Yes, shock, the person you love can drive you mad. Howard doesn't die ( )

Remember Me This Way is a spine-tingling, suspense-laden psychological thriller. The novel is full of clever twists and turns and Sabine Durrant makes it virtually impossible to guess the mystery's final outcome right up until the very end.

On the one year anniversary of her husband Zack's death, Lizzie Carter is finally ready to visit the site of his accident and finish settling his estate. She is surprised to see that someone has left a bouquet of memorial flowers at the accident scene, but it is the attached message that rouses a few suspicions. When she reaches his cottage, she is further unsettled by some missing items that lead her to believe that Zack might have faked his own death. After she returns home, Lizzie becomes certain that is Zack alive and he is stalking her. When no one takes her fears seriously, she begins her own investigation and Lizzie quickly discovers that she really did not know Zack at all.

Lizzie is a somewhat unreliable narrator because she is rather fuzzy on the day to day details of her life. She feels guilty for some of the events that occurred in the days leading up Zack's death and her lingering grief further clouds her judgment. There are also some very strange occurrences that bolster her belief that he is still alive but why would Zack fake his death? The answer to that question is revealed bit by bit through the lies that Lizzie uncovers and her memories of her relationship with Zach.

The most chilling revelations are divulged through passages from Zack's point of view. As he reflects on his previous relationships and his marriage, a frightening picture become to emerge. In the days and months leading up to his death, he becomes increasingly controlling of Lizzie and his behavior grows more volatile and erratic. But does this mean that Zach deliberately faked his death only to return to stalk and terrorize Lizzie?

Remember Me This Way is a riveting mystery that is fast paced and quite engrossing. The storyline is well written with numerous plot twists and Sabine Durrant brings the novel to a very unexpected conclusion. A positively brilliant psychological thriller that I highly recommend to fans of the genre. ( )

Run of the mill slightly far fetched psychological thriller ( )

A year after her husband Zach’s death in a horrific road crash, Lizzie Carter finally feels able to visit the accident site and leave flowers for him. However when she gets there she sees that someone else has left flowers for him with the name ‘Xenia’ in a note, and she wonders if he had another woman in his life. As Lizzie digs deeper into Zach’s past to try and find out who Xenia is, she discovers all sorts of things which make her question whether she ever really knew him at all.

Interspersed with the chapters narrated by Lizzie in the present day, are chapters from Zach’s diary which start from around the time he and Lizzie met. It is clear from both narratives that Zach has anger issues, and is a sociopath. Lizzie starts to question whether or not he is even dead, or whether he has faked his own death and is now stalking her.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and it was narrated by Penelope Rawlins (Lizzie) and Daniel Weyman (Zach). I thought they both did a good job. Unfortunately however, I did not really enjoy the book. I had previously read Lie With Me by the same author, and enjoyed it, despite it being far-fetched. Based on that, I thought Remember Me This Way would be a good book to pass a few hours while I was out running, but I actually almost gave up on it. The main issue was that there were no redeeming characters at all, except for Lizzie’s dog Howard! I have no issue with unpleasant characters but these were just frustrating. Lizzie herself was a wet blanket who was seemingly incapable of seeing what was staring her in the face and who got walked over not just by her husband, but also by her unbearably selfish sister. The character of Onnie – the teenage daughter of an old friend of Zach – was annoying beyond belief, and I just wanted to shake them all into sense.

I didn’t give up on it and in the end it did keep my fairly occupied, but after it had picked up a bit in the second half, the actual ending turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. I think I am bit fed up of the glut of books about people who turn out not to be who their nearest and dearest thought they were. How many people in recent books have married people with dark secrets in their past? I sometimes feel as though I am reading the same story over and over again, so maybe I need a break from these kinds of stories for a while.

Unfortunately, and based on this book, I would probably not be interested in reading/listening to anything else by this author. ( )

Very suspenseful. Keeps you guessing. Great read! ( )