TLC Review: Blackout by Erin Flanagan

Title: Blackout

Author: Erin Flanagan

Year published: 2022

Category: Adult fiction (thriller)

Pages: 303 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5

Location: (my 2022 Google Reading map): USA (OH)

Summary: Seven hard-won months into her sobriety, sociology professor Maris Heilman has her first blackout. She chalks it up to exhaustion, though she fears that her husband and daughter will suspect she’s drinking again. Whatever their cause, the glitches start becoming more frequent. Sometimes minutes, sometimes longer, but always leaving Maris with the same disorienting question: Where have I been?

Then another blackout lands Maris in the ER, where she makes an alarming discovery. A network of women is battling the same inexplicable malady. Is it a bizarre coincidence or something more sinister? What do all the women have in common besides missing time? Or is it who they have in common?

In a desperate search for answers, Maris has no idea what’s coming next―just the escalating paranoia that her memories may be beyond her control, and that everything she knows could disappear in the blink of an eye.

Review: I really do like thrillers and this one sat well with me. I read it almost all in one day after my jury duty ended. It was a good read for the mood I was in.

The perfect way to hurt someone or make them think they are going crazy is to use something about themselves that they are already worried about and that's what our "bad guy" does in this novel. An alcoholic's blackouts are a good cover for many things and the alcoholic may not want to talk to others about it since they are embarrassed or trying to hide the blackouts.

I like the way multiple characters banded together to solve what was going on and the lesson is: always bring others in to help! One of my frustrations with the main character is that she kept her teenage daughter and husband out of the situation. They are the ones who care about you most and will help! So frustrating.

The author also wove in a story that connected the novel to the real world: white male athlete rapes drunk girl and gets a very light sentence (yes, there is a brief description of the crime, but it isn't super detailed. The focus is more on the impact of the crime and how various people respond to it).

All in all this is a well done thriller. Not the best I've read, but certainly not the worst.

Challenges for which this counts: