TLC Reivew: In the Dark We Forget by Sandra SG Wong

Title: In the Dark We Forget

Author: Sandra SG Wong

Year published: 2022

Category: Adult fiction (thriller)

Pages: 368 pages

Rating: 3.5 to 4 out of 5

Location: (my 2022 Google Reading map): Canada

Summary: A jolting psychological suspense novel from an up-and-coming Chinese-Canadian crime writer about missing parents, a winning lottery ticket and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Some things are better left forgotten . . .

When a woman wakes up with amnesia beside a mountain highway, confused and alone, she fights to regain her identity, only to learn that her parents have disappeared—not long after her mother bought a winning $47 million lottery ticket. 

As her memories painfully resurface and the police uncover details of her parents’ mysterious disappearance, Cleo Li finds herself under increasing suspicion. Even with the unwavering support of her brother, she can’t quite reconcile her fears with reality or keep the harrowing nightmares at bay. 

As Cleo delves deeper for the truth, she cannot escape the nagging sense that maybe the person she should be afraid of...is herself.

Review:  I am not sure if I wasn't in the right space to read this book or if it was just slow. Normally a main character with anesthesia would grab me from the start, but this one didn't and I'm not sure why.

Cleo was an interesting character that I mostly warmed to. I definitely felt for her since she had no memories at all, had been drugged with Rohypnol, and didn't know whom to trust. But, it turns out that once her memory starts to come back, she isn't a very nice person so it was difficult to continue feeling bad for her. The supporting characters were okay as well, but I felt they needed to be developed more.

I did like the mystery of what happened to Cleo and having her parents missing was also an interesting aspect which gave the book more depth and focus. The author did a good job of paralleling Cleo's memories coming back with the police finding more clues so that it all came together well in the end with the reveal being a bit of a surprise.

I think you can probably tell that I feel a bit flat about this novel. I didn't hate it and didn't love it.

Challenges for which this counts: none