Remember Me This Way: A Novel

The storyline was pretty slow with only a couple subpar twists. I purchased it because of all the Gone Girl comparisons but this book doesn't even come close. It's worth getting to help pass the time but by no means is it a thrilling "page turner."

Have been comsidering this book for some time. The thing holding me back is the "if you love Gone Girl, you'll love this book." blurb. I hated Gone Girl and will never understand the hoopla. Is this book as boring and obvious as Gone Girl? If so, I'll remove it from my list. Thanks I gave it 3 stars because I'm not sure. If I read the book, I will amend the rating if needed.

Edited to add:
I actually did end up reading the book. It was not fabulous but it wasn't awful either.

From the publisher: One year after he husband Zach’s death, Lizzie Carter, 41 years old, goes to lay flowers on the site of his fatal accident. Since the tragedy, she just hasn’t been the same, racked with grief and guilt and regret and . . . relief. Even though her friends tell her she’s grieved enough for her ‘prince charming,’ her memories of a darker side of Zach that no one else knew are burned into her brain and won’t let her forget him. But as she puts her flowers down at the roadside, she sees a bouquet of lilies at the foot of the tree. Addressed to her husband. She isn’t the first to pay her respects . . . but who is Xenia? As Lizzie learns more about her husband’s past, she begins to realize that maybe she didn’t know Zach at all. But she’s still tormented by her guilt and the memories that just won’t fade . . . because Zach doesn’t seem to be as gone as everyone thinks. And she just can’t shake the feeling that he’s still out there, watching her, waiting to claim her as his own once again. After all, just because we love someone doesn’t mean we can trust them . . . .

Lizzie does psychometric testing for a living; Zach is an artist, although a not-yet-successful one. The p.o.v. alternates between that of Zach (the first page is his, and though only one page long [before the narration switches to Lizzie’s], it is quite startling, letting the reader know at once what he/she is in for. Lizzie’s p.o.v. sections take place initially in February 14, 2013, a year to the day of Zach’s car crash, on a Cornish roadside in the middle of Cornwall and 200 miles from her home in London. She thinks to herself “His death feels real for the first time. I must let him go, hard as it is, because, despite everything, he was the love of my life.” The next section, Zach’s, takes place in July, 2009. As opposed to Lizzie’s thoughts as described above, he is thinking “She doesn’t appreciate me, that’s the problem.”

All the following alternating p.o.v. sections follow those same timelines [Zach’s last ending on the day of his car crash], wherein initially Zack has a significant other named Charlotte, overlapping with his meeting and becoming involved with Lizzie. All who meet Zack, who is pretty much addicted to Xanax and tramadol, see him as a very handsome and charming man, although he is self-described as being “not very nice” [with which the reader wholeheartedly agrees], and “. . . People like me can’t relax. We may roam outside the boundaries that restrict the behavior of other people, but we’re never free.”

The characters all come alive in these pages, but Zack is one of a kind, displaying love, jealousy, and vengeance, among other traits. The ending is shocking, but thoroughly believable. This is a book, and characters, who will stay with the reader after the last page is read, and it is highly recommended.

Remember Me This Way is a spine-tingling, suspense-laden psychological thriller. The novel is full of clever twists and turns and Sabine Durrant makes it virtually impossible to guess the mystery’s final outcome right up until the very end.

On the one year anniversary of her husband Zack’s death, Lizzie Carter is finally ready to visit the site of his accident and finish settling his estate. She is surprised to see that someone has left a bouquet of memorial flowers at the accident scene, but it is the attached message that rouses a few suspicions. When she reaches his cottage, she is further unsettled by some missing items that lead her to believe that Zack might have faked his own death. After she returns home, Lizzie becomes certain that is Zack alive and he is stalking her. When no one takes her fears seriously, she begins her own investigation and Lizzie quickly discovers that she really did not know Zack at all.

Lizzie is a somewhat unreliable narrator because she is rather fuzzy on the day to day details of her life. She feels guilty for some of the events that occurred in the days leading up Zack’s death and her lingering grief further clouds her judgment. There are also some very strange occurrences that bolster her belief that he is still alive but why would Zack fake his death? The answer to that question is revealed bit by bit through the lies that Lizzie uncovers and her memories of her relationship with Zach.

