Yesterday was a great book divided into two groups of people, those who only remember yesterday (mono) and those who also remember the day before (duo). We meet Claire who is a mono and her husband Mark who is a duo. Throw into this mix a murder, a young woman known to Mark. Who murdered her? I won't spoil it for you.
A great book and loved the twist.

This book confused me, it's set in a time where the characters aren't like we are today, where we have memories, instead they live in a time when they can either remember the events of one day (Monos) or they can remember the events of two days (Duos). In order to know what they had done in the previous days/months etc everything is written in their idiaries. The first problem for me was that it's set in an alternate 2015 - if it had been set in another 100 years or so it may have intrigued me more. I found it a tedious read and as the story progressed started questioning things more. I wasn't keen on the characters, they didn't come alive in my imagination and I felt the author, despite having an interesting idea for her story, had missed the mark.

"How do you solve a murder when you only remember yesterday?" That was all that was needed to catch my attention, it was so intriguing, I had to read this. It even started with one of the charecters admiting "I remember everything...I'm the only person in this world who remembers her past. All of it." After this I knew I was going to be second guessing everything that came next.
Everything takes place within one day, the police find a body and the detective is determined to solve it by the end of that day. The characters often refer back to their diaries for details on what happened on previous days. However, what was going through my mind was... what happens if they lie/omit what actually happened? How is anyone supposed to solve a murder then? I didn't need to worry, as it was these questions that got me thinking and trying to work it all out along with them and try to solve it!!
It has a brilliant twist at the end, if you enjoy murder mysteries then you will love this!!

What a superb and gripping story. I was pulled in by the clever writing and the sheer intensity of it.

Imagine a world exactly like ours (right down to male stripper been compared to Channing Tatum) except for one massive difference. Society isn't divided by race, religion or gender. No in this world there are two types of people. Duos and Monos. Duos can only remember the last two days, Monos merely the day before. Due to this Duos are considered superior and generally do all the supposedly better jobs(doctors lawyers etc) whereas Monos do the more menial tasks. In this world we meet Claire and Mark. Mark is a Duo and a successful writer, Claire a Mono who previously was a waitress. Their mixed marriage is almost unheard of. But it's not a happy marriage. This is proven on the morning that the police turn up saying Marks mistress has been found murdered. A mistress who has previously claimed she can remember everything. The question is how can you solve a murder when you can only remember yesterday?

Well I have a lot more questions than that. How on earth has this society got as far as it has on such little memory? They record their thoughts in IDiaries (Yes Apple rule in this world too) but previously pen and paper did the trick. But how did they create written language (or even a fully developed oral language) with a maximum of two days memory? Am I been too literal? Is this something that happened over time if so how/why? Or has thus reality always been like this? I need more facts!

Anyway back to the plot. The story is told by Mark, Claire, Sophie and Hans, the Mono detective posing as a Duo. It's a fast paced and interesting story let down by both a too neat ending and also slightly preposterous one. Sophie and Hans are by far the most interesting characters, in fact I could see Hans having his own series of books. There's some neat little devices used such as in one of Marks books he describes a world with memory (much to the disgust and disbelief of some readers) plus what might happen to them when they get hit on their head as opposed to what might happen to us....

Despite struggling with the logic of the story I did enjoy this. It's got genius and daftness in equal measures which somehow appeals to me. Suspend your disbelief and you could be in for a treat.

I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.

Yesterday

I'm delighted to say that this 'memory loss' thriller is so much better and so very different to other titles to which it's compared. For starters, it's not repetitive. The point is made but the reader doesn't have to relive the minutiae of life and loss with every chapter.

This book is genuinely clever. Just a sprinkling of sci fi and fantasy to make the setting sufficiently plausible for those who enjoy a psychological thriller. The narrative viewpoint changes, but develops the plot and, more importantly, requires the reader to revaluate their understanding of truth and reality. What started as a mystery, for me, developed into a far more satisfying and thought provoking read. What an intriguing debut from a new young author; one with much more to offer. Enjoyed this and my thanks for a review copy via Netgalley.

This story has an intriguing premise set against an essentially factually correct England.

The multi person point of view is a little confusing to following, made more so by the positioning of the diary excerpts before the chapters.  However, it should be noted that I was reading an ARC, and so a fully formatted e-book version may not have those particular issues.

Overall, I thought that this was a kind of unique examination of the meaning of love and a parallel look (albeit with at an extremely superficial level) at discrimination.

The epilogue adds a twist that I didn't see coming and ultimately, the story works, even if I wasn't completely sold on the delivery.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

How do you solve a murder when you only remember yesterday? It was his line that drew me to this book and I was expecting an absolute thriller, sadly I felt disappointed.

