Book review: The Memory Closet - Ninie Hammon

Something happened to Anne Mitchell when she was 11 years old so horrible her mind erased the whole first decade of her life. Twenty-five years later, she has come home to a dried-up Texas prairie town to live with her crazy grandmother in the rambling old house where she grew up--in a final desperate effort to remember.      

Unless she recovers from her amnesia, Anne will never solve the mystery of the anguished confession her mother choked out as she lay dying. She will never be able to respond to the unexpected romance in her life. And Anne will remain forever a slave to what she calls the "Boogie Man"--strange images from her lost childhood that haunt her dreams and stalk her waking hours.     

Though Anne has finally summoned the courage to take action, to face her past, she really doesn't understand how expensive remembering will be. The cost of her memories could very well be her sanity. And in a surprise, suspense-filled ending, she might even have to pay for her childhood with her life.

My opinion.

Wow. What a thrilling read. The Memory Closet is such a moving, intriguing piece of brilliant writing by Ninie Hammon. It's such an emotionally charged story and it shows how scary and suffocating the mind can be. Anne has no memory of her childhood. The only thing she knows is that it is haunting her. And the only possible way out, is remembering. The little snippets of memories and clues given by family and old friends promise nothing but horrors. You're almost as scared as Anne is to find out what actually happened to those little girls, but just like Anne.. you can't stop. You have to know. Ninie Hammon's brilliant story telling makes this a moving, heartbreaking page turner that will stay with you for long after you finished reading. The Memory Closet is a captivating story that gives such a remarkable account of inner demons and mental health. Maybe not as bedtime reading, but I definitely recommend this book.

 

About this author. I was born in Socorro, New Mexico, sometime shortly after the earth cooled off. It’s clear that from the outset my parents never intended for me to amount to anything. How could I? With a name like “Ninie?” Please.Fame and fortune do not come to people named Ninie Bovell (My maiden name.) Gabriella Bovary? You could work with that. Even something as pedestrian as Madeline Bovell or Rebecca Bovell or (though you’d lose points here for lack of originality) Elizabeth Bovell. But Ninie? I never had a chance.
If I sound a mite hostile, bear in mind that in one decisive stroke my parents sentenced their precious newborn daughter to a lifetime of explanations that began my first day at Muleshoe Elementary School. (Yeah, Muleshoe. The hits just keep on coming.) After a painful week, I had a rap down that I still use today:

“No, it’s not Ninnie like skinny and penny. It’s Ninie—rhymes with tiny and shiny. 9e…get it? And no, it doesn’t mean anything, it isn’t short for anything, long for anything, or a substitute for anything. It just is. (Pause here for the inevitable ‘Why?’) You got me, pal, I couldn’t tell you.”I grew up in Texas, got a BA in English and theatre from Texas Tech University and snagged a job as a newspaper reporter. Didn't know a thing about journalism, but my editor said if I could write he could teach me the rest of it and if I couldn't write the rest of it didn't matter. I hung in there for a 25-year career as a journalist. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but as soon as I figured out that making up the facts was a whole lot more fun than reporting them, I never looked back.Now, I write suspense--every flavor except pistachio: psychological suspense, inspirational suspense, suspense thrillers, paranormal suspense, suspense mysteries.In every book I write I try to keep this promise to Loyal Reader: I will tell you a story in a distinctive voice you'll always recognize, about people as ordinary as you are--people who have been slammed by something they didn’t sign on for, and now they must fight for their lives. Then smack in the middle of their everyday worlds, those people encounter the unexplainable--and it's always the game-changer."

website: http://www.niniehammon.com

twitter: @nameniniehammon

Thank you so much, Ninie, for sending me a review copy

and giving me the opportunity to read The Memory Closet.

I really enjoyed reading this book & looking forward to reading more!