Clare and Mark are in a rare mixed marriage. Clare is in a conscientious Mono (have only one day's worth of memory) housewife. Mark is a a novelist-turned-politician Duo (have two day's worth of memory). Then, a woman is found dead, her body had been dumped in England's River Cam. The woman is Mark's mistress and he is the prime suspect in her murder. But the Detective investigating the murder case and the murder victim both have secrets. With their memories constantly erased, how can anyone learn the truth.

This book is a bit confusing at the start. It took me until I was about 25% to understand the parallel universe. The characters use idiaries to record everything they do. It alternates between the four characters points of view. The murder victims is told through the contents of her Idiary. It is an interesting concept but don't try to overthink this book. An engaging but also a frustrating read. A good debut novel.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Headline and the author Felicia Yap for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting concept with interesting if not totally likeable characters and well written. So what's not to like? I am not a big science fiction fan but occasionally an idea grabs me and this book being a thriller too should have been one I would like. Unfortunately I just could not get the idea of it being in present time and my enjoyment was spoiled.
Great for a first attempt though and shows a lot of promise from an author who can certainly write well.

Yesterday by Felicia yap.
There are two types of people in the world. Those who can only remember yesterday, and those who can also recall the day before.
You have just one lifeline to the past: your diary. Each night, you write down the things that matter. Each morning, your diary tells you where you were, who you loved and what you did.Today, the police are at your door. They say that the body of your husband's mistress has been found in the River Cam. They think your husband killed her two days ago.Can you trust the police? Can you trust your husband? Can you trust yourself?
Slow but good read. 4*. Netgalley and headline.

The concept of this book intrigued me as to the use, and reliance of digital diaries to live your life by and now to see how manipulative and dangerous they can be really makes you think. It took a couple of chapters to get into whilst getting used to the references back to the diaries and the different characters but after it settled down - it is a good thriller that twists and turns with each chapter. I did guess the one twist but not the rest. Would definitely recommend this and will be looking out for other books by this author.

Not for me i'm afraid, couldn't get into it at all. I found the way it was written very confusing and all over the place; I couldn't connect with the characters or the story.

Yesterday by Felicia Yap is a story set in an alternate reality where people suffer from short time memory loss and have to keep a Diary to remember past events. I found the story interesting. A thriller about murder, infidelity and lies.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the concept was really original, a world divided not by class but by memory length of only one or two days. The use of the idiary to fill in the blanks in their memory should have felt very futuristic but actually felt just one step removed from where we are now with our extensive use of electronic data recording. While there was some intrigue over the murder, we did have a fairly limited list of suspects. I enjoyed the flashbacks via the diary entries and got caught up in that to the point where I almost forgot about the murder. I liked that the chapters from the detective point of view started with a countdown of the hours until the end of the day when his memory would reset. However as he was a DCI I found it jarring that he was actively investigating the murder, making house to house enquiries and interviewing suspects.
This book is unique enough to stand out from the crowd but I do wonder whether setting it a bit in the future might have broadened the appeal and given it more believability.

I was given a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

You can't fail to be intrigued by a whodunnit wrapped in an alternate world where adults don't have long term memories. What does it mean to perpetrator, investigator and innocent bystander, if no-one can even remember what happened?

In this book, adults are divided into those who only remember yesterday and those who also remember the day before. They religiously keep their daily journals and learn important occurrences as ‘facts’. The author doesn't shy away from an in depth examination of what this might mean in emotional and social terms. The society is fractured between the two levels of memory or ‘Monos’ and ‘Duos’. Monos are discriminated against, thought to be stupid, given menial jobs. Mixed marriages are frowned upon. There is discussion of the relationship between memory and love, and how they interact. There is also consideration to what happens when people rely on their own written descriptions, and what happens when those descriptions are deliberately inaccurate.

Throw into this backdrop the body of Sophia Ayling is found near the home of Mark (Duo) and Claire (Mono) Evans. The murder is investigated by DCI Hans Richardson who has a reputation for solving murders in a single day. These three protagonists examine the past by reading back over the own Ijournals (major plug for Apple there). The victim Sophia's account is included as Hans reads through her journal. The final solution will certainly take you by surprise. I felt overall there was a little too much activity to have fitted into a single day but I was happy to go along for ride. And it was quite a ride! If you like a whodunnit with more than just a trail of clues, you will enjoy this book. If you like a good twist, you will love this book.

