Review: What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr

Title: What Rose Forgot

Author: Nevada Barr

Published: September 2019, Minotaur Books

Format: ARC Paperback, 291 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

In New York Times
bestselling author Nevada Barr’s gripping standalone, a grandmother in
her sixties emerges from a mental fog to find she’s trapped in her worst
nightmare

Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown,
her brain in a fog, only to discover that she’s been committed to an
Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up
in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she
overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she’s “not
making it through the week,” Rose is convinced that if she’s to survive,
she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her
medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape.

The
only problem is–how does she convince anyone that she’s not actually
demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal
papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing
home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane. But any
lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be
killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows
that someone is determined to get rid of her.

With the help of
her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old
granddaughter Mel, and Mel’s friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her
strength and fight back–to find out who is after her and take back
control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to
kill Rose, and they’re holding all the cards.

My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read by Nevada Barr and it will definitely not be my last. I am always intrigued by books that deal with memory and so I knew as soon as I read the synopsis of this one that I had to read it…and it was so good!

I think what I loved the most about this book is that the main protagonist is an older woman. It’s not too often that we get books where our MC is older than I am, so of course, I was immediately drawn into this one. Now, Rose is a bit older than me, but still I appreciated the fact that she was not a young whippersnapper. I actually quite enjoyed her character – she was feisty and not willing to take what had been done to her without a fight!

I think all the characters in this book are quirky and stand out, which makes the story really fun. Yes, it’s still a mystery thriller, but I liked that I actually liked most of the characters. I loved the relationship that Rose had with her granddaughter and her sister. The story itself moves at quite a good pace and is definitely suspenseful. I was just as in the dark as to what was going on with Rose as she was.

This is a good book to escape into and can be read quite quickly. I am definitely looking forward to reading more books by Nevada Barr, especially if they are as entertaining and edgy as this one!