The most chilling revelations are divulged through passages from Zack’s point of view. As he reflects on his previous relationships and his marriage, a frightening picture become to emerge. In the days and months leading up to his death, he becomes increasingly controlling of Lizzie and his behavior grows more volatile and erratic. But does this mean that Zach deliberately faked his death only to return to stalk and terrorize Lizzie?

Remember Me This Way is a riveting mystery that is fast paced and quite engrossing. The storyline is well written with numerous plot twists and Sabine Durrant brings the novel to a very unexpected conclusion. A positively brilliant psychological thriller that I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

A special thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

REMEMBER ME THIS WAY by Sabine Durrant is a chilling psychological suspense thriller, a mystery of intrigue, leaving the reader pondering . . . which character is more twisted?
“You can love and hate someone at the same time. You can so pity them it’s like a fist in your stomach, be so resentful you want to hit them. They can be the best thing that ever happened to you, and the worst. You can have thoughts of leaving them, and yet the memory of their skin, the pads of their fingers across your rib cage . . . these can take your breath away, even for a year.“

Lizzie’s husband Zach was killed in an accident and a year later, on Valentine’s Day, after everyone has told her to move on, here she is walking down the road where he died, trying to remember him the right way. When she arrives, she finds flowers and a note. Someone else cares about her husband, plus she feels someone is always watching her? Stalking her? Who is Xenia?

All the self-help books with their formal stages from grief, shock, disbelief, bargaining, anger, depression, and final acceptance. She thinks she has pathological grief. No one is out to get her, it’s pathological. Survivor’s guilt, Leaver’s guilt. Unfinished business.
“Thank God he died before he read the letter. That’s one thing to be grateful for. He never learned her betrayal. When I get there I will burn it. She had decided to leave and written a letter which would be waiting for him in Cornwall. She had spoken to him an hour before he died.”

If Lizzie had to face the truth, she most likely would never have left him, as it was his darkness that drew her in, his obsession and insecurities. Everyone thought he was such a catch and she was so lucky.

What comes next is twisted, and chilling making Lizzie wonder who Zach really was (or is)? Strange things begin happening, leading her to second guess Zach’s death – the body was hardly unidentifiable, what if he is really still alive and watching her?

Zach was always so controlling, possessive, and jealous… narcissistic behavior—stating she better never leave him. Zach is clever…what about the painting, the message, the breakin, the diary, the lies, his past, Sam …Evil can be attractive- she is haunted and possibly mad, or PTSD? She wanted to escape him. Did his love for Lizzie, lead him to his death? Lizzie’s mind since he died has her twisted and manipulated; dreaming of hauntings and revenge, waiting for violence?

Switching from Zach to Lizzie, from past to present, the author keeps you glued to the pages with intensity of solving the mystery, if Zach is alive or dead, and more about each personality; if the accident is a charade of torment in the event he had read her letter, or if there is someone else trying to drive her nuts.

Zach is one mind-blowing psycho guy, (thriller readers will love his sadistic, mind, mixed with humor), as Lizzie digs further into this past, she begins to wonder if anything he said or did was real? However, both Lizzie and Zach are complex, leaving you pondering if Lizzie is wacko.

We also meet some secondary characters which add some deliciously evil and scandalous suspense and secrets, as well as the poor dog Howard. Can she move on with a new life with someone else? Does Zach still hold power over Lizzie even from the grave? Will she ever be free of his hold over her? Will she always be looking over her shoulder, hoping he will be there?

My first book by Durrant and looking forward to reading more. Well-developed characters and twists and turns, for a compelling psychological suspense crime thriller. Loved the mysterious front cover depicting the road, the accident, and what lies behind the fog, the curve, the tree, the person behind the wheel—drawing you in. Gone Girl fans will love this one!

“Four percent of the population is supposed to fit the definition of sociopath. That’s one in twenty-five of us living without a conscience.” ---darn scary!

Wow. Just wow. This is such a beautifully told, spellbinding psychological thriller. Sabine Durrant is a new author to me, and after finishing Remember Me This Way I immediately went and bought her other books. I love finding authors who get that perfect balance of twisty plotting, relatable characters and eloquent prose.

