The Memory Box by Eva Lesko Natiello
Published by Fine Line Publishing on June 25, 2014
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Psychological, Thrillers
Pages: 358
Format: ARC
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NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLER
What would you do if you Googled yourself and discovered something shocking?
In this gripping psychological thriller, a group of privileged suburban moms amuse themselves by Googling everyone in town, digging up dirt to fuel thorny gossip. Caroline Thompson, devoted mother of two, sticks to the moral high ground and attempts to avoid these women. She’s relieved to hear her name appears only three times, citing her philanthropy. Despite being grateful that she has nothing to hide, a delayed pang of insecurity prods Caroline to Google her maiden name—which none of the others know.
The hits cascade like a tsunami. Caroline’s terrified by what she reads. An obituary for her sister, JD? That’s absurd. With every click, the revelations grow more alarming. They can’t be right. She’d know. Caroline is hurled into a state of paranoia—upending her blissful family life—desperate to prove these allegations false before someone discovers they’re true.
The disturbing underpinnings of The Memory Box expose a story of deceit, misconceptions, and an obsession for control. With its twists, taut pacing, and psychological tenor, Natiello’s page-turning suspense cautions: Be careful what you search for.
The Memory Box by Eva Lesko Natiello is about a middle-aged housewife named Caroline Thompson. She’s a former journalist who is now a busy wife to husband, Andy, and stay-at-home mom to twin elementary-age daughters, Lily and Tessa in suburbia. She’s obsessed about being a good mother and homemaker and her calendar rules the day.
….And so this story begins…….
Have you ever Googled your own name? Come on, confess, of course you have. The Memory Box becomes a psychological thriller that plays with your mind from the very first page to the last. I found myself saying “are you kidding me, seriously?” on a few different pages.
Caroline is caught up in the social mix of the other mothers in suburbia. One of the moms starts Googling to get the dirt on some of the others in their group. The whole idea gets Caroline wondering, so she Googles herself and only finds three harmless entries. She’s a little bummed and figures she’s just boring or something. Then she realizes that no one in town really knows her from before she was married, so she tries again using her maiden name and she finds information to blows her away.
As she’s scrolling down the page of articles that include her name, oddly she comes across the obituary of her twin sister, JD, posted six years ago. Caroline is astonished because she had no idea her sister died, despite their being very close in the past. Caroline continues to read through the Google articles, she is met with a bag full of confusion and secrets that she was never prepared to see.
She realizes that she can’t trust her own recollection of past events either. She returns to the psychologist she had gone to before her move to suburbia where she learns some facts that just can’t be true. She hears her own mother saying that she had an active imagination and that she could convince herself of anything.
Caroline is desperate to figure out the secrets in her own subdued memories and it causes her to become more unstable. To be honest, I was becoming exhausted empathizing with Caaroline’s panic and distress, and her increasingly chaotic personal life. The book was like a train wreck – I couldn’t help but to keep turning pages to see what would happen next.
Caroline was not someone I would ever care to know or become friends with. There’s a big twist at the end of this story, which is sort of what readers are expecting all along. Readers won’t exactly know how it’s all going to work out in this story, but knowing there’s a twist coming it keeps us reading to the end. I can’t believe this is a first book, but since it is true, I can’t wait to read more of Ms. Natiello’s books!
Eva Lesko Natiello is a native New Yorker, who, by transplanting to the New Jersey suburbs, conceived her first novel, THE MEMORY BOX. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children and is currently at work on her second novel.
She has written essays that have been published in The Huffington Post, New Jersey Monthly, The Mid, Sammiches and Psych Meds, the Parental Guidance blog on nj.com and elsewhere.
Eva is incredibly grateful to her readers for their enthusiasm–when they take time to write reviews, get in touch or spread the word.
I received an advanced readers digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to provide a positive review!! Thank you NetGalley!
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