Book Club Review - Memory Man

Title: Memory Man
Author: David Baldacci
Publishing Date: 2015
Genre: General Fiction/Suspense
Rating: A-
Sensuality: N/A
Book Disclosure: July Book Club book, Candy's choice.  Rented from the library.

Memory Man is the first book in the Amos Decker series.  I believe the second book has been released.  I believe this is the first time I have read David Baldacci.  I know. I know.  He is a big powerhouse in the fiction world.  How am I just now reading him?!?!  He happens to be a favorite of a few ladies in my book club.  FYI, I plan to do a separate post on my book club so that you can get to know those ladies.

Back to Memory Man.  Amos Decker is a very unique character.  He was a professional football player and he took a very bad hit on the field.  So bad in fact, that the had to be resuscitated twice by the medical staff.  He survived, but his brain had been altered by the hit.  He is now able to have perfect recall of anything that happens to him.  If he reads a story, he can recall every detail.  Fast forward to present day and Decker is a mess.  He was a detective on the police force whose world shattered when his wife and only child were brutally murdered.  It has been 18 months since their death and no suspects were found.  Out of the blue, a man walks into the police station and confesses to their murder.  Decker doesn't have any recollection of the man but thinks he might be connected to the real killer.

I very much enjoyed Memory Man.  What makes the story so great is the main character, Amos Decker.  He is such an unusual character.  Not just the fact that he can never forget anything, but that he is completely likeable.  He is very humble.  He is big and fat.  He feels like he lost all of himself, first with the football accident and then secondly when he lost his family.  Even thought the mystery takes front and center in the story, really it is also a story about self discovery. 

Amos isn't the only well drawn character.  From his former partner, the chain smoking woman who also has a daughter with down syndrome, to the actual killer - wow totally did not see that one coming, the cast is truly rich and well developed.

Never saw who the murderer was at all.  The mystery was laid out brilliantly and kept me guessing the whole time.

I would say the only negative that I found with the book, was that the author kept explaining Amos's brain condition, as if something like that is difficult to grasp.  Um no, got it after the first time you explained it.  However, the author kind of kept going on and on and on about it. 

This review reflects many of the my own thoughts as well as those of the ladies in the book club.  There were 7 of us there, out of 10, and all of us there liked the story.