In this world you have monos who only have one days worth of memory; and duos who have two. Monos are excluding from things such as high ranking jobs and are often seen as the lower class of society. People function by completing their I-diaries daily and using these to remember last experiences and interactions.

Claire is a mono housewife and her husband, Mark, a duo is a successful novelist. One day, a woman is found dead on the banks of the river Cam. She's Mark's mistress and he's now the number one suspect.

I found the first half of the book extremely slow. The second half picked up the pace but I was quite disappointed by the whole book. It just didn't grip me and draw me in like other thrillers do.

Thank you to NetGalley, Headline and the author for the chance to review.

Yesterday by Felicia Yap.
Yesterday has a great, unique idea for an alternative society in which as a person turns 18 they lose thei ability to remember normally and become either a Mono, where they can only remember yesterday, or a Duo, where they can remember yesterday and the day before. They keep diaries in which they write down as much or as little as they see necessary, and 'learn' the most important aspects of each day which enables the info to move to their long term memory which they still do have.
This concept isn't although the main part. It is at heart a crime story told by the main characters in a very enjoyable story.
I found it well written, easy to follow with good character development.
Indeed the idea of the mono's and duo's would be a great idea for a second more dystopia type novel.
I look forward to reading more from this author.

The whole concept behind this book is and extremely interesting one. The idea of an alternate reality with monos and duos facinating.

The book itself was well written but I failed to connect to any of the characters. I enjoyed the story and read it in a day but feel the last chapter was unnecessary and unbelievable. I can't say why without spoilers.

Overall the reading experience was a mixed bag but it was a good story that has the potential to be turned into a series.

„Yesterday“ is one of the most unique books I read so far. It is set in an alternate reality where people can remember only for a short time. In this alternate world a murder takes place. There are two different kinds of people: Monos, who could retain just the day before and Duos who have memory of the last two days. Duos think they are superior to Monos. They think they are cleverer and there are jobs which are only given to Duos, although most of the people are Monos. Children and teenager can remember everything, but at a certain age things change and they become Monos or Duos. They start to write diaries. They write down what they think is important to remember and the next day they learn these things. So it gets into their long-term-memory and they remember it. This situation is not really explained in the book. It is just treated as a fact. Reality is like this in this book. It is not a Dystopia; it is just a book which takes place in a different reality. At first I found that very confusing. I was not sure if this could work and how it all worked. I was checking all the time if everything that happened was according to this memory situation. But while I kept reading and the more things developed and got explained I got used to this setting.

I am not going to tell too much about the story itself. I was fascinated by this memory thing. Being a Duo or a Mono divides the society into two classes. There is a lot of discrimination going on. The story about the murder is very complex and told from different POVs. There are many twists and unreliable characters. Writing a diary is a very delicate thing. The characters write to remember their own past. But they choose what they think is necessary to remember. That can also mean that they choose to leave something out so they will forget it. The story is very unique and is told with great earnest. The author adds more and more details. It is a really unusual story with an unusual setting. The thing about the murder could have been a little bit more gripping. The main thing here are the characters and their problems. With their life without remembering important things and without the learning effect they bring. I was not absolutely gripped by the book but it was interesting and I enjoyed reading it.

Felicia Yap has created an alternative universe that could have come straight out of a Stark Trek episode. Cleverly conceived Duos and Monos inhabit a world where trust, deceit selfish occupation is the normal. The characters are untrustworthy,each with their secrets and motives to hide. I was captivated by the concept. However,the twists weren't always believable. I thought the final twist was implausible and improbable and the detective's 'secret' would have definitely be revealed not only suspected. I await Yap's follow up 'Today' with interest.

This was a really original concept for a novel and one that worked really well. A refreshing change to the usual fodder.

The nature of memory always fascinates me. Just how much can we rely on our memories – what is real and reliable, how well can we really remember what happened, how much do we bury in our subconscious? In Yesterday by Felicia Yap she has created a world where memory for everyone over the age of eighteen is limited for 70% of people to just one day (the Monos) whilst the rest (the Duos) have two days of memory. Each day everyone has to write down their actions, thoughts and feelings in their iDiaries and then memorise the ‘facts’. But are these ‘facts’ reliable?

This is a murder story, told through extracts from iDiaries and the perspectives of four people, that of the victim, Sophie, Claire a Mono, married for twenty years to Mark, a novelist and prospective MP who is a Duo, and DCI Hans Richardson, who is racing against time to find the murderer.

I found it rather confusing at first, getting my head around the fact that everyone has such a short-term memory. Just how reliable are the four narrators, are they even who they say they are and do they write the truth in their iDiaries? I think it is an interesting book but I did have to suspend my disbelief, especially towards the end of the book, which I found farcical and rather annoying. It was one twist too far for me. And I couldn’t really get over the fact of how much time you would have to spend writing everything down and then learning what you had done and thought each day.

Yesterday had a fascinating premise and I couldn't resist requesting it. What if you could only remember what happened Yesterday? What if there was a crime and you only had today to solve it?The book featured four different voices from very different characters. Monos and Duos. Husband and wife. Lover. Detective.

This was a psychological thriller based on a sci-fi premise and it's an interesting concept, no doubt. At first, I couldn't understand why Duos thought they were so much better than Monos. How is remembering two days so much better than remembering one? Then I realized this was exactly what the author had been trying to imply. In our world, this happens with racism and sexism and it makes no sense whatsoever. But some people still believe they're superior.

As fun as this book was, I couldn't help but find the plot a bit predictable. I couldn't connect with any of the characters either, so while I liked it, I can't say I really loved it. In my opinion, there's something missing.

In this book society is split between Duos (people who can remember two days) and Monos (people who can remember one day). Mark, a Duo iis an author and has been married to Claire, a Mono, for twenty years. To remember things both Duos and Monos write in i diaries each evening and read them the following morning. A woman's body has been found in the River Cam and Detective Hans Richardson is investigating. The victim is Sophie Ayling and she was known to Mark. Really struggled with this book - the story is related through the point of view of Mark, Claire, Sophie and Hans - I think just one or two points of view would have been better. The narrative is also broken up by newspaper articles, information from police manuals and government documents which don't add anything to the story. I found the ending very disappointing..

Thanks to Netgalley, Headline and the author for my copy in return for a review.

I wouldn't normally read a book set with a Si Fi / fantasy plot but decided to give this a go and boy was I glad I did. This is in essence a intriguing dectective whodunnit with a geat plot, twists and turns and a cracking unexpected ending.

A promising debut, with an original and intriguing premise. The story is written from POVs of four characters and frequently switches between different time-lines. The writing style reminded me of the books translated into English, it was rather stilted and a little unnatural. All the characters sounded exactly the same and there was no depth to any of them. There were many twists in the plot, however it did get quite repetitive in places. Overall, the concept was great but it could have been developed with much greater depth.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I loved this thriller as the plot is very unique and kept me gripped throughout.

The idea of Nono's and Duo's was intriguing, and a great metaphor for how minorities get treated in real life. The language used to disparage Nono's is often reminiscent of that used to describe people of colour, LGBT people etc. and is an interesting way of highlighting the issues in society.

The story is told from the point of view of four different characters, including the victim. It's difficult knowing who to trust due to their unreliable memories.

A great thriller with an even greater look at discrimination in society.

A body has been found in the river by Grantchester meadows. The coat pockets laden with pebbles point to suicide; the bump on the head says otherwise. So the police begin investigations - but things are tricky in a world where the majority of people can only remember the events of yesterday, and the pressure is on for a speedy resolution.


This book starts with an interesting premise - that most adults only retain memories of the previous day, the lucky few remember two days - then throws in a murder mystery, but it soon lost its hold on me as it turned into a fairly predictable domestic noir.
Although the book isn't promoted as such, I'd expected a more 'sci-fi' take to the story. After all, a whole population coping with memory problems like that would surely be really weird. How did it develop in the first place? How do people cope from day to day? Would staying awake for long periods (perhaps with the help of drugs) keep someone's memory intact or is time the factor that governs this strange condition? And how can you hope to solve a murder when the facts will start to slip away from witnesses' minds at the end of the day? The aspects which intrigued me most weren't addressed as the book is much more murder mystery than speculative fiction, and as for coping day to day, well that's solved by the use of diaries - filled in every night to make sure important events and feelings are remembered, and read every morning to convert 'memories' into 'facts' which are never forgotten. To be honest, I felt these characters probably had a better grasp of what happened last week, by referring to their diaries, than I have with only a memory to count on!
I also found it a bit bizarre that events took place in what feels like a familiar setting, Granchester Meadows - I half expected Sidney Chambers and his entourage to show up and help solve the mystery!
If you're reading this as another domestic noir, you'll probably like it well enough, but I'm not particularly fond of the genre, and, comparing it to other fiction involving memory loss, Yesterday didn't have the tension of SJ Watson's Before I Go to Sleep, total world immersion of Emily Barr's The One Memory of Flora Banks or the grittiness of the Christopher Nolan film Momento.