This story follows Lizzie, who is coming to terms with her husband’s death. But then little things start happening, and she questions if he’s really dead. Nobody knows like her how obsessive he could be, how far he would go for revenge…

I genuinely couldn’t guess the end and the pacing was so well done, the plotting so suspenseful, the characters so completely real that I was actually sad when I finished it. A truly compelling novel that is sure to get under your skin.

Lizzie Carter thought she knew her husband Zach. Before he died in a terrible car accident, one for which she blames herself, they spent every possible second together, very much in love.

Then, on the anniversary of his death, she visits the site where he died and finds a bouquet of flowers left for him ... by another woman.

Thus begins a nightmarish mystery as Lizzie recalls her relationship with Zach, with all of its unexplained surprises and unexpected turns, and works to convince herself that her husband really is dead, and not still alive somewhere, watching her to make sure he still has her all to himself ...

Author Sabine Durrant's dark psychological thriller REMEMBER ME THIS WAY debuted in May this year.

You think you know someone, the person you married, the person you dated, the person you've lived with for five or ten or thirty years. You think you've got that person figured out, all his or her quirks, ticks, habits, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and patterns.

Durrant's work is a testament to the fact that sometimes, you really can't say you know someone until you've seen that person in a whole different light.

That's what happened to Lizzie, the protagonist in this page-turner of a suspense novel. Sweet, likable, and willing to believe the best about everyone, Lizzie never even suspected something might be wrong with Zach's mental state until he was gone and she was faced with incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.

The novel works both sides of the story. In one half, Lizzie makes increasingly frantic attempts to track down who her husband really was while remembering one conversation, event, or circumstance after another about their relationship that should have told her Zach was growing more and more unstable and controlling.

In alternating chapters, Durrant feeds readers Zach's point of view about those same memories Lizzie revisits, except that Zach's is an immediate "happening now" perspective on each of those events, while Lizzie is only recalling them from the "now" present future.

The glimpses into Zach's psychological makeup are some of the most fascinating and compelling in the whole novel. He is truly a troubled character --- very much an active force on Lizzie's present circumstances, even in death --- and therefore truly frightening for his constant neediness and insecurity, which gradually manifest themselves as jealousy and then even more. He is the most dynamic character in the work.

For Lizzie, change comes slowly as she fights her way through years of denial (hers) and deception (his) to realize the truth about Zach, their marriage, and his death. If anything, Lizzie sometimes comes across as so naive and innocent she seems almost unbelievable. Could anyone really live with so much faith in humanity that he or she didn't see the reality that actually existed?

Then again, how many of us could actually say that we know, really know, those to whom we are closest?

Every twist and shocking revelation in this novel is guaranteed to keep readers turning pages into the night.

# # #

Author: Sabine Durrant
Title: REMEMBER ME THIS WAY
ISBN: 978-1-4767-1634-3
Purchase here: http://amzn.to/1JWVWqI

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this work from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Exactly one year after the fatal car crash that claimed her husband Zach's life, Lizzie feels she has finally found the courage to visit the crash site to place some flowers there and hopefully get some closure.
It has taken all of the courage she can muster to come to the decision to make this long drive into the country, and after, to drive on to meet an agent at the secluded bungalow which Zach used as his country painting studio. Her plan is to sell it as is...and as soon as possible...so that she can finally close that door.

The exact place on the country road where Zach's car swerved off and exploded on impact with a tree, is a bit tricky to access, but Lizzie is determined.
Leaving her car parked on an area beside the busy roadway, she walks several metres before crossing to the place she knows instinctively is the right spot. She climbs over the metal guard rail at the side of the road and negotiates the now overgrowing tracks of the cars' fatal trajectory into the tree that stopped its further descent into the depths of the dense bush.

As she places her flowers beneath the tree on this one year anniversary, Lizzie's eye is caught by something nearby. On closer inspection she discovers that the object is a nicely wrapped bunch of flowers with a card attached. The signature on the card is an unusual woman's name that Lizzie doesn't recognise.

