Mortal Memory [Large Print] [Library Binding]

Thomas H. Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

Steve Farris believes he has recovered from discovering the bodies of his murdered family as a boy, but the author of a book on family killings proves that the case is still open. (Mystery).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Cook's 11th novel (among them Edgar nominees Blood Innocents and Sacrificial Ground ), the violence is all in the past (save for a car crash) but the level of terror is daunting. Fortyish narrator Steve Farris is an architect who lives with his wife and son in the suburbs. For him architecture "is a world which has no room for chance," but one that changes drastically when he is contacted by Rebecca Soltero, who wants to interview him for a book she's writing about men who murdered their families. For in 1959 Steve's father fatally shotgunned his wife and their teenage daughter and son, then vanished. Nine-year-old Stevie, desperately missing his gifted 16-year-old sister, managed to block out all thoughts about the deaths. Now Rebecca lures him into talking, and he is forced to acknowledge the questions that have haunted his subconscious mind: Did his father mean to kill him, too? What secret did his father and his sister share? The novel keeps shifting back and forth in time, from the present to "that last year" to the years before Steve's birth to the immediate aftermath of the deaths, but always comes back to the horrible deed--the excruciating how and the unanswerable why. The deceptively simple writing is harrowing as Steve allows his mind to probe more deeply, examining remembered looks, words and nuances. Terror builds and the ending to this chilling study in psychological suspense is a dizzying jolt.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

On November 19, 1959, William Patrick Farris, age 44, picked up a rifle, walked into his surly son Jamie's room and shot him, walked down the corridor and killed his much-loved daughter Laura, a pretty teenager, then tracked his wife Dottie as she ran frantically from room to room and murdered her as she cowered in the basement. He then got in his car and drove away, never to be seen again. Nine-year-old Stevie, playing at a friend's house, was the sole family member to escape the slaughter; and for over 30 years now he's been repressing the details of it, and the horror, as he's carved out a niche for himself in the architectural offices of Simpson and Lowe, gotten married, and himself become the father of a son who's now nine years old. At this point author Rebecca Soltero contacts him: his father's case is one of five she is including in her work on men who kill their families. In interview after interview, she and Stephen Farris piece together what his father did and why, and in each memory that surfaces, the present Farris family situation appears grimmer, darker, more troubled, inexorably leading to the dissolution of Stephen's family and his shattering search for and confrontation with his father in Spain. Cook (The City When it Rains, Evidence of Blood, etc.), often given to literary theatrics, here displays an impressive narrative simplicity and a therapist's insightfulness, producing a finely crafted psychological crime-fare. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Library Binding: 431 pages
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company.; Lrg edition (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560547073
• ISBN-13: 978-1560547075
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,594,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THOMAS H. COOK was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, in 1947. He has been nominated for the Edgar Award seven times in five different categories. He received the best novel Edgar for The Chatham School Affair, the Martin Beck Award, the Herodotus Prize for best historical short story, and the Barry for best novel for Red Leaves, and has been nominated for numerous other awards.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Plan to spend th wwhole day reading this one...., May 29, 2000

By 

Karen Bierman Hirsh (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mortal Memory (Paperback)

Because you will NOT want to put it down! I can't think of anything to say about this amazing, edge of your seat, desperately want to read ahead for clues novel by Thomas Cook without giving anything away.

This story is typical a Cook novel in the fact that is takes place in the present and the past - the adult and the child must look back in the past to truly live life in the present. Mortal Memory focuses on Stephen Farris, a happily married man and successful architect with a gruesome past that he has successfully buried for many years until author Rebecca Soltero contacts him about his father.

As a child Stephen's father murdered his siblings and his mother - then cleaned his mother's body, ate a ham sandwich and left. He waited two hours alone in his house with the bodies of his family - all except for Stephen. What was he waiting for?

Stephen must dredge up his past for author Rebecca to make peace for himself. This a stunningly well crafted thriller as well as an amazingly unique story. One that continues to make you think long after you have finished the book. A plot that the reader will mostly likely remember for some time to come. One of the best thrillers I have read in ages.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intense, March 24, 2002

By 

mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mortal Memory (Paperback)

In Mortal Memory, Thomas Cook focuses on Steven Farris, a 40-something suburbanite who lives with the knowledge that his father murdered his mother and two siblings. Now an adult with his own family, Steven seems to live the perfect life until Rebecca enters. She has set out to write a novel about men who murder their families, and she wants to find out what Steven remembers about his own family. This causes Steven--who narrates this first-person tale--to dig far deeper into the psyche of his dead family; it turns out that he remembers much more than he thought. In the act of remembering, will Steven learn that the sins of the father revisit the son?

But what pushed his seemingly mild-mannered, gentle father into such a barbaric act?

Cook writes with a dreamlike quality; at times, I felt like I was wading through a dream, knowing in some ways how it would turn out but unable to wake up. His words are haunting, and this is a disturbing look into the secret world of a "normal" family. I thought I had the story all figured out, but I was truly surprised by a couple of twists along the way. I was unable to pull away from this novel and even dragged it along on vacation with me in order to finish it. This is worthy of valuable reading time. Don't expect a cleanly wrapped up ending; Cook's story here is a bit too complex for that. However, the writing is excellent, the story is compelling, and the characters get under the skin. Read this one!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe his best, March 15, 2000

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mortal Memory (Paperback)

An amazing psychological story. Cook always keeps me guessing but I really didn't get this until the end. Great writing, great insight into good and evil and how difficult it can be to see the real evil that's right in front of you. Things are not always what they seem to be, don't assume anything. I think that's the real message of this great story.