Book Review: All You Took From Me by Lisa Kenway

 All You Took From Me

by

Lisa Kenway

Publisher: Transit Lounge Publishing

Publication date: 1st August 2024

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Pages: 336

RRP: AU$32.99 (paperback)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Quikmark Media

 

Review: All You Took From Me

All You Took From Me is a compelling debut novel from Lisa Kenway. Cleverly plotted to slowly release vital information which kept me eagerly turning the pages to find out what Clare had blocked from her memory.

 

Clare Carpenter wakes in UCI in a Sydney hospital to be told she had been in a car accident in which her husband died. She has been in a coma for months and can't remember the accident or the months leading up to it.

 

After being released from hospital and returning to her isolated Blue Mountains home Clare finds she is being stalked and someone is leaving threatening notes. Feeling she must solve the mystery behind her memory loss Claire, an anaesthetist herself, believes an anaesthetic drug may help her remember, but she will be putting her life and career in danger.

 

I quite often struggle with a first person narration and I did struggle with this one. Clare is erratic and complicated. I couldn't warm to her. But that aside, I found the story was gripping, tension filled and carried an overarching sense of menace. Clare's memories, revealed through hypnosis and anaesthetic, were vivid and suspense filled. I loved the slow reveal.

 

All You Took From Me is a powerful debut which explores the world of repressed memory. 

 

My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