Customer Reviews

The Memory Collector: A Novel (Jo Beckett Series)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You are either going to love this novel or not like it at all. Meg Gardiner writes in a style that is very fast paced, based on an exciting premise and provides a thrill ride type journey. If being on the edge of your seat due to the action of a novel is enough for you then you will love this book THE MEMORY COLLECTOR.

Sadly, if you like your thrillers to contain deep psychological profiles of the characters then this book will not be for you. From main character forensic psychiatrist Jo Becket to the other major characters and the minor ones as well we only get to know them a little bit. They all have a purpose and a standard background but there is very little depth to them. They are needed to carry the story and that they do very well.

Actually this novel is what one would call a perfect BEACH READ. It is an exciting page turner that demands not much concentration from the reader. The author does leave you guessing and the ending is satisfying but I can't help but wonder what Meg Gardiner would come up with if she concentrated on psychological development of her characters. She handles the plot aspect skillfully. If she could add the same quality to the characters she would raise her standards to another level. But I do recommend this novel if a plot driven book is what you are looking for.

Meg Gardiner is the author of an excellent mystery/thriller series featuring Evan Delaney, an attorney in Santa Barbara. They feature compelling, nuanced, true-to-life characters and fascinating plots with lots of suspense. She's also written, prior to this book, one so-so work featuring her new fictional creation, Jo (Johanna) Beckett. The premise of Jo's career -- she does forensic psychological examinations, exploring how and why people end up dead and commit crimes -- is quirkily intriguing. But in both the first book in the series and more acutely in this one, what could be a wonderful basis for a series of psychological suspense thrillers, becomes instead a device that enables Gardiner to write a much more mindless action thriller novel. Having read her earlier novels, she could have written a livelier, more thriller-like PD James-style novel; instead, she seems to have decided to move in the direction of James Patterson. And with Patterson and his team of co-writers turning out a new novel every six weeks or so, we don't really need that many James Pattersons...

As the synopsis discloses, this time around Beckett is roped into evaluating Ian Kanan, a security consultant who has been mysteriously contaminated with something that means he'll never be able to form new memories. The plot revolves around the nature of that mysterious stuff, and the race by Kanan to save his wife and son and the other race, by Beckett and her boyfriend (a parajumper/theology student??) Gabriel Quintana to find the bioweapon that has destroyed Kanan's life.

A good thriller should be like riding a rollercoaster -- the ride is so good that you're relishing every second of it. The other hallmark of a good suspense story is that when elements of implausibility are injected into the book to keep the adrenaline pumping and the reader frantically turning pages, these are never overwhelming. Gardiner tiptoes close to the edge on violating rule #1, and goes way over when it comes to #2; much of plot defies credulity. A great thriller artist was Hitchcock, who loved to place ordinary people in extraordinary situations. The key to his success was knowing exactly how many improbable or extraordinary things his viewer was prepared to accept on faith, and in what circumstances. It's a lesson Gardiner needs to learn, as she delivers one extraordinary scenario after another. This problem, already evident in the first book in this new series, becomes far more acute in its successor, where character takes a definite back seat to whiplash plot devices.

It took me three efforts to read this book completely, and I finished it only because I kept hoping for the signs of the old Meg Gardiner. With the exception of her skill in drawing the personality of Jo Beckett, they just aren't there. If you want a good California thriller, go back to Gardiner's earlier books (such as China Lake: An Evan Delaney Novel (Evan Delaney Mysteries), Jericho Point: An Evan Delaney Novel or Mission Canyon: An Evan Delaney Novel (Evan Delaney Mysteries)). Or if you're looking to buy an extraordinarily good thriller, the second volume in Stieg Larsson's trilogy is now available. Both The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage) and The Girl Who Played with Fire offer extreme characters and situations, but they do it so well and so effortlessly that the result is a pulse-pounding, irresistible thriller of the kind that Gardiner seems to have walked away from delivering.

I have read enough thrillers to understand that expecting good, detailed characterization is setting myself up for disappointment. So when I pick up a thriller, I look for an exciting plot, good twists and turns, and a likeable enough hero or heroine.

