You Just Can't Pass This One Up! Blood Memory by Greg Isles: a Book Review

Set in New Orleans, Louisiana, Blood Memory by Greg Iles has all of the suspense and spine tingling drama necessary for a sleepless night. This novel is not one to pick up for a few moments of peace and quiet. It is one that will immediately immerse you in the depths of the human psyche and all of its emotional capabilities. The protagonist, Dr. Catherine Ferry, is a forensic odontologist with a secret past that even she knows nothing about. While investigating a series of homicides of middle aged men, "Cat" begins to suffer from what she believes to be panic attacks while at the crime scenes. She is also plagued by recurring nightmares, and even worse yet, she just found out that her affair with Sean Regan, a married detective, has resulted in and unexpected pregnancy.

Cat's coping mechanism has always been to throw herself headlong into her work, but this investigation is causing some weird things to happen to her. She is called upon by the main suspect in the case, Dr. Nathan Malik, but she has no idea why. During the course of their verbal exchange, she finds that he knows much more about her than he should. Dr. Malik, a psychiatrist who specializes in bipolar, post-traumatic stress, and sexual abuse, becomes her obsession. After their meeting she begins to hear and see things that bring back memories of her father who was murdered when she was a child. The sound of rain on a tin roof, nightmares that portray disturbing images of both her father and grandfather, and vague memories of others force her to visit her childhood home. Once there she accidentally discovers a child's bloody footprint in her bedroom. She is determined to find out about her own past and what tragic secrets lie deep within her subconscious memory.

How do Cat's repressed memories relate to the murders of multiple middle aged men in New Orleans? Why does the prime suspect in her murder investigation seem to know more about her past than she does? Which verson of her father's murder should she believe, and how does she go about finding the truth? Blood Memory is an ominous novel with so many twists and turns in the plot that it has my five star recommendation.

Oh, and by the way, don't skip the acknowledgements in this one. This guy has really done his research!