Six titles about the perils of memory manipulation

Margot Harrison is the author of four young adult thrillers and the adult novel The Midnight Club.

[The Page 69 Test: The Killer in Me; Q&A with Margot Harrison]

At CrimeReads she tagged "six compelling fictions about the power of memory and the dangers of manipulating our own memories—or other people’s." One title on Harrison's list:

In the Woods by Tana French

While French writes superb procedural mysteries rather than science fiction, the lure and unreliability of memory are potent themes running through her work. The narrator of her debut novel is a detective with a terrifying gap in his childhood memories: the day he and two friends went missing. He was the only one to return, with no recollection of what had happened. As the detective insinuates himself into a murder case in the same wooded area where his friends vanished, we discover how a preoccupation with unlocking the past can make it impossible to live in the present. This is a good cautionary tale for any memory obsessive!

Read about another entry on the list.

In the Woods is among Peter Nichols's six novels whose crimes & mysteries grow out of place and manners, Amy Tintera's five top thrillers featuring amnesiacs, Emily Schultz's eight top novels about memory loss, Gabino Iglesias's fifty best mysteries of all time, Kate Robards's five thrillers unfolding in wooded seclusion, Paula Hawkins's five novels with criminal acts at their heart, Alafair Burke's top ten books about amnesia, Caz Frear's five top open-ended novels, Gabriel Bergmoser's top ten horror novels, Kate White's favorite thrillers with a main character who can’t remember what matters most, Kathleen Donohoe's ten top titles about missing persons, Jessica Knoll's ten top thrillers, Tara Sonin's twenty-five unhappy books for Valentine’s Day, Krysten Ritter's six favorite mysteries, Megan Reynolds's top ten books you must read if you loved Gone Girl, Emma Straub's ten top books that mimic the feeling of a summer vacation, the Barnes & Noble Review's five top books from Ireland's newer voices, and Judy Berman's ten fantastic novels with disappointing endings.

The Page 69 Test: In the Woods.

--Marshal Zeringue