DEBORAH CROMBIE: One of the things we enjoy most on Jungle Red Writers is hosting debut authors. It's always thrilling to see a book come into the world, but even more so for an author's first published work--for most it's a long-cherished dream.
Today, meet Lisa Malice, whose suspense novel, LEST SHE FORGET, explores an amnesia victim's buried secrets.
Have You Lost Your Mind? Why Amnesia Stories Draw Us In
By Lisa Malice, Ph.D.
“I don’t remember . . . I can’t recall anything!” A vast cast of characters have blurted out these words over the years in books and films. Some consider amnesia a trope, an overused fictional plot device. But that doesn’t stop writers from crafting tales of memory-challenged heroes, nor does it keep readers and viewers from loving every minute of an amnesia story. Why do we, as readers and viewers, find such tales so appealing? That depends on who’s answering the question.
A mystery/thriller writer (such as me) might suggest we enjoy casting our lot with the memory-impaired protagonists, racing desperately along with them as they uncover the clues to their buried pasts before any harm can come to them. As we do, we encounter surprises, twists and revelations that challenge our assumptions and expectations until, the tale ends with a satisfying triumph over evil, with justice prevailing over corruption, envy, and greed.
A psychologist (me, again) would offer that amnesia stories allow us to explore the nature of memory and identity. How much of who we are depends on what we remember? What happens when we lose our memories or gain new ones? How would we cope with the uncertainty and confusion of not knowing ourselves or our past?
The 2001 film Regarding Henry explores these questions with Harrison Ford playing the role of as a man who miraculously survives a bullet to the brain during a convenience store robbery—though the memory of his life does not. Henry, a high-powered, philandering attorney and head of an unhappy, dysfunctional family, never recovers from his amnesia, leaving his old, flawed self behind to start life anew. The path Henry takes, the choices he makes—vastly different from those he made in his forgotten past—yield more satisfying outcomes for Henry, who becomes the loving, attentive husband and father his family so need in their lives. The happy ending may also reflect a desire many of us experience once in a while when life gets us down—the wish to escape from reality, start over, and re-invent oneself.
My debut psychological thriller, Lest She Forget, also offers a tale of memory loss and explores the question of how people cope with amnesia. Can completely forgetting everything you are be good or even achieved, or will your dark past eventually catch up with you? The story follows a young woman struggling with the aftermath of a soul-searing psychological trauma. Her PTSD-induced amnesia (clinically known as “dissociative fugue”) leaves her without a name, nor a past to claim as her own. She’d like to just move on with her life but can’t—she’s haunted by a shadowy memory, one in which she witnessed the murder of a young woman. She is suspicious of everyone and everything—typical for PTSD sufferers, who tend to live with a heightened alert for danger. As she struggles to uncover clues to her life, she quickly learns that her fears may not be all in her head—a deadly stalker appears determined to find her. The race is on to remember her past before it catches up with her.
A sociologist (not me, this time) might offer that amnesia stories are popular metaphors for social and cultural issues, such as the effects of trauma, oppression, or erasure on individuals and groups. Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved (1987), a haunting indictment of the Atlantic slave trade, is a prime example. Told through the eyes of freed slaves in the post-Civil War years, it fictionalizes the collective horrors inflicted on Black slaves, their struggle with the loss of identity and self-fragmentation, and the unconscious desire to dissociate from the past and its horrific memories.
What are your favorite stories of memory loss? Why do you find them so appealing? If you could wipe your mind of one memory in your life, what would you choose and why?
DEBS: Great questions, Lisa!
Readers, Lisa will be giving away a copy of LEST SHE FORGET to one lucky commenter, so be sure to drop by and say "hi."
Lisa Malice is a psychologist-turned-thriller author. She loves being part of the community of crime-loving writers and readers. A compulsive volunteer, you can often find Lisa interviewing an author for a feature in ITW’s “The Big Thrill,” planning an author event for her Sisters in Crime chapter on the Florida Gulf Coast, or working the registration table at Bouchercon and Thrillerfest.
You can find her at:
www.Facebook.com/
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Haunted by a forgotten past. Hunted by a ruthless killer. No one to save her but herself.
After surviving a car crash, Kay Smith wakes from a coma with amnesia, a battered face, and no one to vouch for her identity. Her psychiatrist is convinced that her memory loss is connected to the horrific flashbacks and nightmares haunting her. As she digs for clues to her past, Kay uncovers a shady character following her every inquiry. Who is he? What does he want from her?
As Kay’s probes deepen, she realizes everyone around her has deadly secrets to hide—even her. Emerging memories, guilty suspicions, and a headline-screaming murders push Kay to come out of the shadows and choose: will she perpetuate a horrendous lie, or risk her life to uncover the truth?
