Rating: 1 1/2 stars

M.J. Rose’s The Memorist is not short on plots. First we have Meer Logan, a young woman in New York City who is in pursuit of the Bone Flute, an instrument created long ago which Beethoven discovered could help people remember past lives. Then we have Malachai, a man who helped Logan manage her past life memories when she was a young girl, FBI agent Glass, who is chasing Malachai on a charge of stolen artifacts, Sebastian, whose son has been rendered incapacitated by his past life memories, Jeremy Logan, Meer’s father who has been on a lifelong chase for something to help his daughter through the trauma her past life memories has brought her, David Yalom, a reporter who is about to commit a terrorist act in order to avenge the deaths of his wife and children, and Tom Paxton, the owner of a security agency who is unknowingly out to stop Yalom. This list does not include the past life subplots adding to the complexity of the novel.

So problem number one is that there are an absurd number of characters doing wildly different things, which Rose has to tie together. Now because this book is meant to be a thriller, plots are supposed to be everywhere and characters are expected to be less than fully developed, but so little time is spent with the peripheral characters that the reader can’t form any attachments to them. This fault also extends to the main characters, though to a lesser extent.

The flat characters would not be as big an issue if the thriller delivered on the tension a thriller should provide. In the case of The Memorist, the tension is supposed to start with Meer’s absolute belief that the past life memories that she’s been having aren’t real, versus Malachai and Jeremy’s belief that they are. However, the author saw fit to insert quotes from various historical figures approximately every two to three chapters about how the speakers are convinced that past lives are absolutely real. This effectively wrecks the story in multiple ways.

First, the reader already knows what the author’s position is. These quotes lead to an intrusion upon the reader’s space because now instead of reading the story, one is confronted with the author’s beliefs and an insistence that they be heard in addition to the story.

Second, this destroys any tension between the two main parties; Meer is obviously wrong because even people from outside the narrative are telling the reader she is. The result of this conflict is already known, so any dramatic tension between these parties is washed away.

Finally, while thrillers can have lots of different plot points, they need to keep the path to resolve them hidden so there is a reason to turn the page. The destruction of any tension lets the reader see the ending coming from halfway through the novel. At this point there isn’t anything interesting or compelling about The Memorist, because the characters aren’t that interesting. The plot keeps moving, as Rose is adept at propelling her story along, but there’s no reason to care so the reader feels dragged along instead of eagerly wanting more.
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Publisher: Mira
Pub. Date: November 2008
ISBN-13: 9780778325840