The Date by Louise Jensen

"Memories can be dangerous and not just for the person affected."

Lies, secrets, betrayal, and duplicity are at the heart of this psychological drama. The main character, Alison (Ali) Taylor goes on a blind date and wakes with no memory of the previous evening and, furthermore, her injuries have resulted in an incurable, rare condition that will forever prevent her from being able to recognize faces -- prosopagnosia. The events that occur after "the date" are only slightly more plausible because of that unusual disorder and it is what propels the plot. It's hard to really understand anything that happens to you if you can't tell WHO the people are when they appear in front of you. So -- the gist is that something bad happened that night and now someone is after Ali but she can't remember a thing, has amnesia, on top of the prosopagnosia.

The narrative is told in Ali's voice and moves along quickly despite the reader having to suck up a huge dose of disbelief and buy into her condition. She is constantly crying and emotional and histrionic as things go from bad to worse. I couldn't really identify with her character, and there were many other players in this convoluted story. Events from Ali's past are connected to the current torment and the savvy reader catches on quite quickly that the people in her life may not be what they seem. I'm sure that the climax and revelation was meant to be a shocking twist, but I have read far too many of this type of book to be surprised. Despite all these issues, I did enjoy the pace and the clinical information about the prosopagnosia.

The author writes a letter to the reader at the end of the book explaining that she had seen a documentary on the condition and kept wanting to write a story where the main character had it. Although I didn't care for Ali, I can see how the struggle to "do" life would be so much harder for a person who can't tell friends and family from strangers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review. I've read several other books by this author and will continue to follow her.

Standalone.