What a fabulous idea ,imagine only being able to remember one day at a time or if you are lucky two days, imagine having to rely on your own diary entries to have any idea what you did.I wonder if your diary entries would always be reliable? I thought this was a really original idea ,it is a thriller but not like any I have read before.The story is told from different points of view including the diary entries of the murdered woman I like the different points of view technique it keeps the story fresh.I didn't really like the main characters, but I didn't have to.The story wasn't as complicated as I first thought it might be there were limitations because of the situation with peoples memories I guess but it was a truly original book and I thought it was a cracking read.If you are looking for something quite different, pull up a chair you have found it.

an amazing debut book, I will . definitely be looking for more from this author.
the story is very interesting and focuses on memories and how we all recall things differently and how we choose to believe our versions of them.

I found the story kept me interested and delivered some super twists

An enjoyable read that I would recommend to others. Unfortunately, being a mono, I can't remember much else :-)

I enjoyed the premise of this book. The world is divided into Monos (people who can only remember one day in the past) and Duos (those who can remember two days in the past). Everyone relies on diaries and when a woman is killed, the protagonist must work out how her husband is involved.

Although I liked the idea of the book, I found it to be a little slow and the idea was more lively than the writing. I really liked that it was from different people's POV but I have to confess I did not finish it.

This is a debut novel of outstanding qualities. Read this and it will change your life.Writers will learn how to engage readers immediately. Beta-readers will discover new words.. Words that hit you with fierce force--like ''asphyxiatingly cloying., Dazzling word play. And there are two repeats:1) He found redhead's attentions asphyxiatingly cloying. 2) Her company can be asphyyxiatingly cloying. Felicia Yap is assiduous in her scrutiny, with every word meticulously and cleverly added. A stickler to detail.She uses sentences that produce a miniature symphony of word-strangeness.
The most fascinating character is Mark. His alma mater at Cambridge is Trinity College. He is a successful writer of fiction, who gets an advance of nearly half a million pounds.,for his new novel. .As the story enfols, we get this lesson in Oxbridge learning: Mark found it hard to think clearly, even though trained by a Cambridge degree to do so. His wife, Claire, is a scatter-brained mono. A term that distinguishes.. her from her husband, who is a duo. I found this disconcerting---a new psychobabble term for having an outstanding memory.This could be a thesis for a PhD. The use of iDiaries, is also weird. At every opportunity, the four main charachters refer to their dependable aids--these constantly updated , This later serves them well, however, when the crimes unravel. The story line is unique. Set in glorious historic Cambridge, a beautiful city where great learning flourishes beside the elite intelligentsia---the preserve of the elite members of a fraternity steeped in coruscating and sparkling conversations
Gripping, funny, witty, spooky, and conversations that will enthrall and amaze the reader, this is a great addition to fiction of the highest order. By best read this year. I hope it will be your too. Loved it.
Thanks to Net Galley, and the publisher, for a free copy. An ARC in exchange for an honest, and unbiased review. .

My review as posted on Goodreads:

This is a scary book.
This is not a genre which I usually read, So I wasn't sure what to expect.
I soon found that I liked the writing style and the characters in this book. The two central characters are Claire and Mark who are married, yet come from different sides of the social divide.
The plot is enticing and I found myself drawn in to the story right from the start.
The whole concept of being either a mono or a duo is extremely disturbing.
It is difficult to say much about the story without spoiling the plot.
There are just so many things going on: Murder, jealousy and revenge being just a few.
Where is the truth?
Who is the most delusional?
Who is the most deceitful?
Who can you trust?
Science fiction or a warning for the social media generation?

This is a real psychological thriller, it messes with your grasp on reality. Does reality exist? An excellent twist as the story ends.

If this is Felicia Yap's debut thriller, I for one look forward to the next!
This is destined for a place near the top of my 'Best debut novel of the Year' list

My thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher, Wildfire for a copy of this novel in exchange for this review.

