Book Jacket

 

rank 5850
word count 75883
date submitted 17.09.2008
date updated 10.02.2009
genres: Fiction, Thriller, Crime
classification: moderate
complete

Amnesia

Nick Wastnage

When Guy’s memory returns with the ill-timed mention of a name, he remembers a sinister time before. He tried to kill, Kathryn, his wife. Twice.

 

Guy can’t remember trying to kill his wife, Kathryn. Nor that he did it because she slept with his friend and her boss, Leonard. He crashes his car on the way to her intended murder scene and suffers amnesia. Kathryn helps him recover, but he remains an amnesiac and finds making love to her a totally new experience. When she mistakenly calls him Leonard in a torrid moment, old feelings of hate and anger flood his mind. With a knife clenched between his fingers, he tries and fails to murder her for a second time. Homeless, he befriends Kathryn’s sister, Jeni. She tells Guy that Leonard is a violent gangster and once more, he and Kathryn are conducting an affair. Jeni and Guy find solace together, and as he releases his guilt and anger, his memory returns. Appalled by his actions, Guy realises he’s in danger and flees to France to stay with an old friend. Leonard follows, kill’s Guy’s friend and abducts Guy, dragging him to an old warehouse, where Kathryn waits to kill him. In a surprising volte-face, Kathryn and Guy become reconciled and live briefly as husband and wife. But violence looms when Leonard suddenly drops in.

 
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tags

amnesia, deceit, infidelity, mafia, murder, psychological thriller, retribution

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10 comments

 

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Nick Poole2 wrote 1187 days ago

ARISE, AUTHONOMY GHOST!

Ease those weary, withered limbs from your coffin. Push away the stone from the mouth of the tomb.

You have one last task to perform. One last, sacred shelf to confer.

Whether you were plugger, spammer, gusher or troll, whether you flirted or fought in the forum or beavered away in the shadows, now is the time for your resurrection.

One last time. Marshall your strength, muster the last vestiges of your power and carry out your final Authonomy act:

Back my book, MIRROR IN THE SKY.

Then, only then, you may rest easy in your Authonomy grave.

Nick Poole2 (formerly known as NickP)

blindcupid wrote 1679 days ago

Hi Nick!!
Woah, you done some work my friend!!
Started reading again - having been lost in the wastes of Autholand for too long and getting sidetracked by inconsequentialities - and remembered why I'd enjoyed this from the outset.
Love the new title, much punchier.
Am about to get re-immersed and have put you on watch (I see you must have taken it down) until a couple of the others on my shelf have taken (have a look at 'Impossibly Yellow' - never thought it would be my type of thing, but it's SO good!), then I'll stick you back up.
How hard was this for you?
All the best.
Max

Vanessa wrote 1681 days ago

Nick, this is the first novel on my shelf. I love the handling of your opening chapter and feel a need to rush out for some good coffee to make a day of reading the whole book. Immediately, the interplay between dialogue and exposition had me hooked. Very best wishes with it.

Martin McGovern wrote 1686 days ago

Nick, this is gripping. Very good dialog, and a good plotline.

One note on the pitch - Kathryn doesn't call Guy 'Leonard', she calls him 'hon', which is the name Leonard gave to her.
And one detail that struck me as odd - on the night of the crash, Guy notices it is snowing. Given the state of play between Guy and Kathryn, and Kathryn's tendency to try to be 'normal', such as offering him tea, I felt she'd comment on the fact that it was snowing in November - very unusual for London. It's clearly heavy snow because later on Guy notices snowdrifts. I don't know if the date is integral to the plot, but snow in January or February is less noteworthy in London; or if the snow isn't necessary for the plot (given his emotional state and alcohol level), perhaps it might be replaced by rain.

Good luck with this - it's one of the best books I've read on this site.
Martin

GillianH wrote 1688 days ago

Nick, I like your blurb, this is my kind of book. I've added you to my watchlist and shall make further comments once I've read more. If this is you're usual reading taste, have a look at my book, The Charter, it may take your interest.

Ginger wrote 1688 days ago

Nick, would it be rude of me to ask to help on your plug? As I can't copy/paste, if you would like my suggestions, email me the blurb to lisa at hinsley dot org. The plug, to me, is the most difficult thing. And I must admit, I put mine out on the furums (for Coombe's Wood) some time back, after someone complained about mine. :)

Lisa

Ginger wrote 1689 days ago

Hi Nick,
Thank you for putting my book on your shelf. I came over to have a read of your first chapter, and you really sucked me in. You’re on my shelf. :)
My first criticism is the title. I don’t think it does the book justice. Maybe shorten it to Intended Murder. Maybe Amnesia would be a suitable title? Other than that, I found a few typos, but the prose was so good, I couldn’t stop to make notes.
My second major criticism is the long plug. I think you could really work on this, as had I read it before I started the prose, I might not have continued. Again, the blurb does no justice to the wonderful flow of your story. I have to commend your ability to make a would-be murderer a nice guy.
Lisa

paul house wrote 1692 days ago

That's a great first chapter for this kind of book, and the amnesia in Chapter 2 is done well. Your dialogue is crisp, snappy and informative which means we get straight into the story right away. I liked the first line too.

blindcupid wrote 1705 days ago

Welcome to the site and many thanks for popping BC up your shelf; much appreciated! I'm still in the process of reading some the books on my shelf, but have put yours on my watch list to remind myself to give it a go...sometime between working, reading and trying to write myself!
Thanks again Nick!

danny wrote 1706 days ago

Hi Nick, I just wanted to thank you for being so kind about Scratch, I'm delighted you enjoyed it. Welcome to the site and best of luck with your own writing. Your pitch is intriguing and I'll definitely have a read soon. Thanks again, Danny

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