Customer Reviews

Amnesia (Peter Zaks Mysteries)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a great mystery! This book is a delight to read. The writing style is taut and crisp, the characters (especially Peter Zak)multidimensional, and the theme profound. To what extent can we trust memories? With what confidence can someone (especially someone who has been hit in the head!) be trusted to recollect critical events? This psychological question is explored in a wonderful setting (Boston is the place, and it is beautifully described!). I really enjoyed some of the details of how psychological evaluations are conducted. Peter Zak shares with readers his myriad interests,such as Mission furniture,pottery and rowing on the Charles River. You can't put thjis book down! If you arelooking for a fun mystery, with an interesting and engaging main character,acolorful setting and a thought-provoking theme - this is it.It would be great to discuss in book clubs. I understand that anotherPeter Zak mystery is in the works (check the web site) and can't wait to read it!

At first I wondered if in such a thin volume I'd be able to connect with the characters. And a good number of characters are introduced. But by the end of the book I liked Peter Zak enough to wonder what would happen to him and care.

The story definitely moves right along but it doesn't move so fast as to be uncomfortable. There is ample description but usually not overdone. Although I am not nearly as enamored with wine drinking as the authors.

The suspense is just about right with a few twists and turns to keep things interesting right to the end.

But finally for me it is the sense that these could be real characters and whether I like them or not that would make me buy another volume.

And I would buy another one.

Terry Fritts

As a mystery novel, "Amnesia" has it all! The location (Boston) is beautifully described, the characters are multi-dimensional and deftly drawn, and the plot is complex enough to pose an intellectual challenge but suspenseful enough to surprise the reader in the final chapters.

"Amnesia" was written by two people: a writer and her collaborator, a practicing forensic neuropsychologist. Their combined strengths result in the creation of a masterful mystery.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Peter Zak of the Pearce Psychiatric Institute used to work as a consultant at the Massachusetts Public Defender's Office. Two years have passed since he offered his services there. He advised a patient to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. When the person was freed, he stalked Peter and his wife because he took umbrage with the doctor calling him a lunatic. The maniac ultimately killed Peter's spouse. Peter vowed never again would he work for the Public Defender.

However, a colleague asks Peter to help on a case, which peaks the doctor's interest and he agrees. Sylvia Jackson was found in a graveyard with a bullet in her head. She remained in a coma for six weeks before regaining consciousness without any memory of what happened to her. She does not recall someone killed her boyfriend, leaving him in her bed. As her memory returns, she believes her former husband killed her boyfriend and tried to murder her. Peter and the defense tame believe her ex-spouse is innocent or is he just a clever psychopath.

This is a fine start to what appears to be an exciting medical mystery series. AMNESIA is a fascinating story centering on how professionals can manipulate real and false memories of a weakened person. Peter is an appealing character as an individual who has lost part of his soul, but is finally starting to recover his equilibrium. G.H. Ephron has created a fresh mystery that sub-genre fans will relisg.

Harriet Klausner

This is the kind of book that grips you from page one and makes you want to re-read the whole thing when you're done to see if you could have spotted whodunnit. Very much looking forward to "Addiction" next and hopefully a whole series of books by such great writer(s).

I liked this book not just because Peter Zak is sympathetic and engaging, and not just because it has a suspenseful and well-constucted plot. I liked this book because it explored the idea of memory and made me think differently about eye-witness testimony. A great read!

In the novel Amnesia, the Protagonist Dr. Peter Zak works in the Neuropsychiatric Unit. Life for him consists of work and rowing in the Charles, in his last gift from his wife Kate. This being the only thing that could keep him from playing back those chilling images of Kate's death. He had long since stopped working as a forensic scientist until one call from an old friend drew him back in. A very intriguing case had come up, seems a women was shot in the head, and left to die, spent weeks in a coma, only to wake up and remember the killer. Dr. Zak's job could she really remember who the killer was after being shot in the head and going into a coma? This book was a very good mystery novel. I myself enjoyed reading it but found that I came to be inpatient because of the time it took to really unravel the mystery. I found that the action just doesn't really come soon enough for me personally, but when it did it was hard to stop reading.

This was a pretty entertaining mystery. The psychology angle made it quite interesting and gave it an added element over the standard mystery. But the characters, overall, lacked that certain sparkle to be the first book in a series that I am desperate to continue reading. I will say that for it being written by two authors, it was remarkably cohesive. The ending was not a complete surprise, but it was exciting.

You are all invited to come toWinsted's Beardsley & MemorialLibrary Mystery Discussion Groupmeeting.    They say that the apple ofcreativity doesn't fall far fromthe tree. That appears to be thecase with this apple from theEphron family tree.   On April 9 we will have thepleasure of hosting HALLIE EPHRON.  Hallie is the third daughter ofHenry and Phoebe Ephron, whom amongother things, wrote the screenplays for"Carousel", "Desk Set", and "Daddy LongLegs".      Her older sister Nora Ephron, isthe writer, director and producerof such favorites as, "Sleepless in Seattle", and "You've Got Mail". In my opinion, these are a farcry from the bad majority of theHollywood violence andblood-letting movies that besmirchthe once "silver screen".   Before deciding to join herfamily in the writing trade, Hallietaught at Curry College and LesleyUniversity. I also discovered thatshe teaches workshops for publishedand aspiring writers in Summerwriters'conference classes on CapeCod.   With her partner Donald Davidoff,Hallie has authored the Dr. PeterZak mysteries:Amnesia(2000),Addiction(2001), anda soon-to-be-published Delirium. Donald Davidoff is aforensicpsychologist who teaches atthe Harvard Medical School, andruns a neuropsychiatric unit in theUniversity's psychiatric hospital.