Title: Forgotten
Author: Cat Patrick [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Romance
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by publisher
Parental Advisory: language, alcohol, criminal activity
Teachable Moments: perseverance, child safety

“I fling off the heavy quilt and plod over to the desk.  I grab the study guide from the top and the overstuffed envelope from the drawer.  On my way back to bed, my eyes wander to the framed photos of me and Jamie dating back to what looks like junior high.  There is a silly collage with photos and magazine cutouts that I can only guess Jamie and I made together.  It’s juvenile, but I like ti .  With out being able to remember for sure, I assume that  things were a whole lot simpler then.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears.  In the morning, all that’s left is a note telling her about a day she can’t remember.  The whole scenario doesn’t exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can’t seem to recall any easier.  But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can’t make sense of, she realizes it’s time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting before it destroys her future.

Opinion:
Forgotten is, hands down, one of the best mystery books I’ve read within the young adult field of literature. Expertly plotted and fabulously characterized I didn’t want to put the book down until I was completely through.  In fact I didn’t.  I read it as voraciously as I could and strongly encourage you to as well.

One of the most compelling characteristics of the plot was the fact that I kept trying to predict what was happening and where the story was going to go yet I was always….always wrong.  That lack of predictability absolutely made the story.  I couldn’t get a handle on what characters may have had more nefarious intentions nor was I truly able to understand who might be good.  There were some obvious suspects (so I thought) and some simple scenarios I wrapped my mind around but then BAM the story took a twist in a totally different direction.  Loved.that.  Particularly when, more times than not, I am able to see where things are going in a book long before they go there.

Perhaps the only part of the book I found to be slightly implausible was that London was able to disguise her ailment from people as well as she did.  Given her memory lapses I found it slightly odd that she was able to function in a typical high school.  As we all know high school is a pretty unforgiving place and people are always finding things out and spreading things around.  That London was able to keep her secret so tightly guarded seemed a bit out of the ordinary.  Further, I also found it odd that she knew and remembered certain things and not others.  However, as the story unfolds it made more sense and the reasoning why her life was the way it was began to become more understandable.

The plot wasn’t the only strength of this book.  The characters were outstanding as well.  It is difficult to create a powerful, vulnerable and sympathetic character all in one person but Patrick does it quite well with London.  Here is a young girl struggling with the unimaginable yet she handles it all with a level of patience and grace that most her age wouldn’t be able to wrap their minds around.  She’s got her moments of pettiness and spite but they are so few and far between and go more towards humanizing than demonizing her.  Though she’s accepted her fate she still fights against her circumstances, seeks to find more of the truth and attempts to make positive changes where she can.  She’s adaptable and does her best to organize her life in a way that allows her to lead it with as much normalcy as possible.

Then there’s Luke.  He was a bit of a conundrum for me.  I don’t want to spoil his true nature as I think his role is key to making the mystery of the book more mysterious.  By all intents and purposes he seems like the perfect boy next door.  He’s in love with London, perhaps slightly clueless as to her circumstances, and treats her with great respect.  He’s romantic and appears to be honest.  This made me particularly cautious about him.  His character is the one in the story where I couldn’t decide if he was going to be good or bad.  I was consistently waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Which, I actually loved for the fact that it set the tone of suspense.

Without spoiling the plot I will say that it was executed well, was fast paced, thorough and plausible.  The characters were not outlandish or unbelievable nor were the majority of situations.  Forgotten was the very definition of realistic fiction.    Appealing for all readers of any age there is no audience that wouldn’t enjoy Forgotten — boys, girls, young or old the plot of this book will entertain and compel lovers of many types of literature.  It’s certainly not to be missed.