All You Took From Me
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley August 8, 2024
Author Lisa Kenway
Distributor: Transit Lounge
ISBN: 9781923023123
Publisher: Transit Lounge
Release Date: August 2024
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Page one of the psychological murder mystery All You Took From Me opens with ‘The Lights in the corridor are dim, the nurses, for now, nowhere to be seen.’, and with those few words you are immediately hooked into what proves to be a riveting read, based on lies, more lies and an horrific accident.
Clare Carpenter has woken up in Intensive Care, her memory all but gone. She realises something pretty bad has happened but has no idea what. She sees a man dressed in scrubs, a bag on his back, looking like he is about to come into her room and attack her. When the nurse comes there is no one there; no one in the corridor outside her room. What has made her so paranoid, so fearful and afraid.
She is told her husband Ray is dead, killed in the accident that almost claimed her life, which is a lot to accept, but when the Police arrive wanting answers to questions she cannot answer, even in her debilitated state, she wonders what is really happening, what has really happened.
Desperate to return to her work as an Anaesthetist, she undertakes the psychological counselling required before she can once again begin work, be able to drive her car and at least try to return to a life that is as a normal as possible, without her beloved Ray, her husband of only two years.
As the counselling begins to help her remember the recent past, she become in turns, frustrated, angry and then afraid of what she may have inadvertently become involved in, through the mysterious Fight Club, her husband Ray and then she became involved with; obviously it was nothing good.
By trying to solve the puzzle of not only what happened to her, but the secretive life Ray had, which she is only beginning to discover, she sinks to the lowest of lows in her efforts to try and remember, despising herself but deciding she is so terrified that she will do what it takes to get some answers.
There is more than one thread to Dr Clare Carpenters life as she has become estranged from her family for more than ten years, has damaged her friendship with Priya, another anaesthetist she has studied with, worked with, shared a flat with and considers her absolutely best of friends. Clare feels very isolated, alone and terrified.
Who can she trust, who can she talk with to try and discover what Ray was really doing and why someone is out to kill her in revenge for something she simply can’t remember. Taut until the final word All You Took from Me is an absolute treat.
Lisa Kenway uses her medical background as an anaesthetist to build a masterful plot set between a Sydney Hospital and the Blue Mountains, which is fast paced, fluently written and utterly enthralling, delving into how far someone will go to seek revenge and discover the truth.
Very highly recommended.