Memory man

by David Baldacci

405 pages

English language

Published April 4, 2015

ISBN:: 978-1-4555-5982-4
OCLC Number:: 902869119

(18 reviews)

Amos Decker's life changed forever-- twice. The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good, and left him with an improbable side effect -- he can never forget anything. The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare -- his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered. His family destroyed, their killer's identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator when he can. But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the stunning truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

13 editions

zhliu0124 reviewed Memory man by David Baldacci (Amos Decker series -- [bk. 1])

Review of 'Memory man' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Except a few plots, I think the whole story is well designed and entertained. And I think I figured out a general pattern of these kind of detective books. Readers are lazy. Though we think we are using all of our mind to connect all the information and to solve the puzzles, we are actually fooling ourselves. As a true detective, we would face tons of information and most of them are useless. However, we don't have this problem as a reader because the author just gives us one piece of information every time and leads us to the results he wants to tell us. But the trickiest part is the author has to let the readers think they are smart. This book did a good job.

Chris Aldrich reviewed Memory man by David Baldacci (Memory Man, #1)

Review of 'Memory man' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I read this hoping for more interesting background on the idea of a piece of fiction based in cognitive neuropsychology including synesthesia and memory, but while it was an engaging piece of fiction, I was left hoping for more in the science background department.

It was a nicely tortured main character with an intriguing background working slowly through a relatively standard police procedural drama. I was left hoping for a more nuanced and bigger ending, but was fairly satisfied with the reality of the ending. Though not bad overall and recommendable, it isn't something I'd necessarily want to option and produce as a film, though I can certainly see someone doing it.

Julian Pecenco reviewed Memory man by David Baldacci (Amos Decker series -- [bk. 1])

Review of 'Memory man' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

The characters in this new series are interesting, but the plot was convoluted and fairly unbelievable. More importable, the author clearly didn't do much research into trans and intersex folks, or the GLBT community as a whole. To say that a character who'd transitioned couldn't have had sex with another due to a lack of bottom surgery is both incorrect and, frankly, somewhat offensive.