>In “Left for Dead”, Kevin O’Brien does an eerily accurate job describing worst-case retrograde amnesia. His main character, Claire Shaw becomes aware of herself but not remembering anything in a Seattle hospital, the ensuing madness leaves her not knowing who she can trust. Her best friends never leave her side, she discovers the love of her life is dead and a husband she can’t remember. Her son is nowhere to be found and her home is on one of the San Juan Islands with a strange, closed community.
Kevin does a great job filling out each character, their strengths, foibles and inner workings. They feel developed and there aren’t any one-sided/one-note people in the entire book. He has a strong grasp of the geography in and around the Seattle Metroplex and surrounding area, as well as the ‘feel’ of the city, countryside, although I think the Islands get a fairly bad rap. Although we see the world through Claire’s faulty memories, vision and meetings with everyone, we can see and feel how she struggles to put two and two together. In the end, she manages to get four, with the help of a detective from Seattle that is assigned to her case after a bad first meeting in the hospital.
Find out who she should trust and who she should keep at arms length!
Brick ONeil 