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ccornejo's review against another edition
4.5
Loved this book. It was so original. I tire of predictable story lines. This was a new twist on a murder mystery. I didn't want this book to end and it was hard to put it down.
katelynelizabeth's review against another edition
4.0
I flew through this book in 2 days, staying up way past my bedtime to finish it. The book alternates between characters chapter by chapter and jumps for one time period to another. You're racing to solve the mystery before the detective does.
The only thing I didn't get was .. *SPOILER*
If Sophia was so smart, why was she stuck in a mental institution for 17 years?!? She was the only human who can remember her whole life, yet she couldn't figure out how to get out of the hospital? She could come up with a scheming, intricate plan to get revenge, but she needed her insane roommate to tell her she needed to write in her diary so she could be deemed "sane" and be released? Sounds Iike something Sophia should have figured out immediately.
The only thing I didn't get was .. *SPOILER*
If Sophia was so smart, why was she stuck in a mental institution for 17 years?!? She was the only human who can remember her whole life, yet she couldn't figure out how to get out of the hospital? She could come up with a scheming, intricate plan to get revenge, but she needed her insane roommate to tell her she needed to write in her diary so she could be deemed "sane" and be released? Sounds Iike something Sophia should have figured out immediately.
joyousreads132's review against another edition
2.0
Confusing af.
Props for ingenuity, but my simple mind couldn't cope.
Props for ingenuity, but my simple mind couldn't cope.
windy_witch's review against another edition
3.0
This book is based in an alternate reality to today’s world, where there are people that remember only what happened the day before and those who can remember the last two days – Monos and Duos.
Both types of people have to keep diaries as a log to remember facts about the past. But what happens when the whole truth has not been entered into a diary?
Claire and Mark are in a mixed marriage and have been for 20 years. Mark (duo) is a famous novelist and aspiring MP while Claire (Mono) is a housewife that feels inferior to her husband who remembers more of the past than she does.
One day a dead woman turns up in the river by their house, but who is responsible for her murder or was it an accident?
This has been compared to Gone Girl and Before I Go To Sleep, I don’t agree. It is quite different and did not have the pace of these novels. At first I struggled to get into this book as it feels like such a strange concept to not be able to remember more than two days previous. I did however enjoy the story in the end and didn’t expect the twist coming as the finale.
Both types of people have to keep diaries as a log to remember facts about the past. But what happens when the whole truth has not been entered into a diary?
Claire and Mark are in a mixed marriage and have been for 20 years. Mark (duo) is a famous novelist and aspiring MP while Claire (Mono) is a housewife that feels inferior to her husband who remembers more of the past than she does.
One day a dead woman turns up in the river by their house, but who is responsible for her murder or was it an accident?
This has been compared to Gone Girl and Before I Go To Sleep, I don’t agree. It is quite different and did not have the pace of these novels. At first I struggled to get into this book as it feels like such a strange concept to not be able to remember more than two days previous. I did however enjoy the story in the end and didn’t expect the twist coming as the finale.
draganaruzic's review against another edition
5.0
Not at all what I was expecting. I got sci-fi vibes at the beginning with the Mono & Duo’s. Interesting to read about the iDiaries, which is honestly something that could happen in this world where everything is technology based. The ending was great, some say it was expected but it was still surprising!
akagle's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the unique premise. There were a few plot points that didn’t quite line up that caused me to deduct a star.
huffmaneric's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
The writing is much too choppy and the tone too detached/clinical for me to withstand reading this for too long 🫠
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
This twisty thriller comes with an unusual premise that hooked me from the start: it’s set in an alternate world where once people hit adulthood, their ability to make new memories is drastically reduced, resulting in a stratified society where Monos, who can remember only one day prior to today, are second-class citizens to Duos, who can remember the past two days.
If you’re wondering how a murder mystery can possibly work under those conditions, well, I was skeptical too, but for the most part Yap pulls it off. Characters are dependent on their iDiaries (Apple and Steve Jobs are called out by name), which are cell phone-like devices on which they record each day’s events for review later on. Of course, you can see the problem with a system like this--whatever a person chooses to write in their iDiary becomes fact for them in one or two days’ time, regardless of omissions or falsehoods. Hence the detective in the novel always tries his best to solve cases within a single day (which is probably the part I had the toughest time suspending my disbelief about).
Claire and Mark are a rare “mixed” marriage--she’s a Mono, he’s a Duo. A woman’s body is found in the river near their house, and the detective shows up to interview Mark. This stirs up all kinds of trouble, in their private and public lives. Mark is a famous novelist and aspiring politician, and any whiff of scandal could taint his name forever. If he was involved with another woman, let alone implicated in her death, Claire, needless to say, has questions.
I like mysteries and thrillers, but as they can start to all feel the same to me, I’m always looking for ones with a little something extra. The memory-challenged world Yap has created felt fresh, and couldn’t have been easy to execute. If I rated this book using the Olympic gymnastics scoring system, I would rate it very high for starting difficulty and add moderate style points, with a deduction for a slight loss of form in the air. (Tortured metaphor? Perhaps. But I like it! I think I might start rating all books like gymnastic routines. How did I not see before that books and gymnastics are basically the same thing?!)
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
If you’re wondering how a murder mystery can possibly work under those conditions, well, I was skeptical too, but for the most part Yap pulls it off. Characters are dependent on their iDiaries (Apple and Steve Jobs are called out by name), which are cell phone-like devices on which they record each day’s events for review later on. Of course, you can see the problem with a system like this--whatever a person chooses to write in their iDiary becomes fact for them in one or two days’ time, regardless of omissions or falsehoods. Hence the detective in the novel always tries his best to solve cases within a single day (which is probably the part I had the toughest time suspending my disbelief about).
Claire and Mark are a rare “mixed” marriage--she’s a Mono, he’s a Duo. A woman’s body is found in the river near their house, and the detective shows up to interview Mark. This stirs up all kinds of trouble, in their private and public lives. Mark is a famous novelist and aspiring politician, and any whiff of scandal could taint his name forever. If he was involved with another woman, let alone implicated in her death, Claire, needless to say, has questions.
I like mysteries and thrillers, but as they can start to all feel the same to me, I’m always looking for ones with a little something extra. The memory-challenged world Yap has created felt fresh, and couldn’t have been easy to execute. If I rated this book using the Olympic gymnastics scoring system, I would rate it very high for starting difficulty and add moderate style points, with a deduction for a slight loss of form in the air. (Tortured metaphor? Perhaps. But I like it! I think I might start rating all books like gymnastic routines. How did I not see before that books and gymnastics are basically the same thing?!)
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com