Wendy Walker’s All is not Forgotten is a tough novel to read. I must say I am a bit annoyed by the publicity of the novel. The cover description feels like the book is about a victim being followed by their attacker. However the novel has a completely different angle. It is much more than your classic page turner.

The story is narrated by Jenny’s doctor- a psychiatrist who has been seeing Jenny after her attack and her ‘treatment’. Jenny has been brutally raped in the woods during a party, in her local town where everyone knows each other. Although her dad’s objection, the parents decide to put her through a therapy (fictional), which will help her to forget what happened. It works but Jenny is still haunted.

I don’t want to get into detail too much as I am afraid to blurt out any spoilers- it’s very difficult to explain this book without giving major spoilers!

As I said in the beginning, the book is marketed like it is a page-turner about an attacker and a victim however it is something entirely different. The author has made such an effort laying out the story so I think the book description could have been written to reflect this clever structure.

The beginning was slow but the pace build ups in the second half of the book and the story hooks you until you find out who did this to Jenny.  I liked this book however I found it difficult and upsetting to read. The explanations contained way too much graphic detail for me. Emotional and physical  abuse is always difficult to digest.

I also liked the controversy about ‘forgetting’.

I would like to read Wendy Walker again. Although the subjects in  the book was disturbing, her writing was clever and well structured.

4 out of 5 stars from me.

By the time this review is written :

Goodreads score is 3.7

Amazon Score: 4.1

Audible Score: 3.8

Publisher: Harper Collins, 326 pages, published September 2017