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Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Murder
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Excrement, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol
The blatant and excessive anti-fatness/fatphobia and the glaring inconsistencies in the writing were absolutely infuriating. I rolled my eyes so many times I made myself dizzy.
He constantly brings up just how "fat", "huge", "obese", and "substantial" his main character is. He's also a "whale", apparently. Baldacci does not do this with ANY of the other characters. One main character is thin, the other petite, and there are no more references to that aspect of them for the rest of the book. As it should be! I don't need to be reminded over and over because I can already picture them. Amos Decker's "bulk" serves as a small plot device, otherwise it's used to demean, ridicule, and shame the main character. Frankly, I found it reprehensible, in poor taste and just plain bad writing.
Baldacci includes a lot of pointless unnecessary detail in his descriptions as well. I kept wondering why he would mention a certain detail and find it never once came up again the story. It serves no purpose!
The intersex storyline was hugely problematic as well. Baldacci apparently couldn't decide which pronouns this character would use and switched between he and she repeatedly. If this book had been published 25 years ago, I may have forgiven Baldacci's ignorance regarding intersex individuals but this came out in 2015! And of course the intersex character is the villain. Excuse me while I roll my eyes...They're so "damaged", right? The author tries to frame it like the trauma this character endured was the motivation behind their behaviour but he slips up frequently bringing it back to their intersex identity!
I really wanted to like this book. I thought the premise of a detective with hyperthymesia and synesthesia was pretty engaging. I actually like the main character! Though it seems Baldacci does not given the way he writes about him. I have never read anything by David Baldacci before picking up Memory Man but I don't know if I'll be able to read anything else he's written. Is it all this bad? How is he such a popular author?
Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder
Moderate: Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, Grief
Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, Excrement, Stalking
Now, a year and a half later, working part-time P.I., and being overweight, he gets informed by his former partner that someone has confessed to the murders of his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law Decker knows that it's time to get justice.
Amos Decker's head injury during his youth NFL career gave him a kind of cognitive memory where he starts seeing things in photos, symbols, and in people's expressions that others can not. This special talent helps him crack many cases in Burlington Police Department and even during the detective work he does after someone confesses to his wife's murder.
I used to be an avid reader of David Baldacci novels in the 2000s. If you change the motive of the antagonist, then this book reminded me quite heavily of Baldacci's earlier novel named LAST MAN STANDING(2001). There was a mass school shooting interconnected to the protagonist's professional life in that one, and in Memory Man, a mass school shooting in connected to Amos Decker's personal life.
Baldacci's writing and story telling is brilliant as always, but there is a certain world that he does not get out of. If one reads other writers like Karin Slaughter, for example, you feel what the protagonists feel. Here, you feel disconnected to the emotions of the protagonist. It is only about the plot and twists.
Its a series but I don't look forward to go much further in this one.
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Abandonment
Minor: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Stalking, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Mass/school shootings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder
Graphic: Body horror, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body shaming, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Mass/school shootings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
Nothing about this book was good. Hardly even okay. From poorly written female characters to being right out fatphobic, homophobic and transphobic to describe characters. The book really did have a chance to make awesome characters, but the author had to make everyone stupid so that our "not like other guys" main character could sound smart while doing the bare minimum.
None of the clues made since and seemed like the main character just pulled the answers out of his ass, female characters were said to be strong, but they were all pushed to the side and did nothing for the story, and really everything was so poorly represented I have no idea how this book became a best seller of anything.
Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder