mystery of Lisa’s murder is solved but there were a lot of loose ends left hanging and I’m assuming these will feature in the next book. Some elements come up and are never truly developed, like the story told by Levi’s grandmother, which is absolutely heartbreaking, but doesn’t seem to have any relevance to the story. Olivia’s missing husband and daughter remain unsolved at the end.

This story was good but it was let down by the awkward dialogue and stiff characters. I was kind of surprised at the level of general misogyny and it make me wonder about men in Austria, (I’m pretty sure most aren’t like they are being portrayed.) This book could be the start of a solid series and I hope the next book has a more natural conversations and more believable relationships.

Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review

Losing a loved one can be hard but losing a child with no idea where they are or if they are alive is unimaginable. Would you still be looking 5years later? I would! You have people around you who seem supportive but are they really? Did they have something to do with the missing child? Do they really wish you harm? This was a really great book that kept me guessing the whole way through. Well written and suspenseful.

Excellent. Pleasantly surprised as it is very different to what I expected. Well written, keeps suspense going and I didnt see the ending coming at all. The author manages to keep you wanting to turn the page

I will leave review on Amazon or B&N on Dec 12, 2019

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of Don't Forget Me, this is my honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised after reading some of the reviews, I know everyone doesn't enjoy the same books. Overall I thought the book was well-written, and it kept me turning the page to see what was going to happen next. Olivia Hofmann is a psychiatrist seeing patients but also taking care of her aging father. For myself I would recommend this book to others, but having said that I would also let them know that a lot of readers thought differently than me, so I would have to leave it up to them if they want to read it. For me I guess I could call this a dark horse that I enjoyed.

Reading the synopsis of "Don't forget me" I thought this would be a perfect read for me. Sadly, it was not. In spite of an interesting premise, I don't feel like it was well developed at all, short chapter after short chapter, not allowing the story to feel like a whole, just some disjointed scenes where everything happens because the author decided it had to do so, not leading the reader to that.

The two main characters were two dimensional, and while the author gave them some backstory to make them more interesting, it wasn't developed enough to make me feel interested. And if the main characters were two dimensional, the villains were a caricature, with such an awkward and not believale dialogue that it made me cringe sometimes. One thing that caught my attention was how the characters' reactions were not in sync with the seriousness of the moment in question, being totally out of proportion for stupid things and so nonchalant for the important ones.

Regretfully, "Don't forget me" didn't live up to his title and I already forgot it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

It’s not clear what connects a reader to a book but I was not impressed with this one. The plot held few surprises and was mostly predictable and every single character, not only the suspects and baddies but even the victims, was unlikable to the extreme. I don’t mind flawed heroes but these guys were obnoxious. At one point, I was wondering if this was either a cultural misunderstanding or Austrians are just plain weird (I’ve been to Austria, I know this is not the case). I hate blaming the translation, since it seems like translators are the scapegoats when readers don’t like novels, but considering this series is such a hit I guess it could be an answer. Or it could be that I just didn’t connect with the novel, which is strange because it has all the elements I usually enjoy. In any case, I have to give it 2 stars. Sorry.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, Amazon Publishing UK!

This was a fast paced and quick read with a promising premise. The execution was ok, however I felt at some points the narrative became slightly confusing. Overall this book was relatively enjoyable and I would certainly recommend it to anybody that asked!

I wanted to enjoy this book... but it wasn’t very easy to follow. The characters were okay for the most part, but I found myself struggling to reach the end of the story. I think the story had potential, it just didn’t quite meet my expectations.

The synopsis of Don't Forget Me sounded promising and while it wasn't a bad story, unfortunately I didn't feel as hooked into it as I would've liked. In saying that though, I was surprised as who ended up being the killer so it's definitely worth sticking through with until the end. This book was a quick read.