Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett's specialty is the psychological autopsy - an investigation into a person's life to determine whether a death was natural, accidental, suicide, or homicide. She calls herself a deadshrinker instead of a headshrinker: The silence of her "patients" is a key part of the job's attraction. When Jo is asked to do a psychological autopsy on a living person - one with a suspect memory who can't be trusted to participate in his own medical care - she knows all her skills will be put to the test.

Jo is called to the scene of an aircraft inbound from London to help deal with a passenger who is behaving erratically. She figures out that he's got anteretrograde amnesia, and can't form new memories. As his thoughts drift away like tendrils of smoke, Jo finds herself racing to save a patient who can walk and talk yet can't help her figure out just what happened to him. For every cryptic clue he is able to drag up from his memory, Jo has to sift through a dozen nonsensical statements. Suddenly a string of clues arises - something to do with a superdeadly biological agent code-named "Slick," missing people, and a secret partnership gone horribly wrong. Jo realizes her patient's addled mind may hold the key to preventing something terrible from happening in her beloved San Francisco. In order to prevent it, she will have to get deeper into the life of a patient than she ever has before, hoping the truth emerges from the fog of his mind in time to save her city - and herself.

Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett must locate a high-level security officer who is infected with a brain-eating biological contaminant that results in amnesia. Unable to maintain short-term memory beyond five minutes, the security consultant, Ian Kanan, hunts for the people responsible for his condition. As Beckett closes in on Kanan, she discovers that some unsavory people are after him too and there's something bigger than amnesia at stake. Susan Ericksen delivers a suspenseful performance with a sexy edge. Her vocal inflections rise and fall to indicate suspense, and to differentiate male or female characters. Ericksen shows admirable skill in the accurate delivery of accents: South African, Indian, Latin American, and American regional and ethnic dialects. Her throaty vocal range presents a compelling story. A.L.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

 

Originally from Santa Barbara, California, Meg Gardiner previously practiced law and taught at the University of California. She lives with her family near London.

The Memory Collector by Meg Gardiner
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