There is a wonderful premise to this book. A world in which people are distinguished by their memory recall. Some of the population have 48 hour recall while the others only 24. In this crime mystery we discover what happens when a person with complete memory of past events seeks revenge on those responsible for her 17 year stay in a mental hospital only to turn up drowned in the river Cam.

Sounds thrilling, right? And it totally is. Told in the voices of the main protagonists, Yap skilfully relays the events so that we become totally involved in each of their lives. Characters are well rounded and believable in a world some may describe as dysptopian but certainly weird enough to make me glad I was neither a Mono nor a Duo.

The plot is carefully weaved with some intricate twists and turns that I never saw coming. That's always a plus for me. The only time I thought the intensity was lacking was towards the end when I thought the book should have been coming to a close but Yap amps up the tension a notch and I found myself engrossed until the closing pages.

As this is suspenseful and somewhat of a thriller, I don't want to give any spoilers. All I can say is that this is a well written book with a good pace and flowing language that will appeal to readers of several commercial genres and well worth the read.

Unfortunately I struggled to finish this book. Purely for the fact that I did not pick up on the genre of the book from the blurb so it was unexpected. I find it hard to read dystopian/sci-fi as a genre although it was combined with crime. An interesting concept, but not for me personally.

a book with spectacular twists and intrigue kept you riveted from beginning till the end would recommend

A very interesting concept. Didn't really hold my attention tho. A few twists and turns.

What an intriguing novel. It is told from the viewpoint of the four main characters, an increasingly common literary device. It is set in contemporary UK but with an interesting concept. The population comprises two types; Monos who can only remember what happened the day before and Duos who have the advantage of being able to remember the previous two days. This is the major societal divide and creates a cultural prejudice against the Monos. As the novel opens an Act of Parliament, encouraging more mixed marriages between Monos and Duos is about to be given Royal Assent.

In order to combat the lack of long term memory both Monos and Duos keep diaries from which they learn facts about what has happened in their lives. This is the only way they can know what they have done. The population is therefore dependent on the veracity of what they have recorded. In the past the diaries were hard copies but with technological advancements everyone now uses an iDiary. This is a clever solution to the obvious question that if a person has such a short term memory how can she or he remember their relationships with other people.

Mark, a Duo and a successful novelist, has been married to Claire, a Mono, for twenty years. This is an unusual situation and Mark has been disinherited by his wealthy family for entering the partnership. Whilst Claire believes she loves her husband she feels she is his social inferior and to combat these feelings she takes antidepressants.

The third character is Sophia Alyssa Ayling. She claims to be the only person in the world who remembers her past without the aid of a diary. She has recently been released from St Augustine, an institution for the mentally disturbed. She was placed there, by her father and step mother, against her will for burning her diaries. Sophia is out for revenge. Sophia’s body is discovered in the river Cam and Mark becomes a prime suspect in her murder as it becomes apparent from her diary that they have been having an affair.

Sophia’s murder is investigated by DCI Hans Richardson, a Mono masquerading as a Duo. It is through his reading of Sophia’s diary and flashbacks by all the characters that the story develops. It is clear that Claire has suppressed memories of a tragic event, that Mark is an unfaithful husband and that Sophia may not be all she appears to be.

This is an inventive and well written novel (although it sometimes resorts to rather hackneyed phrases) with a suitably satisfying twist at the very end.

Yesterday starts with an explanation by one of the characters - this sets the scene for the alternative English society the novel describes. Action is placed firmly in Cambridge in England, and the places and descriptions will be familiar to anyone who knows the city but not to others. This book isn't written for an international audience.
Using the same concept as other novels - a written account (diary) to which the person with few memories must refer, to recall what has happened to them - the action unfolds. The alternative society is well thought through and realised. There are many twists and turns, leading the reader to doubt their own conclusions and perhaps their memory of what they've read. Clever but somewhat time consuming, the novel leads to firstly an unpleasant conclusion (will she carry out her threat?) and then to an epilogue with the authors lesson on love.
Worth reading.