This is an excellent down-the-rabbit-hole mystery, with amazing historical detail. The detail is so well drawn that I had difficulty deciding that I was reading fiction and not non-fiction. A cross between The Alienist and the Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, the plot moves well and the characters are as intriguing as the unfolding mystery.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

Mister Memory is captivating for a number of reasons. It covers themes that make the reader think and learn, it uses time to add layers of information and depth, and it is a true good against evil venture.

While Marcel is being studied and analyzed by Dr. Morel we realize how the mind can make prisoners of us without the need for jail bars.

We learn who is truly good, pure and innocent, and who is egregiously evil; and how often society, mostly the rich and the powerful, are permitted and enabled to flip the two around.

And how people can change for the better through time, understanding and love.

This novel is brilliant, deep, moving, dark, but oddly positive as well.

Excellent read.

A fine read, light-ish but suspenseful and with some unexpected twists and turns. It has a very nice happy ending after some dark turns. I'd recommend it. ( )

“Most people, if you ask them, will tell you that memory is about the past… But that is not what memory is for…. It was given to us in order that we may learn, understand and build upon our previous achievements… That is what memory is about: the future, not the past.” Marcus Sedgwick offers this remarkable insight into memory in his intelligent historical crime novel, MISTER MEMORY. Using brisk pacing and multiple plot twists in his crime novel, Sedgwick deftly explores how memory relates to consciousness, identity, and even fate. He also raises the interesting question of whether perfect memory is a gift or a curse.

A detective and a doctor demonstrate the truth of Sedgewick’s observation about memory. Inspector Laurent Petit is a young Sûreté detective with nagging doubts about what appears to be an open-and-shut case of spousal murder caused by infidelity. Dr. Lucien Morel, of the Salpêtrière asylum, discovers that a catatonic male murderer cannot forget or lie. Both men are skilled at observation and deduction. Lucien risks his career (and possibly more) to uncover what powerful people want him to forget. Morel, an alienist (the early forerunner of the modern psychiatrist), inherits a male patient who strangely (and abruptly) has been sequestered in a hospital that specializes in sequestering women suffering from the dubious malady of hysteria. At first their investigations seem to have little in common, but important links rapidly begin to be revealed.

The most interesting character in the book is the presumed murderer, Marcel Després. He is both complex and mysterious. A savant, who always tells the truth but has difficulty recognizing faces, Marcel would be diagnosed as autistic today. As a young man, he traveled from his rural village of Étoges to Paris. There, he capitalized on his perfect memory by mounting a stage act at the “Cabaret of Insults” as Marcel Mémoire. He becomes captivated by the beautiful Ondine, who he marries but later kills after discovering her in flagrante with an American lothario. Several questions cast doubt on Marcel’s guilt for this crime. First, why was he so quickly sequestered in Salpêtrière? Second, why are Lucien’s superiors so intent on closing the case? Third, why was a loaded weapon so readily available in his flat? Forth, what role does Ondine’s shady past play in the crime?

Sedgewick deftly evokes fin de siècle Paris. This was a remarkably fruitful period for the advancement of art, architecture, engineering, and science. Indeed, the police were about to see the birth of things like forensics and fingerprinting. Lucien characterizes the sorry state-of-the-art in policing at the time by noting that “ninety per cent of crimes solved are solved by one criminal informing on another… (and) so much can be gained by careful, covert watching.”

Sedgewick’s experience with writing YA fiction manifests in a simple and direct narrative style. The plot twists and turns but he manages to maintain enough tension to keep the reader’s attention. Although colorful, however, many of the minor characters in the novel are forgetful and cartoonish. This includes Ondine as a narcissistic beauty, Bishop as a simple criminal type, and all of the corrupt Paris police and politicians bent on covering up the crime. ( )

A friend on this site recently asked me how I chose the books I read. Like many I'm sure I take in consideration the reviews of some like minded friends, favorite authors and sometimes something in the synopsis of the book appeals. In this case, it was Marcel's memory, I have a pretty good memory, but can you imagine remembering everything, absolutely everything throughout your life, not able to forget and unable to lie?

Marcel is said to have killed his wife, he admits this is so, leaving his house, kneeling down and waiting for the police. Instead of standing trial he is sent to Saltpetriere, an asylum in Paris, where he presents marked catatonic tendencies, refusing to speak, simply staring at the wall. This sentencing does not sit well with Inspector Petit, who lost his own fiancée to violence and wants Marcel to answer for his crime. A doctor and the detective will work together to uncover the specifics of the crime.

This is a very literary mystery, wonderfully written, and quite fascinating. There are layers and layers to uncover and many surprises along the way. Marcel and his memory, how it works, how he thinks, so very detailed, so interesting. I was quite captivated. Not an edge of your seat thriller but there are some exciting moments and there is more to this case than appears on the surface. A very solid and well though out story. ( )