{Review} Forget the Past by Ian Fox

ASIN #: B00AR8Z5F0

File Size: 633 KB

Page Count: 323

Copyright: December 20, 2012

Publisher: Ian Fox; 1st Edition

Book Summary:

(Taken from Goodreads)

Madness, Murder and Mystery

Psychiatrist Patricia Bellows, a beautiful forty-year old woman and recently widowed, owned a psychiatric clinic and hospital and hired four other psychiatrists and two registered nurses. She had inherited the funds from her deceased husband with which to build it. The story opened with her counseling Anya Horvat, who although thirty-five years old, could not sustain a relationship with a man. Anya was particularly hesitant to discuss any of her thoughts relative to sex, feeling it was unimportant in a relationship. When Anya left the clinic, her car wouldn't start and she saw a large man eyeing the clinic. She called him over and demanded that he look at her motor. Finally he did, but couldn't fix it and called a garage to come tow it. He later became an important person in her life.

Dr. Bellows lived in an expensive two thousand-foot apartment and was found by her maid dead in bed, her body covered with countless cuts. Anya who was a journalist was then visited by Patricia's sister, Bertha Hoff and her husband, Hunter. Bertha complained that the police were doing very little after a few days having passed. She told Anya she knew who killed her sister and it was Benny Martin, Patricia's lover. She wanted Anya to investigate Benny and find the proof so he could be arrested. Anya had only been a journalist two years and knew nothing about investigative reporting, but later when talking to her employer Pamela, the owner and publisher of the newspaper Clarice, Pamela told her she was broke and the newspaper would be closing in three months and if Anya could find out enough facts to make it a good story for the newspaper, perhaps the paper could become solvent again.

Kathy's Review:

This is my third Ian Fox novel, and although it's been a while since I read the other two, this one seems to follow his same writing style. I don't really care for the way he writes his characters' dialogue, but he does construct a very engaging plot. This is a murder mystery centering around a psychiatrist. Her sister hires one of her patients, a journalist, to do some snooping around to try to find the killer, because the police apparently aren't doing a good enough job. So let's just pretend that this would actually happen in real life.

There are many characters who seem like they could be the murderer. In fact, everyone, including journalist Anya, seems like they could be a suspect at one point. Just about every character in Forget the Past has some sort of mental illness or quirk, or is just plain nasty. The motives for murder abound, as well, ranging from a large inheritance, to spurned lovers, to jealous co-workers, to crazy stalker patients. So who is the murderer? Probably not who you think, although you might suspect it at one point or another and then dismiss this person. The ending gets a little crazy, like an over-the-top action movie, and then wraps up neatly.

But I may give too much away if I say more.

This is a good mystery novel. Not great - good. To be great I think the dialogue and characters could be a little bit more realistic.


*An ecopy of the novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.