She Treads Softly: The Memory Bank

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Memory Bank

The Memory Bank by Brian Shea and Raquel Byrnes
3/19/24; 328 pages
Severn River Books

The Memory Bank by Brian Shea and Raquel Byrnes is a murder mystery that features an exciting, action-packed blend of a police procedural and technothriller. It is very highly recommended and marks the start of an engrossing new series.

Detective Morgan Reed and new partner Detective Natalie (Nat) De La Cruz start an investigation into a series of deaths with some disconcerting and strange similarities. The most recent case is the death of technology pioneer Dr. Gerald Price. The evidence seems to point to a suicide, but after another death Reed notices a strange clue that becomes the impetus to further investigate the two cases along with some previous cases. Clearly, Reed and Nat are on to something as they discover more clues, they also become targets.

Set in a near future The Memory Bank features cutting edge technology that is easily to envision happening. The technology is in the hands of the police too, and Nat is the one gifted in knowing how to use it or who to go to for information. Reed is the one with the innate instinct to see clues and question assumptions. The two have skills that compliment each other, work well together, and have a dynamic partnership. They are both great characters and I look forward to their next case.

The well-written narrative moves at a lightning-fast pace and is compelling from start to finish. Once started it is impossible to put down. Sure, there are high-tech innovations as part of the plot, but the technology is well-presented and the concepts are easily grasped. The corporate treachery in the plot is readily understood as is the heart-stopping action. Thanks to Severn River Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

No comments:

Post a Comment

John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.