Yesterday is a very different book set in an alternative reality where people have to keep a daily diary as they only remember one day or two depending whether they are a mono or a duo .So to solve a murder it has to be done in a one day .This story is about infidelity ,murder ,deception and lies and even love .The story is told through the various characters diary and the ending was a big surprise .I really enjoyed this book .

An OK read. I'm not I to science fiction and did not realise it was. It kept me reading though.

Yesterday is a very clever novel. Possibly the most intriguing novel that I've read this year so far.

Imagine only being able to remember what you did yesterday, and having to diarise everything you did the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, in order to be able to live your life.

This is the world that we inhabit in Yesterday, and although it's an alternate reality to me it seems plausible. I mean who really remembers every single little thing that they did two days ago, or last week?

There are two "classes" of people in Yesterday, Mono and Duo;

Being a "Mono" means that you can only remember yesterday, and nothing from the day before, or the day before that etc.

Being a "Duo" means that you can remember within a 48 hour period, so you have the advantage on a Mono in that you can remember what you did yesterday and the day before...

But no one can remember everything. Sophia however believes that she can remember everything. That she is neither Mono or Duo. Those around her say that this is impossible, that Sophia is unhinged. But Sophia can remember, and is determined to get revenge on those she perceives have ruined her life to date.

Claire and Mark Evans are in a mixed mono/duo marriage. Happily married for more than twenty years they have no idea that the discovery of a woman's body is about to bring their world crashing down around them.

Told from Sophia, Claire, Mark and (investigating murder) Detective Richardson's perspectives in alternate chapters, Yesterday could be hard to follow, but it isn't. It's a delight to read. An amazing debut - I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review I give it 3 1/2 stars

This book enticed me in with its unusual idea that people are divided not by wealth but instead by their memory; people are monos or Duos. Mono only remember the previous day and Duos 2 days. The book is set in 2015 in what seems an alternative version of todays reality. I found this a little odd as with such limited memory I am not sure technology would have advanced to the level it is today. For example, she mentions Steve Jobs as the founder of Apple. Apple itself as a company featured so much in this book that I did start to wonder if they sponsored it? I think a complete fictional 2015 would have been better and made me buy into the story a little more.

The book starts when a woman is found dead and the detective on the case is racing against time to solve the mystery as his memory will reset. Memories are learned as facts rather than remembered and people refer to their iDiaries to see what happened to them previously this leaves a lot of the detective work to guess work as people can misrecord memories as they wish to remember things. The twists in this book were unusual and somewhat interesting but I did struggle buying into the whole idea and I think the book could have been so much better with a few tweaks to the 2015 setting.

I do like a book that gives you something to think about and this does that very well.

It is set in a world that is full of mono and duo people - monos can recall memories from one day ago, duos can remember 2. In this world, Duos look down on Monos and the subject of a mixed marriage - mono and duo - is a rare one but Mark and Claire are two that seem to have made it work. Mark is a Duo, an author and also prospective MP. Claire is a Mono and seemingly living an idyllic lifestyle. But when a body is found in the local river and the police come round to question Mark, both their lives start unravelling.

I found the concept of memories a fascinating one - they had to rely on their Idiaries to remember even the smallest memory from their lives and it just makes you wonder why some things stick in our minds more than others. I also enjoyed how this story is shown from various points of view - we get to hear from Claire, Mark, the detective leading the case and the victim and her story. This really added so many layers to the mystery of what happened and wondering out who is hiding more than they know and just who do you trust.

I did find it a little far fetched towards the end as it all wrapped up a little too neatly but it made for an enjoyable and interesting read!

This book is a well written thriller with a sci-fi element. I hadn't realised this when I requested a copy, and I'm not really into science fiction so it wasn't for me, sorry. However, fans of that genre should enjoy it

I really liked the idea behind the story and enjoyed the story itself but felt the book got confused in places as how it was being told didn't line up with the books premise of the fact people can only remember either one day (mono) or two days (duo).

I didn't see the twist at the end coming but it felt a little tacked on as it didn't feel as if it tied into the rest of the book.

