The Memory Collector by Meg Gardiner

Synopsis :

Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett's specialty is the psychological autopsy- an investigation into a person's life to determine whether a death was natural, accidental, suicide, or homicide. She calls herself a dead-shrinker instead of a head-shrinker: The silence of her "patients" is a key part of the job's attraction. When Jo is asked to do a psychological autopsy on a living person-one with a suspect memory who can't be trusted to participate in his own medical care-she knows all her skills will be put to the test.

Jo is called to the scene of an aircraft inbound from London to help deal with a passenger who is behaving erratically. She figures out that he's got anterograde amnesia, and can't form new memories. Jo finds herself racing to save a patient who can walk and talk and yet can't help Jo figure out just what happened to him. For every cryptic clue he is able to drag up from his memory, Jo has to sift through a dozen nonsensical statements.

Suddenly a string of clues arises, something to do with a super deadly biological agent code-named "Slick," a missing wife and son, and a secret partnership gone horribly wrong. Jo realizes her patient's addled mind may hold the key to preventing something terrible from happening in her beloved San Francisco.

In order to prevent it, she will have to get deeper into the life of a patient than she ever has before, hoping the truth emerges from the fog of his mind in time to save her city-and herself.

The Memory Collector is part of a collection that I bought last year.  I was just attracted to the title before I got attracted to the story.  However, it took me quite a while to read it as I was much occupied with the many commitments that the new year brings.

I wasn't really liking Jo Beckett as the main character as I felt she's rather weak and non of the other characters are captivating enough to create much impact for me.  While some might say the story is kinda limpy but it is the storyline itself that was able to draw me in and caused me to turn those pages.  The story is based on a biological weapon that caused a person to loss his or her short term memory, it can have devastating effect on the person or persons that came into contact with it.


I wasn't really liking it at first but the story grew on me and I ended up enjoying the story for its thrilling effect and the race to stop the devastation.  It was indeed quite an enjoyable read which I am rather glad I gave it a try.