Sadly, this book falls flat on most of those criteria. I liked the idea of a forensic psychologist as protagonist - I thought it would be fun to see such a professional at work. But Jo Beckett doesn't do much by way of forensic psychology in this book; instead she gets involved in a race-against-time to save the world from a sinister corporation and a deadly chemical composition called Slick (if you've read Vonnegut and remember Ice-Nine, think of Slick as Ice-Nine-esque). OK, not very believable, but I can suspend disbelief - but what I couldn't get past was the lack of originality of the whole thing, since anterograde amnesia was the subject of a quite good film from a number of years ago, MEMENTO, and this whole book felt like a ripoff of that concept.

I also had a problem in this book that I rarely have. The posse of bad guys is a bit like the Three Stooges; I couldn't ever seem to remember their names or who was who. And the female villain is really a cartoon - a feminist nightmare who's willing to wreck anything and everything to catch the man she can't have. Come on, Ms. Gardiner, let's have our women evolved to a certain extent instead of playing out those "Jersey Shore" stereotypes of women who'll do anything to get their man.

I finished it but think I'll quickly forget most of it, probably because I felt it didn't offer me any reason to go back (or recommend). My biggest disappointment was feeling that the excitement with which I began the book was quickly sucked out of the reading experience. Since I hate to offer negative reviews without commenting on some of the positives, I can honestly say that the book's a quick read and that the hero/heroine are likable enough, and there's one good twist midway through.

If you need a beach read this summer, I sure this one will do just fine.

This book is the second of Meg Gardiner's that I did not care for at all, the other book being the first in this new series featuring Jo Beckett (The Dirty Secrets Club). Set mostly in and around San Francisco, the books follows the mystery of Ian Kanan, a man who loses his memory every five minutes or so after a business trip to Africa and the Middle East.

The premise of this story, like The Dirty Secrets Club, stretches credulity to its very limits. There are a lot of vague technical and medical references which don't hold up well under scrutiny. The second half of the book is basically one long chase scene; the problem with this is that by that point I didn't much care what happened to any of the characters.

I am not entirely sure if it's the characters in this series or if Ms. Gardiner, who skyrocketed to fame via an endorsement from Stephen King, is suffering from pressure to produce books quickly. Either way I hope that she gets back to the standard of excellence set by China Lake. I'm not even sure at this point whether or not I will buy The Liar's Lullaby (3rd book in the Jo Beckett series), which is set to be released this summer.

Every once in a while a new literary talent who was previously flying under the radar of stardom is "discovered" by a recognized, successful writer and thereby sees his or her career soar. Such is the case with the immensely talented Meg Gardiner, who was the subject of a Stephen King column in Entertainment Weekly in 2007. King had the opportunity to pick up one of Gardiner's U.K. paperbacks during a trip to Europe, hailed her as "the next suspense superstar" and compared her style to such literary luminaries as Michael Connelly, Sue Grafton, Lee Child, Janet Evanovich and Nelson DeMille.

Gardiner has the unique background of being an American-born writer who had to find success overseas in Europe before being recognized in her home country --- similar to other U.S. writers of recent years like Donna Leon and Richard Laymon. Thank goodness King "outed" her because she has now realized her full potential in the U.S. by winning the Edgar Award for her paperback original, CHINA LAKE. With her latest novel, THE MEMORY COLLECTOR, she continues with the character of forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, who debuted in 2008's THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB. Prior to this, Gardiner had written five books in her Evan Delaney series.

The plot centers on an individual suffering from anterograde amnesia, the loss of memory of what happens after the event that caused the amnesia. It is different from retrograde amnesia, where memories prior to the event are forgotten. To a large degree, anterograde amnesia remains a mysterious ailment because the precise mechanism of storing memories is not yet well-understood, although scientists know which regions of the brain are involved. In this case, the victim is the mysterious Ian Kanan. Dr. Jo Beckett is called to the San Jose airport where a plane is on the tarmac having just flown in from London. On board is Kanan, acting erratically and apparently having no memory of where he is or how he got back to the U.S.

