• HOME
  • CONTACT / FEATURE
  • FEATURES
  • FICTION REVIEWS
  • FILM REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • YOUNG BLOOD
  • MY LIFE IN HORROR
  • FILM GUTTER
  • ARCHIVES
    • SPLASHES OF DARKNESS
    • THE MASTERS OF HORROR
    • THE DEVL'S MUSIC
    • HORROR BOOK REVIEWS
    • Challenge Kayleigh
    • ALICE IN SUMMERLAND
    • 13 FOR HALLOWEEN
    • FILMS THAT MATTER
    • BOOKS THAT MATTER
    • THE SCARLET GOSPELS
GINGER NUTS OF HORROR
  • HOME
  • CONTACT / FEATURE
  • FEATURES
  • FICTION REVIEWS
  • FILM REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • YOUNG BLOOD
  • MY LIFE IN HORROR
  • FILM GUTTER
  • ARCHIVES
    • SPLASHES OF DARKNESS
    • THE MASTERS OF HORROR
    • THE DEVL'S MUSIC
    • HORROR BOOK REVIEWS
    • Challenge Kayleigh
    • ALICE IN SUMMERLAND
    • 13 FOR HALLOWEEN
    • FILMS THAT MATTER
    • BOOKS THAT MATTER
    • THE SCARLET GOSPELS
GINGER NUTS OF HORROR
horror review website ginger nuts of horror website
Picture

THE FORGOTTEN GIRL BY RIO YOUERS – BOOK REVIEW

29/7/2019
THE FORGOTTEN GIRL BY RIO YOUERS – BOOK REVIEW

Telekinesis thriller in which a young man has a girlfriend deleted from his memory
​

 If you’re looking for a paranormal thriller, with telekinesis and psychic abilities as the driving force, then The Forgotten Girl is very solid entertainment which could find success beyond the horror scene. It’s in the same ballpark as Stephen King’s Firestarter (without the fire-starting) and with a smattering of The Dead Zone thrown in for good measure. Even if is not in the same league as those giants of the genre it’s still worth a look and fun to spent a few evenings with.
 
The novel opens with professional-busker Harvey Anderson being snatched by two very nasty heavies. They beat the crap out of him, asking him very confusing questions he quite simply does not have the knowledge to answer. Harvey has been single for years, the heavies (nicknamed Brickhead and Jackhammer) pummel him to find out about his non-existent girlfriend Sally Stirling. Swearing this is mistaken identity, Brickhead and Jackhammer show Harvey the long-standing lease of his apartment which he shares with Sally Stirling. Harvey is confused!
 
After spitting out a couple of teeth Harvey claims “I think I’ve been brainwashed.” He most certainly has. The bullies reveal Sally Stirling (or was it Miranda Farrow?) had a very unique ability; she can selectively erase memories from a person’s brain. It turns out that Harvey and Sally had very happily lived together for several years and that the boss of the two heavies was very interested in what they got up to, and more specifically, where she disappeared to. 
 
Enter Dominic Lang AKA ‘The Spider’ who was a really great character and, sadly, did not have enough page time in the novel enough as he simply oozed evil and the join he felt inflicting pain bleeds onto the page. As if the torture was not enough; after taking his beating Dominic Lang brings a whole new meaning to the word pain. He has the psychic ability to probe within the minds of individuals (like a psychic rape) and uncover memories, either forgotten or deliberately. This sequence was really excellent and is portrayed like a spider crawling within the brain of Harvey.
 
“He crawled into my mind. Spider.
He was cold and slick and plump”.
 
Man, this was nasty, but a fine description of a horrible and beyond freaky experience which stays with poor old Harvey long after Lang has exited his brain.
 
The Spider has been pursuing Sally for nine long years, I’m not going to say why, but his obsession and his need for revenge runs very, very deep. Once Lang starts digging in the brain of Harvey he uncovers;” a faint vision of a dancing girl” and realising the girlfriend whom he does not remember is in mortal danger. Harvey then tries to find her before Lang and his heavies can get to her. The Forgotten Girl starts off with what I have described, builds up well towards a climax which took too long to arrive, and when it finally did, was slightly underwhelming.
The Forgotten Girl was written in the first person “I” tense and seen entirely from Harvey’s point of view and I felt this limited the plot somewhat and not enough happened to justify 460 pages. Maybe at a certain point I just got bored of Harvey?  Although Harvey notes;” I’m not a coward” he is somewhat of a bumbler who is put through both the emotional and physical wringer and after a while tested my patience. If you split this book into thirds, the middle section was mediocre and meandered somewhat until Sally Stirling makes her long awaited appearance and the story rediscovers its momentum. Along the way other cool characters are introduced which have different powers, such as having the ability to break bones through telekinesis. Ouch.  
 
There are other story strands featuring Harvey’s conspiracy theory obsessed father (who does remember Sally), other murders Harvey is implicated in and some clever flashback scenes. However, overall I was unconvinced how much they added to what was quite a long book. The backstory of Dominic Lang and his involvement with Sally was by far the most interesting and might have merited further investigation, even if the secret government organisation was similar to Firestarter. However, as the book was told from Harvey’s point-of-view that was not possible
 
The Forgotten Girl was a solid ride featuring a good blend of action, parapsychology and thriller, but it reminded me of lots of other better books. Incidentally there are a couple of big-name authors on the promotional material and cover who really over-hyped this novel, but I am sure it will have its fans, both horror and thriller readers.
 
Tony Jones
Picture

THE FORGOTTEN GIRL BY RIO YOUERS

Picture
A dark mystery unfolds in Rio Youers's riveting tale, for fans of Paul Tremblay and Joe Hill.
Harvey Anderson is a twenty-six-year-old busker who enjoys his peaceful life, but everything is turned upside down when he is abducted and beaten by a group of nondescript thugs. Working for a sinister man known as “the spider”, these goons have spent nine years searching for Harvey's girlfriend, Sally Starling. Now they think they know where she lives. There's only one problem: Sally is gone and Harvey has no memory of her. Which makes no sense to him, until he discovers that Sally has the unique ability to selectively erase a person's memories. An ability she has used to delete herself from Harvey's mind. But emotion runs deeper than memory, and so he goes looking for a girl he loves but can't remember... and encounters a danger beyond anything he could ever imagine.
Political corruption and manipulation. A serial killer's dark secrets. An appetite for absolute, terrible power... For Harvey Anderson, finding the forgotten girl comes at quite a cost.

best-website-for-horror-news-horror-reviews-horror-interviews-and-horror-promotion_168_orig
DIGGING IN THE PET SEMATARY- AN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTORS ​DENNIS WIDMYER & KEVIN KOLSCH
GOOD ZOMBIE READS

Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmybook.to%2Fdarkandlonelywater%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1f9y1sr9kcIJyMhYqcFxqB6Cli4rZgfK51zja2Jaj6t62LFlKq-KzWKM8&h=AT0xU_MRoj0eOPAHuX5qasqYqb7vOj4TCfqarfJ7LCaFMS2AhU5E4FVfbtBAIg_dd5L96daFa00eim8KbVHfZe9KXoh-Y7wUeoWNYAEyzzSQ7gY32KxxcOkQdfU2xtPirmNbE33ocPAvPSJJcKcTrQ7j-hg
Picture