Yesterday

I was intrigued from just the description of the book and then was thrilled to discover that a world limited in memory was every bit of a fun as a setting for a mystery as I had anticipated.

Yap sets up some really compelling social ideas for how society would chose to divide over length of memory instead of by religion or skin color. While there was also plenty of compelling reasons to explain why the memory issues existed for all human beings, the only thing I wish I understood better was exactly how long this issue had been effecting people.

I also really enjoyed the way that the technology that has become such a standard part of our daily lives has been reappropriated to fit within the world the author has created. I won’t spoil anything beyond that, other than to say that I had a chuckle over this kind of blend of real world people and other world ideas.

What surprised me the most about this story is that there are really three main threads to the narrative, one being the most obvious- the attempt to solve a murder, the second being a B plot about the detective’s desire to hide that the fact that he is a mono (this is revealed fairly early on) and the third and most surprising is that the story turned out to have a lot of real love at the heart of the story. I don’t usually find a lot of genuine romance in murder mysteries, at least not in the kinds I read.

Overall this book offered a unique world and an intriguing murder with some fun twists in the end.

Yesterday was an amazing novel. An engaging mystery, a creative world, and unique and entertaining characters. Yesterday will go down as one of my favourite mysteries for the year.

Claire is a mono, meaning she can only remember yesterday. When a detective comes knocking at her door, accusing her husband Mark of murdering a young beautiful woman that wrote in her diary that she was Mark's mistress, Claire must piece together what has happened the past few days, and what secrets her and Mark's history truly contains.

This novel had some amazing characters. Right from the start I really liked reading from Claire and Mark's point of view. I was a little salty at first with the detective's point of view, I would have much rather either read from the two main characters view points or from the diary of woman that was murdered. Eventually I ended up liking the detective and his story, although I never liked him as much as the other characters.

I loved the mystery aspect and the world that the author created. The fast that she wrote a mystery in a dystopian world where you can only remember either the day before or two days, and have to use a diary to remember the rest was extremely creative. The feeling of not knowing whether you killed someone or not because you can't trust what your past self wrote in a diary is crazy when you think about it. This story was so entertaining, I loved the dystopian world and the mystery was fantastic.

I was a little disappointed while reading that the mystery was being too obvious. When the plot twist hit, I nearly fell off my chair. I totally wasn't expecting the ending and it honestly made me love the book so much.

Overall, the characters, the world, and the plot was absolutely fantastic. I truly loved this book. If it wasn't for the detectives point of view not being as enjoyable as the rest and the obvious beginning of the mystery, I would have given this book a full 5 stars. Either way, I still recommend this book to all mystery, thriller and dystopian lovers.

You know that movie with Dennis Quaid, "DOA", where the professor has been poisoned and has 36 hours to solve his own crime before he dies? This book reminds me of that movie. DCI Hans Richardson is a Mono; he can only remember things for one day and then they disappear. He doesn't die but it makes it difficult for him to solve murders, even with scrupulous notes. At the same time, the reader follows the story through the eyes of Claire, another Mono and wife of the main suspect, her husband. Through her we see how Monos are treated by the assumed superiors, Duos who can remember two days in their past. The concept was very interesting and Ms. Yap manages to find ways to handle most issues with the memory black hole. There were a couple twists in the book; one I guessed and the other I didn't. I am not sure if Ms. Yap gave away the first one to hide the second one or if I just guessed it. However, I felt like there was almost too much for the book to tackle. In addition to the bigotry between the two classes, there was also the relationship between Claire and her husband and his mistress, and how the detective handled trying to pretend to be a Duo in order to succeed at work. Honestly, his story was the most fascinating and I wish the book would have focused more on him, but that might not have been as interesting to a majority. No matter which part interests you, there is something in this book for everyone.

A remarkable story from a brilliant debut author; I was definitely intrigued throughout and enjoyed reading this one! With no expectations, prior to beginning this novel, I had some reservations about whether I would be able to connect with the story line, characters and/or science; I should not have been concerned. Highly recommend!

As soon as I read the tagline for Yesterday, by Felicia Yap, I was hooked. How do you solve a murder when you can only remember yesterday? This debut thriller has a few sci-fi elements combined with a fast paced plot that had me equally confused to what is going on and intrigued enough to let myself go and become lost within the world Yap has created.
The novel opens with the discovery of a body and Hans, the cop on the scene has about 13 hours to solve the murder before his brain, and every other duo, resets. The world is made up of monos (those who has memories for 24 hours) and duos (those who have memories for 48 hours); all of these members keep detailed diaries of their discussions and whereabouts for reference. So when the victim’s diary is discovered and a writer, turned politician, is the prime suspect, the race is on to bring justice before time (and memories) have run out. After all, how can a confession be given when no one remembers the crime?
Told through diary entries and personal perspectives, we hear from four different people directly affected by the murder: the victim (Sophie), the detective (Hans), Mark (the main suspect who happens to be a duo) and Claire (Mark’s wife and mono).
Sound a little bit confusing?
It is.
But do not let that deter you from this book!
I’ll be honest, it took me about 20% to really get into my groove, but once I understood the language of this parallel universe, I was completely hooked and entranced by Yap’s prose.
The characterization in Yesterday was my favourite part; every single character, big or small, adds something so significant to the plot. Are you a fan of an unreliable narrator? Well, imagine that every single character in a novel is unreliable. They physically cannot remember what happened days prior and are working solely off written “facts” in a diary. Absolutely none of these characters can be trusted and that is what makes this novel so delicious. There is nowhere to turn and no one to trust. No one’s motives are made completely clear.
And that cover? Come on.
Overall, the originality of the plot and the wit in Yap’s writing won me over completely; I do think this will be a love it or hate it type of book but I know that I loved it.