It turns out that Kanan had been on a mission in South Africa for Chira-Sayf, where he worked as an independent contractor. Beckett, who herself is an independent contractor working with the San Francisco P.D., investigates Kanan's background and finds out his experience included a prior stint with a special forces group called COBRA. Beckett also learns that Alec Shepherd, CEO of Chira-Sayf, is Kanan's brother and very protective of him. Kanan came into direct contact with a substance known only as "Slick," a liquid form of an unstable nanoparticle that was part of a discontinued nanotech project by Chira-Sayf. The bad news is that coming into contact with this substance can cause the rare form of amnesia from which he now suffers. Kanan cannot form new memories and forgets anything after five minutes --- sort of like the Guy Pearce character in the Christopher Nolan film, Memento.

Simultaneous to this action, both Kanan's wife Misty and son Seth are kidnapped by some mysterious thugs who seek Kanan and the sample of Slick he allegedly brought back to the U.S. The problem is that Kanan has no memory of this and no idea if and where the dangerous substance was located on the flight from London. Beckett, along with Lt. Amy Tang of the SFPD and other colleagues, are now in a race against time not only to locate the sample of Slick but also the whereabouts of Kanan's family. Most curious is that Shepherd was not responsible for Kanan's secret mission to South Africa, indicating that someone else within Chira-Sayf may be operating on a dangerous agenda with unknown consequences.

What Meg Gardiner does best in this fast-paced novel is to introduce characters and situations along the way without fully revealing their intentions or relationship to the plot. Like a master magician, she slowly pulls back the curtain on these characters and plot elements as the story moves along and allows the reader to put all the puzzle pieces together to determine what the real picture is. THE MEMORY COLLECTOR is a worthy successor to Gardiner's previous work and, like Stephen King's claims, definitely places her among the elite thriller writers working today.

--- Reviewed by Ray Palen

How do you fight a man who is bent on revenge, and whose brain is incapable of forming new memories? He has a purpose in mind and even if he can be convinced he is wrong, he will forget it in a few minutes and continue on his quest.

This is the premise of the second book from Meg Gardiner featuring forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett. Actually I re-read the first book (The Dirty Secrets Club) before starting this one, and they're both just excellent!

I love this character and enjoyed watching her pursue the information about this brain-damaged killer. Her abilities as a 'deadshrink' (basically, she analyzes the recent history of the dead to try to determine the reason for their deaths) are uniquely suited to this particular case, since the man she is analyzing continues to act on old memories and cannot form new ones.

A family member recently asked me to recommend books to bring on vacation, and I told her to buy ANYTHING from Meg Gardiner. This author is consistently excellent and the books are real page-turners.

"The Memory Collector" is a great book with non-stop action. I had read and liked the first Jo Beckett book, "The Dirty Secrets Club" but enjoyed this one even more. (Reading that book first would give you more background information on Jo and Gabe, but you could read "The Memory Collector" first and still understand and enjoy it.)

The premise of Ian's memory loss is intriguing and different from anything that I have read. The book has many twists and it isn't always obvious who the "good guys" and the "bad guys" are. This kept me interested and also guessing at how the story would unfold.

There are no slow parts in this book - each chapter is exciting. This is definitely one of those books that you won't want to put down. I highly recommend it!

This book had a good plot. It keeps one confused for a while but then all falls into place. I must admit it is well written. There were too many chase scenes. I believe it is more of a man's book.

I really enjoyed this book. It catches your attention right away and keeps you gong thru the whole book. Things are not always as they seem and it has a good twist at the end.

Meg Gardiner creates a perfect action-packed thriller about a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Jo Beckett, whose case is a man with anterograde amenesia, meaning that he can't create new memories, subsequent to a head injury.
This is a rare disorder (as seen in movie, "Memento,"), and, in this book, the question is not why but what. What pivotal information does his memory hold that he is not aware of? How can she create connection with him long enough to discover the truth? His case is clearly linked to dangerous warfare which could drastically affect the world.

The Memory Collector is a fun read, perfect for a plane ride, since some of the scenes take place on a plane. It also takes place mostly in San Francisco, and since I've lived there, it's fun to read a book and recognize the streets and location described. I loved the female protagonist, and that the book was riveting enough for my boring 7 and 1/2 hour plane ride. This is not a deep read with character development, but, it is fairly well-written, and gripping. If you're looking for a book which feels like a movie, and is very entertaining, this is it.