Amnesia by Andrew Neiderman

Val Penny ♦ December 30, 2013 ♦ 1 Comment

Andrew Neiderman was  born in 1940 and is an American  novelist, screen writer and ghost writer.  He taught English  in upstate New York before he started writing books.   Neiderman is married to the former model  Dian Wilson and they have two children, and three grandchildren.

Amnesia is certainly not the best known of his novels.  Still, I enjoyed it, it was not your average ‘amnesia’ story and I stayed up late to finish it as I could not wait to see how it ended.

The story starts during rush hour in Grand Central Station.   Aaron Clifford stops dead in his tracks, commuters swirling around him,  but he does not know who he is.   He does not know his own name at all.   No matter how hard he tries,  Aaron has no memory of why he is there,  where he came from,  or where he is going.   It is impossible but it is true.

He finds his way “home” to find he is moving the next day to a new home in what may be a little bit TOO much of an ideal community.

The clues came slowly: from Aaron’s surroundings, from his wallet, from the taste of dry martini still on his lips.  Soon Aaron Clifford will piece together the keys to his life.  With that relief will come cold-blooded fear because he learns more than he ever knew before.  He remembers things he should not really know: things he does not want to know and things that could get him killed.

This is a good, light read but the ending spoilt it for me.  It seemed to conclude in the last two short chapters and left questions unanswered.  It did not quite fit the feel of the rest of the book.  The ending could almost have been from a different novel.  It is hard to go into too much detail without giving the plot away.  Nevertheless, the book is still worth a look as it is an easy read and definitely still entertains.