Scan barcode
A review by lyndajdickson
Everything She Forgot by Lisa Ballantyne
5.0
Margaret Holloway nearly dies in a car accident but is rescued by Maxwell Brown, a mysterious man with burn scars, who puts his own life at risk to save her. As a result of the accident, Margaret suffers from PTSD and starts remembering a traumatic event from her childhood. Flashback to 1985, where Big George is seeking to escape the criminal lifestyle imposed on him by his gangland family. He wants to get back with his first love, Kathleen, and their daughter, Moll, but in a bizarre twist of events, he ends up kidnapping Moll instead. When small-time journalist, Angus Campbell, gets wind of this story, a chase ensues as he sets out to solve the mystery of Molly's abduction and get noticed by the big newspapers.
The story is told from the multiple viewpoints of the people involved. In the past: kidnapper George; Moll's mother, Kathleen; Angus, the reporter; and George's friend, Tam. In the present, school teacher Margaret tells her story as she struggles to remember what happened to her as a child and why she is drawn to the mysterious Maxwell. The different viewpoints stimulate interest and allow the author to tell the story from a variety of angles. Further flashbacks interspersed in George's story help explain why he is who he is and help the reader identify with, and even sympathize with, him. The author skillfully manipulates our feelings for two completely opposite men; we are drawn to George, the supposed villain who makes bad choices for all the right reasons, and we feel revulsion for Angus, a supposedly good man who beats his wife and lets his beloved cow suffer because he will not work on the Sabbath.
The book covers a range of confronting topics, such as PTSD, child abduction, adult illiteracy, nature versus nurture, and redemption. We are left to ponder that bad things happen for a reason. While tragic, what happened to Margaret as a child shapes her into the woman she becomes, a teacher with a special leaning toward illiterate teenagers. As for George, we hope he finally found his peace.
More a personal account of Margaret's and George's journeys than a suspense thriller, this is nevertheless a deeply satisfying read.
I received this book in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: http://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com/2015/10/everything-she-forgot-by-lisa-ballantyne.html
The story is told from the multiple viewpoints of the people involved. In the past: kidnapper George; Moll's mother, Kathleen; Angus, the reporter; and George's friend, Tam. In the present, school teacher Margaret tells her story as she struggles to remember what happened to her as a child and why she is drawn to the mysterious Maxwell. The different viewpoints stimulate interest and allow the author to tell the story from a variety of angles. Further flashbacks interspersed in George's story help explain why he is who he is and help the reader identify with, and even sympathize with, him. The author skillfully manipulates our feelings for two completely opposite men; we are drawn to George, the supposed villain who makes bad choices for all the right reasons, and we feel revulsion for Angus, a supposedly good man who beats his wife and lets his beloved cow suffer because he will not work on the Sabbath.
The book covers a range of confronting topics, such as PTSD, child abduction, adult illiteracy, nature versus nurture, and redemption. We are left to ponder that bad things happen for a reason. While tragic, what happened to Margaret as a child shapes her into the woman she becomes, a teacher with a special leaning toward illiterate teenagers. As for George, we hope he finally found his peace.
More a personal account of Margaret's and George's journeys than a suspense thriller, this is nevertheless a deeply satisfying read.
I received this book in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: http://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com/2015/10/everything-she-forgot-by-lisa-ballantyne.html