Yesterday is a high concept thriller set in an alternate reality England where memory is not only a class distinction but is also a major issue. Society is split into two, the mono's who can only retain short term memories for a single day and the Duo's who can retain it for two. Set in this world individuals have to re-learn their previous day through diaries. A woman in found in the river Cam and what is on first glance a suicide may be far more.

This intriguing set-up gives way to an investigation that relies on a quick solution. After all, if it relies on diary entries rather than memories how reliable can it be? Far more than that there is a class system in place here and relationships that are frayed and may not be built on the foundations they thought they were.

There is much to admire in this debut novel. The actual story-line itself rips along at a good pace and whilst it is fairly predictable in the main it does throw up the odd surprise along the way. The characters aren't the most likeable but there is a lot of thought put into the premise, which is good because it gives thought to the feasibility of it as well as the implications. Can relationships be taught? Can you learn to love? These and many more are teased at. As such it almost feels like it is a treatment on the permanency of relationships.
Well worth a read it doesn't quite deliver a story as good as the premise.

For reasons that become clear during the course of the book, Yesterday is set with a 24 hour time period. When you read as much crime as I do, you are always on the lookout for something different, challenging and that thinks, as they say, outside the box.
Yesterday does all that and is hugely enjoyable into the bargain. Set in the contemporary parallel world of monos and duos; monos can only remember the past 24 hours, duos have 48 hour recall and those very few who can remember further back are labelled mentally ill. Everyone keeps a searchable iDiary in order to remember the ‘facts’ they need to live their lives.
This is a society where duos are considered superior, mixed marriages between duos and monos are frowned upon and it is fertile ground for Felicia M Yap to play with the idea of unreliable narratives within this context.
Mark Evans is a duo and when he married mono Claire, his family disinherited him. When we first meet him he is in the midst of transitioning from a successful novelist to aspiring elected politician in Cambridge. But Mark has secrets that he is keeping from everyone, including Claire.
When Sophia Ayling’s body is discovered in the River Cam, the police find Mark’s name in her diary and he is brought in for questioning by D.C.I. Hans Richardson. The narrative moves between past and present and back and forth among Mark, Claire, Sophia’s iDiary entries, and the detective, D.C.I. Richardson. This 4 person narrative told through iDiaries and internal monologues is a rather nice way to set out the events of the book and the different characters perspectives.
As Claire struggles with the idea that Mark could be a suspect in Sophia’s murder, she knows that she has to have answers, but when you can only remember yesterday, what hope is there of ever finding the truth?
I enjoyed this book a lot, thanks to its unique perspective and it is certainly an accomplished debut novel. I particularly enjoyed the complex and struggling character of D.C.I. Richardson, a different kind of detective I’d like to read more of.
Yesterday has some very intriguing ideas and is not without its own killer twists. Overall it is a very satisfying and different read.

Interesting premise for a book about a world where people either remember the day before or two days before. I've heard a lot about this book and expected to enjoy it more than I did. I think that this is a victim of its own hype and so didn't live up to my expectations. There's no doubt that this is a clever book which is well written but I failed to connect with any of the characters and so wasn't invested in them. Having said that, it's well written, unique, and will appeal to many readers. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

Claire seems to have it all, but there are gaps in her recall - that can't be explained by the fact that she is a Mono (capable of only recalling the events of the day before). This only appears to have become problematic with the discovery of a body...that of her husband's mistress.
This was a cleverly-arranged and tight read, deftly taking us from past to present and setting up links between characters. We were never totally sure who to trust, and to what extent memories were to be relied upon.
However, the latter part of the book felt a step too far for me and made it just that little less credible.

Definitely my kind of book, great plot, great characters and well written. I struggled at times but felt the overall story was good enough to persevere and I am glad that I did. I've given stars as I felt the story because slow at times but generally it is a good read.

Yesterday is being hyped as the thriller of the summer so I was intrigued to find out what all the fuss was about. I thought it was a dystopian story set in some sort of parallel future, but it fact it’s set in the present, but a very different present. Humans aren’t distinguished on the grounds of sex or race but on whether they’re a mono or a duo. Monos, who make up 70% of the population can only remember the last 24 hours, while duos can remember two days back. Both tribes rely on facts stored in their diaries (more recently i-Diaries) which they read every morning to catch up on their own lives and the world around them.

