All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


To say this book was a refreshing read, considering the premise and the graphic nature of the content, seems a bit odd. However, I do feel as though this novel was successfully able to differentiate itself from the typical "psychological thriller", so to me, that made it a breath of fresh air. This might not be for everyone since there is no beating around the sensitive topics - there is mention of rape or some type of sexual situation on almost every page - so make peace with that early or move on.

I enjoyed the unique first person style of narrative, it hooked me in immediately. I think having the psychiatrist tell the story was clever, however, having all dialogue and actions between characters relayed through him in italics had a tendency to get confusing at times. There were points where the timeline bounced around with the narrator telling us something along the lines of "this happened and here are some details about that event, but I'm getting ahead of myself, so I'll get back to that later". I found myself needing to re - read parts to make sure I was accurately understanding when certain conversations and actions were taking place. That being said, it didn't negatively effect the reading experience.

I am typically a fast reader, especially if I am really invested in a book, which I was, but this took me a week to finish. It's not a quick read. At all. I think because of the heavy content and the style of writing - you can't breeze through this. This book reminds me of the phenomenon when you order a meal at a restaurant and you feel like you keep eating and eating, but your plate never seems to have less food. I would read this book whenever I got the chance, yet I never felt like I was making progress! That is not to say this book was boring or tedious or dragged on. It literally just takes a long time to read.

One of the few things I didn't love was the fact that the psychiatrist seemed to be 100% okay breaching all patient / doctor confidentiality rules. Granted, I have no idea what is considered "okay" to discuss in therapy sessions, but I would assume you don't tell one patient every detail of what their spouse / child / friend said in their earlier appointment with you ... But in general, the narrator was a pretty questionable guy so it is consistent with his personality. ESPECIALLY when you find out what he knew all along about Jenny's rapist, but selfishly choose to conceal. Wow.

I liked the ending and enjoyed how it all ended up coming together (or rather falling apart, whatever). I feel as though the final reveal kind of came out of nowhere, but also made a lot of sense based on some of the clues laid out throughout the book. If that makes sense... which I know it doesn't. I'm clearly still processing all of it, lol. All I know is this novel very effectively illustrates all that is messed up in this world and just how despicable humans really can be. And who doesn't love to read about that!



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