This is where things start to get more interesting as Lizzie is now forced to ponder on the fact the husband she was convinced she knew so well, may have had some secrets.

This was a fascinating, clever, and well thought out story with lots of twists and turns, gradually adding layers of suspense, and building all the while to an anticipated big finale.
Though I really enjoyed the reading and was kept fascinated throughout, I felt this book lacked a lot of the edginess that was implied. It certainly had the potential to be a lot more gripping and nail biting than it was, and I kept waiting for that moment when I would be gripped by the expected 'anxious anticipation'.
The creep factor was great, but I think the fear factor could've been amped up a bit.
There was a big finale, and it was a good one...but it didn't knock my socks off as I know it could have.

This being only the second such novel from this author, I have to conclude that, here is a good writer of the thriller genre who just needs to finesse the scary bits! Imho.

Having said that, I still believe it earned 4★s and would definitely read more from this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy to read and review.

Zach was a real catch for Lizzie, according to her friends. He was handsome and devoted to her. In "Remember Me This Way," after the wedding Lizzie discovered Zach was a liar, a cheat, and a psychopath who verbally and emotionally abused her. Yet, because he was so handsome and seemed to love her, Lizzie blamed herself for his abusive behavior until one day it became too much. Zach made me want to scream. An example: Zach was jealous of LIzzie's dog, so he slowly began feeding it poison. Author Sabine Durrant created a suspenseful novel.

The combination of the two protagonists in Remember Me This Way is lethal: a lying, possessive husband and an obsessive wife who takes denial to the extreme.
Besides the intriguing plot and the tension of each character this multi layered psychological, suspense thriller is beautifully written and Durrant handles the first person narratives flawlessly. Her description of place is sharp and memorable:
“It’s conventional to visit the scene of a fatal accident, to leave flowers: all those lampposts decked with cellophane where poor cyclists have been killed”
Well worth spending time reading it.
Getting To Mr. Right

Another good psychological thriller. When Lizzie goes to place flowers on her husband's grave she finds that someone has been there before her. As she delves further into her husbands past it leaves her wondering if she ever knew him at all. I listened to this one which is narrated by Penelope Rawlins and Daniel Weyman. They do an excellent job at building the suspense in this novel and keeping the listener on their toes.

I really enjoyed this book! Switching from Lizzie to Zach, from past to present, you get to know the thoughts of each one, Zach and his dark, obsessive thoughts, very interesting to read, very controlling and jealous. Lizzie, the somewhat unreliable narrator. As you delve further into the book, more details of their relationship emerge. It has Lizzy wondering if it is possible that Zach is still alive and always watching her. She is constantly looking over her shoulder. I found this to be suspenseful and a page turner!

Big disappointment! Remember Me This Way seemed like it might be a nail-biting thriller, but instead it was a poorly-written, drawn out camp fire spook story that turns out not to be even remotely spooky.

Lizzy is a sad-sack protagonist who is hard to care about. The story is meandering and hard to follow. Zack is a psychotic narcissist and pathological liar. He should have been institutionalized. He was impossible to tolerate, let alone like, so it was difficult to see what Lizzy saw in him.

If this had been written better, maybe this could have made an interesting short story. But most of the writing was so uninteresting that I found myself skipping entire passages just to get through.

I flat out would not recommend this book.

Sabine's novels has the way of getting Under your skin (get it, see what I did there??), and this one doesn't disappoint !!! The novel starts with Lizzie commemorating the death of her husband, by putting some flowers at the accident scene. She thinks about him and their live together. At the scene she finds another bunch of flowers, with a message.... Did she really know him? And is the way she is remembering him, the real him?

Durrant delivers a suspenseful novel exploring a widow's realization her dead husband might be still alive.

This is another unreliable narrator thriller that is rather readable when all is said and done. If readers are looking for something that has nice flowing prose and a couple of well thought out twists, this is a good place to find it.

While I would not say it is a book I couldn't put down, I found that the tension that provided the suspense never wavered and kept me nicely interested and wanting to know what came next.

Lizzie's husband Zach died in a strange car crash .On the year anniversary of his death she visits the site.While there she notices a note the note will turn her life upside down who was Zach is he really dead .A chilling psychological thriller you will race through the pages.