By Kerry Savage
Welcome to our regular Thriller Tropes feature, where we explore juicy perennial themes in hot new releases, classics, and other treasures you may have missed.
Though relatively rare in real life, characters in thrillers often suffer hefty doses of memory loss. Not only is amnesia a symptom of a traumatic event (arguably a defining hallmark of fiction, especially mysteries and thrillers), but keeping key memories from characters means that:
- They question themselves and what they know. Who’s responsible for the bad thing? Could it be them? What if it is? What if it isn’t?
- And we question what they’ve forgotten and whether it will ever come back to them. Also, can we trust them?
NEW RELEASE The Unforgetting by Bonnie Traymore
Ten years ago, one of Reagan’s best friends died after a wild post-graduation party. Now she’s invited back to the cabin where the tragedy happened. Supposedly the friends are gathering for a memorial service dedicated to Laine Martin. New mom Reagan is looking forward to a break – and also trying to fill the holes in her memories of that night. Was Lanie’s death really the tragic accident they’ve been telling everyone it was?
NEW RELEASE Gravewater Lake by A.M. Strong and Sonya Sargent
Anna can’t remember who she is—in fact, she’s not even sure of her name, but a bracelet with the initial A on it is the only clue she has about her own identity. When she wakes half-submerged in Gravewater Lake in the middle of the night in a snowstorm, her main concern is finding shelter. Does she actually know the man who lets her into his home? Why does it feel like they aren’t alone in the house? Will Anna remember who she is and why she’s here before it is too late?
KILLER CLASSIC The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
It’s hard to believe that Ludlum’s Bourne turns 45 this year. With 19 novels and five feature films in the canon, Jason Bourne may be the most famous character who suffers from retrograde amnesia after a traumatic brain injury.
In the first Bourne novel, our hero wakes after being fished from the ocean, riddled with bullet holes. He’s recovering thanks to a skilled (but drunk) doctor—one who tells him that he’s clearly altered his appearance and likes to test his skills by tossing guns in his direction. A small piece of microfilm embedded above his right hip sets Bourne on the journey to uncover his real identity, all while trying to dodge the world’s most deadly assassin.
RECENT HIT Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
“A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I’m buying a chicken.
I make plans for this chicken as I sit in my cubicle at Walter J. Brown Investment Services, waiting to be fired. I stopped pretending to work two hours ago. Now I’m just staring at recipes on my phone, dreaming about sticking lemons up a chicken’s butt.”
Here we meet Lucy, our protagonist and subject of Season Two of the hit podcast Listen for the Lie. Everyone in Plumpton, Texas, is convinced that Lucy killed her best friend Savannah five years ago, though the police never had enough evidence to charge her. Even Lucy isn’t sure what happened the night Savvy died and the only person who seems convinced that she’s innocent is her grandmother. At least podcaster Ben Owens is trying to find the truth. As Lucy slowly recovers her memories from that night, she (and we) wonder: does anyone in this town tell the truth?
Amnesia might be an uncommon medical condition, but in thrillers, it’s pure narrative gold, blurring the line between victim and villain, truth and lies, memory and myth. One thing’s for sure: when you can’t trust your own mind, anything is possible—and that’s exactly what makes these stories unforgettable.