Duos see themselves as superior to monos and there’s a lot of prejudice and discrimination, but in recent years mixed marriages have become more common. One such couple is duo writer Mark Henry Evans and his mono wife Claire. Their 20 year marriage seems relatively harmonious and loving until a woman’s body is found in a nearby pond and the investigation reveals that Mark had been having an affair with her and is implicated in her death.

I found the idea of memories having to be ‘relearned’ every day or two intriguing and I was really enjoying the book at first (although I never fully understood / it was never properly explained how society as we know it managed to survive under such circumstances). However, this theme seemed to fizzle out somewhat as the book progressed and the murder investigation took precedence, with flashbacks into the life of the dead woman who was unfortunately a thinly drawn and unconvincing ‘bunny boiler’. My disappointment intensified as the book became increasingly melodramatic and descended into a farcical ending, which was a real shame as the original premise of having to relearn lost memories every day was clever and would have made for an interesting and thought-provoking read on its own

Despite having very high hopes for this book I have to confess that I very nearly gave up on it on more than one occasion. I am happy that I continued on with it to the end but I must admit that I found it really hard going.

The premise of this story sounds so good, how do you solve a crime if you can’t remember anything other than the last 24 hours, but for me it was this central premise that just didn’t work. I absolutely love stories about amnesia and memory loss and some of my all time favourite reads feature this plot device. I’m fascinated by the question of how much of who you are is determined by your memories and experiences and how different you would be without them but I felt like this book never really touched on this.

The story is set in an alternate reality where everyone is split into two classes, Mono’s and Duo’s. Mono’s can remember only the day before while Duo’s can recall the last two days. As the famous saying goes “in the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king” and in this case it is the Duo’s with their additional day of memories who hold the positions of power while the Mono’s are considered second class citizens. Everyone however keeps track of the facts and major events of their lives in their iDiaries.

It is in this alternate reality that we are given a murder mystery. The body of a woman is found in the river and it is up to detective Hans, a mono masquerading as a duo, to solve the case before the day is out and his memories are lost.

The story is told from the points of view of Hans, the diary of the victim Sophie and mono/duo couple Mark and Claire who become involved in the investigation. These four points of view, some jumps back and forward in time combined with trying to understand this alternate reality is perhaps a bit much but you do eventually get into it.

In the beginning I did find the idea of this alternate reality fascinating but for me it quickly became frustrating and irritating. I think I found it difficult to accept that this world could be so similar to ours. There are the same companies (Apple), similar technological developments (the internet) and even the same type of society but everything just seems so cold and emotionless. The iDiaries are effectively used as a replacement for real memories and whenever anyone is asked a question about their past they simply refer to them (at one point I swore that if one more character said “let me just check that in my iDiary” I would scream). It seemed at times just a bit of a gimmick rather than a genuine attempt to create an alternate world (although I suppose it would probably be too much to try and create a completely different world and incorporate a murder mystery).

There is the interesting point over what constitutes a fact, which can be learned and remembered in this world, but I don’t think the author explored this enough and more could definitely be made of it. When is something really a fact and when is it just someone’s opinion? If you’re basing your “facts” on something someone wrote down is there not a danger they could be at best biased and at worst open to manipulation? If you could choose which facts you learn would you omit the ones you don’t like? I really would have loved more exploration of all of these questions.

The murder mystery element of the book is not particularly inspired either. There’s nothing much unique about it other than the detective having a limited time to complete his investigation. Even then a lot of the investigation seems to be reading the diary of the victim which reveals most of the events leading up to the murder and then just verifying whether they are true.

Detective Hans is probably the most likeable of the characters in the book and there are elements of his character and behaviour that felt a little bit Sherlock Holmes inspired, his determination to learn every fact, technique and other bit of knowledge he can for example. The other characters however, victim included, were not even remotely likeable something which I always struggle with and part of the reason I nearly gave up on this story on more than one occasion.

Husband Mark, is a cheat and a liar, a famous writer and wanna be politician. As a duo he sees himself as superior to everyone else. Wife Claire is a whiny, moany, emotional wreck who seriously needs to grow some back bone and victim Sophie comes across as nasty and vengeful. I genuinely couldn’t care less about any of them, never mind who the murderer was.

