Review: Forget You Know Me (by Jessica Strawser)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Let’s get this out of the way from the start:  just like her previous novel, Jessica Strawser’s newest work Forget You Know Me is once again WRONGLY labeled as being of the “mystery/thriller/suspense” genre when it should more accurately be placed in the “women’s fiction” or “contemporary fiction” categories.  I’m not sure if Strawser’s marketing team is the one mis-categorizing her books or perhaps she originally did intend to write a suspense / thriller novel but it didn’t end up working out that way.  Regardless of reason, the important thing is to NOT go into this book expecting a thriller -- or even domestic suspense for that matter -- because the book definitely won’t deliver on either front.

Just like with her previous 2 novels (her debut Almost Missed You as well as her sophomore novel Not That I Could Tell), Strawser starts off her story with an “explosive” scenario – in this case, it is one of the main characters Liza video-chatting with her best friend Molly one night while her husband is away on a business trip, when Molly steps away to tend to her kids and suddenly, through her laptop’s webcam, Liza sees a masked intruder entering Molly’s house.  The screen goes blank and when Liza’s attempts to confirm Molly’s safety prove unsuccessful, she makes the rash decision to drive hours across state lines (Liza is in Chicago, Molly is in Cincinnati) to check on her, only to have her best friend be annoyed by her unexpected appearance and subsequently slam the door in her face.  Angry and saddened, Liza returns home to Chicago, only to find out that she is about to have a “near miss” of her own. 

Reading the first chapter with the above opening, plus the vagueness of the summary describing the book itself, I can see where the misunderstanding of this being a suspense / thriller may possibly come from.  Despite the “shocking” incident that opens the story though, it is apparent a few chapters in that the incident serves merely as a catalyst to jump-start the story – after that, it becomes “background noise” of sorts, a plot point placed on the back burner in order to make way for the real plot: mostly a character-driven exploration of relationships, marriage, family, friendship, and just how badly lies and secrets can drive even the closest of friends and family apart.  One of Strawser’s talents as a writer is her ability to draw up realistic portrayals of characters whom we can all relate to in one way or another – characters who are flawed and vulnerable and often dealing with issues that ordinary people face on a near daily basis.  Going deep into her characters’ minds and giving us a thorough understanding of their thought process and rationale, we get to know Strawser’s characters intimately, though I will admit that with this particular book, it goes a little too deep in the sense that at certain points, it felt like some of the characters were overthinking and overanalyzing their situations a bit too much.  This made the story a bit tedious to read at times, as some parts seemed to ramble on a bit unnecessarily.  With that said though, I still enjoyed the book overall and the topics explored did leave me with some “food for thought” afterwards, which is always a good thing when it comes to my reading.

This is the third novel of Jessica Strawser’s that I’ve read and though none of her 3 books thus far have made it to my favorites list, I still enjoyed reading each one.  I like the way Strawser writes and also the strength of her storytelling, which manages to keep me engaged and interested in the story even though there might not be much going on in it.  This is an author whose books I know I will continue to read and look forward to each new release.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley