Gone But Not Forgotten

by C Michele Dorsey

Overview

An elderly mother with dementia - and dark secrets.
A daughter who's desperate to know the truth - no matter what.

Get hooked by this thrilling, slow-burn novel of domestic suspense from critically acclaimed mystery author C Michele Dorsey.

"Engrossing . . . This solid psychological suspense novel should appeal to Lisa Unger fans" - Publishers Weekly
"Dorsey escalates the tension masterfully" - Kirkus Reviews

Ever since Olivia and her mother fled their home, back when she was just a child, Olivia's lived with her mother's secrets and mantras. Don't stand out. Don't make friends. And most important of all: Don't ask questions.

Olivia is now a twenty-nine-year-old law student. She lives in Boston in a beautiful home with the perfect husband. It's a good life. But she's always longed to know more about her family history, and now her beloved mother has dementia, she knows she probably never will.

That is, until her mother signs a check in a different name, the day before she dies, leaving Olivia an unexpected clue to her past - a clue that will lead her down a dark and deadly path.

Because someone doesn't want Olivia to know her real identity. Her husband, her mother's caregivers, even her best friend - can she trust they're who they say they are? The truth about Olivia's past may set her free - but only if she doesn't die first . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448311736
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	05/28/2024
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

C. Michele Dorsey is the author of the Sabrina Salter series and the Danny and Nora O'Brien series. Michele is a lawyer, mediator, former adjunct law professor, and nurse who didn't know she could be a writer when she grew up. Now that she does, Michele writes constantly, whether on St John, outer Cape Cod, or anywhere within a mile of the ocean.

Gone But Not Forgotten is her first standalone thriller.

Editorial Reviews

Fast-paced, gripping, terrific

Carolyn Hart

Fast-paced and action-packed . . . I had to know what happens next, and boy did I enjoy what follows

Dru’s Book Musings on No Virgin Island

A full-fledged mystery that grabbed my attention and quickly became a page-turner . . . [A] wonderfully terrific series

Dru’s Book Musings on Permanent Sunset

05/22/2023

Dorsey (Salt Water Wounds) capitalizes on her nerve-wracking premise in this impressive standalone thriller. Claire Taylor fled her murderous, mentally unstable husband when their daughter, Olivia, was a child. Now almost 30, married, and a law student in Boston, Olivia devotes her days to caring for her mom, who has Alzheimer’s. She’s never known much about her family’s past, and is shocked when, one afternoon, her mother signs a check with a name Olivia’s never seen before. Questioning her mom gets Olivia nowhere, and her desire to learn the truth is complicated when her mother dies suddenly the day after signing the check. Just before that happens, Olivia narrowly avoids being run down by a stranger in a car. Setting out to investigate her past and the circumstances of her mother’s death, Olivia meets resistance from people close to her. Dorsey makes Olivia, whose blooming paranoia could become grating in lesser hands, a sympathetic lead, and her quest is genuinely engrossing. This solid psychological suspense novel should appeal to Lisa Unger fans. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A divine locale and a quick-thinking amateur sleuth make this a great bet

Booklist on Permanent Sunset

2023-04-11
Her mother’s death begins a cascade of increasingly criminal traumas for a Boston law student.

Claire Taylor’s dementia has deepened, but she seems safe in Thompson House, a residential memory-care facility where she’s bonded with medication nurse Terry Walsh. When she unexpectedly dies soon after repeatedly mentioning the name Sheila Fairclough, her daughter, Olivia, is at a loss in more ways than one. She can’t help but be struck by the coincidence that the newest member of her study group at Portia Law School is Boston cop Ryan Fairclough, whose officious intervention had earlier forced Olivia to stop caring for her mother at home. Neglected by her husband, psychiatric resident Daniel Buchanan; bereft of her only other relative; and subject to a troubling series of attacks, from the theft of an orchid someone’s sent to commemorate her mother’s death to the slashing of her tires, Liv determines to track down Sheila Fairclough. Her search leads her to a raft of unholy revelations about her mother, who'd told Liv years ago that she’d fled with her from Liv’s father, and her own identity. Along the way, she finds just enough time to apply to become the legal guardian for Brady Parro, the 2-day-old baby who inherited an opioid addiction from his late mother, who turns out to be in even greater danger than she is. Dorsey escalates the tension masterfully until Liv uncovers one secret too many and lands both herself and Brady in mortal danger.

An endless supply of family skeletons compete for attention as they tumble from the closet.

Kirkus Reviews