The split of the narrative between the characters is a little uneven and for some reason Mark and Claire seem to disappear for a big chunk in the middle of the book but actually this is when the story picked up for me. Sophie’s diary and Hans investigation were much more interesting and the book gathered a bit more pace. I found myself wondering whether the story would have been better if it had been wholly from Hans point of view.

When they did reappear however it turned out to be one of the most gripping and touching scenes of the novel before we reached the final twist which wasn’t a total surprise but made up for a lot of what came early on. I do wish the author had been a little briefer in the final exposition (I don’t want things explained to me in detail) but it did wrap everything up.

Overall, I’d probably rate it as an okay read rather than anything special but that may be down to my general dislike of unlikeable and unreliable narrators and complete inability to accept this parallel world. Certainly others have loved it so it may be worth a try.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC. I wish I could have given a more positive review.

This was...different. Unusual and a new kind of writing, at least for me. There was a lot of facts and names to keep track off. At times it wasn't easy to follow all the ups and downs and twists and turns. It's not a book you can skim through and understand, this is a complex story. Enjoyable and very interesting to read, with a conclusion I did not see coming. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Headline!

Great premise, great characters, great plot.. really enjoyed it - interesting twist of crime in an alternate reality. The mono vs. duo aspect makes for a great way of layering different points of view, making us guess who's is accurate, and who might be lying. I'd definitely recommend and will be keeping an eye out for what she writes next, as love her style of writing.

I'm torn between 3 stars and 4 stars for this book. The concept is absolutely brilliant - a world divided by memory, Monos are those who can remember one day, and duos are the elite who remember two. The passages about memory and how we create our own pasts through selective memories are absolutely stunning and thought-provoking. It was the mystery itself that let this book down. I guessed most of the twists and didn't really connect with any of the characters, which meant that I didn't really care about what was going to happen. I can't see myself reading this book again but I'm looking forward to seeing what the author does next.

This was an intriguing read. The concept of a society made up of people who were either Monos who could only remember one day at a time ot the superior Duos who could cope with 2 days. Marriages between the two were frowned upon. Everyone had to keep diaries to have any kind of memory. Add into this a murder and how it can be solved. The four main characters tell the story each from their personal point of view.
Mark an author aiming to be a politician and the main suspect in the murder
Claire a mono married to and subservient to Mark and so in a frowned upon mixed marriage
Sofia who is murdered and was Mark's mistress. She claims to have a full memory
Hans Richardson the detective who is a mono trying to hold out that he is actually a duo.
There are several twists and turns along the way and I did not see the final twist coming but for me it was one step too far. I also found it difficult that this futuristic concept was written at the present time.

This book is based in an alternate reality to today’s world, where there are people that remember only what happened the day before and those who can remember the last two days – Monos and Duos.

Both types of people have to keep diaries as a log to remember facts about the past. But what happens when the whole truth has not been entered into a diary?

Claire and Mark are in a mixed marriage and have been for 20 years. Mark (duo) is a famous novelist and aspiring MP while Claire (Mono) is a housewife that feels inferior to her husband who remembers more of the past than she does.

One day a dead woman turns up in the river by their house, but who is responsible for her murder or was it an accident?

This has been compared to Gone Girl and Before I Go To Sleep, I don’t agree. It is quite different and did not have the pace of these novels. At first I struggled to get into this book as it feels like such a strange concept to not be able to remember more than two days previous. I did however enjoy the story in the end and didn’t expect the twist coming as the finale.

Wowsers. What a book. This, to me at least, was such an interesting idea to explore. As the tagline states: 'How do you solve a murder when you only remember yesterday?' When half of the population of the world can only remember the past twenty-four hours and the remainder only slightly less handicapped in that they remember forty-eight, it certainly adds a unique element of jeopardy to the investigation. The ultimate in 'ticking clock' mysteries as it were. When the body of a woman is found in the River Cam, the two main people of interest are on either side of the social divide - one a Mono - the people who can only remember the one day; the other, her husband, a Duo who has the benefit of two days of memory. But is that extra knowledge a blessing or a curse?
It is difficult to go much further into the plot itself beyond this, as to do so risks giving away too much of the story and a lot of the real pleasure in this novel is in the reading. The gradual discovery of each of the significant clues which come to inform the investigation. The story, in its simplest form, is a murder investigation, but in truth, it is so much more than that too. It is a story of deception, betrayal and denial. But how much of this is deliberate and how much caused by the novels unique premise, the presence of a protein which deprives people of their memories, you will need to read to fully understand.
The story itself is told from four perspectives, four unique voices who all have a different take on events leading up to and following the murder. Firstly, we have husband and wife, Mark and Claire Evans, one of which is the main suspect in the murder. Then we have DCI Hans Richardson, the man tasked with solving the murder with such urgency before all memories are lost. Finally, we have the victim, Sophia Ayling, a woman whose life is filled with secrets. It is told in just twenty-four hours, the maximum time necessary to catch all suspects before memories start to fade and as such this feeling of time being of the essence, of being so finite, also spurs the reader onward.
Now as you can imagine, with memories limited to one or two days, recalling the past is very difficult and so people record their thoughts, feelings and significant 'facts' in diaries which are then consulted every day. Significant facts are retained to ensure that they are able to interact with people in their lives on a daily basis. Using both real time perspective and diary entries, the four people recount all that has happened, and is happening, leading up to and during the investigation. This provides us hints and direction as to what really happened, but also drops in a number of red herrings as we try to establish which memories, which facts, are in all truth relevant.
This for me was both a brilliant hook, but also one of the only niggles I had about the book. As both Monos and Duos had the ability to commit 'facts' to their memory and retain that knowledge indefinitely, I had to wonder what stopped them from recording all memories as fact and thereby having a near complete recollection. But in truth, it was only very key facts that people seemed to retain, such as birth dates, memorable occasions, names and the like, which would be easier to remember for most, and with a host of facts which would have been retained prior to the trigger date for memory loss.
The book certainly made me think and compare to how our own memories work. While I can think back to my youth and remember snippets of my childhood, how much of what I recall is truth and how much have I genuinely either a) forgotten or b) embellished? Have I merely retained 'facts', my name, my date of birth, with all that surrounds that being a fuzzy memory? I can say with all surety what I was doing last weekend, so my memory extends beyond twenty-four hours, but ask me to tell you what I was doing two weeks ago ... Pass. The book takes this concept up a notch and does it very, very well.
Beyond the slow burning mystery which unravels throughout the novel, Felicia Yap takes a clear look at the class divide - the Monos verses the Duos - the haves verses the have nots. Duos are the exalted members of society. More successful, more talented and overall wealthier. Monos, in comparison, are by and large less educated and less successful. A merging of the two is still frowned upon, the idea met with prejudice, something which can be seen as a metaphor for so many aspects of modern society. Claire and Mark's marriage is simply not meant to work. There are too many reasons why it should fail and with added pressure of a murder investigation how can it possibly survive? Is it nature, love or a overwhelming sense of duty which keeps them together for over twenty years?
Although the story is built around so few characters, I actually grew to like them all. Mark and Claire are both flawed in their own way, and yet they were characters I could get behind pretty well straight away, and appreciate their motivation and fears. Hans Richardson was a little harder to gauge at first, but as you came to understand his own challenges then you could appreciate more what he was trying to achieve. And as for Sophia. Well from the off you get a clear picture of her character, and while I couldn't say she was someone I liked, without a doubt she elicited strong emotions in me and I needed to know more about her. She is a very unique character, for reasons which will be obvious when reading the book. But all four have elements which could make them unreliable narrators so just which of them should you believe?
Felicia Yap has done a brilliant job in creating this alternative reality, another version of modern society which mirrors our own in all ways but one. I have seen others question that lack of explanation as to how this situation came to pass. How Monos and Duos came to lose their memories, what the root cause was. To me this was not important. This was a simple 'fact'; a reality that in this world exists. The reason of why it occurs matters less than the impact of situation in itself, and if you accept this then you will understand how unique this book actually is.
Rather cleverly, Yap captures the prejudice and distrust in the two sides of the social divide perfectly. While I have to say that I could see in which direction some of the plot was heading, there were elements which were a revelation and completely took me by surprise. Most importantly, she has an engaging and absorbing style of writing and has written a story which drew me in from the off. It was a daring premise, one which was pulled off with aplomb.
A very exciting debut and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next.