I found it hard to get in to this book. For me it felt like more of a mixture of a Sci-Fi and a psychological read and so not really for me I'm afraid.

Mark and Claire are in a mixed marriage but not as we know it. The world is a different place, set in the current day it's the people who are different - you are either mono or duo. You can only remember what happens for one day or two. Full memories are retained until either your eighteenth or twenty third birthdays after which you have to keep a diary to refer to what has happened. There are certainly flaws in this concept but it makes for an interesting and original read. Essentially a thriller, a body turns up in the river Cam close to Mark and Claire's home. Mark, it would appear has a connection to the body and soon becomes a suspect. The plot twists and turns, nothing ever quite what it would appear. The investigating officer is masquerading as a duo, desperate not to be discovered. In this world dous have superior rank and intelligence, monos are looked down on. A novel full of surprises, I didn't think I would enjoy it at first but found the book very readable.

My favourite book for 2017 so far! Original concept, great characters, great writing style. Better than Gone Girl for mystery, more intriguing than Wool for an alternative world concept.

I don't want to spoil the plot but this book made me late for work as I just had to read another chapter... and another...

I really enjoyed this book. I was totally fascinated by the idea of monos and duos. Having to record everything you do and reading it back to remember it is an interesting idea. Mark is so manipulative and lies so much. But he still protects Claire and cares about her. He can probably cheat so much because Claire is a mono and can be so easily manipulated. The ending of the book is brilliant. I did not see it coming. The book is written from different perspectives which brings it together in a wonderful way. This is a refreshingly different book from any I have read recently and I hope Felicia Yap continues to write books.

Claire and Mark have been married for 20 years; nothing unusual in that except that Claire is a mono and can only remember events for one day, and Mark is a duo with a memory of two days. Key facts have to be written up and memorised each day and i diaries kept secure with passwords and digital screening. Mark is a believer in the mono/duo system of remembering only what is written in the diaries as people are “secure in the comfort of not remembering, exempt from the punishment of knowing.”
The body of a female is found in the river and Detective Hans Richardson soon finds evidence in the female’s diary that she had connections with Mark and that Mark had secrets he did not want to share.
This is a story of love, redemption, betrayal, murder and secrets. The time can be a little confusing as events happen over a 20 year span and chapters jump around. The chapters are narrated by alternating people which allows the reader a good insight into the character and explains some of their behaviour.
When the final secrets are revealed it is Mark’s insightful comment “because love makes us want to remember”, which helps to explain motives and actions.
An interesting take on what could have been a standard murder mystery novel but the extra dimension took it beyond ordinary.

So this book is very different from my usual genre, but the blurb interested me. Its a fantasy/thriller bases in a world where people are split into two types, Mono; those who only remember one day and Duo; those who remember two days. The story revolves around the murder of someone who can remember everything, and she is found near our principle characters, Mark and Claire, house. The story is told in 4 POV, Mark, Claire, the Detective and the victims diary. Its an interesting concept but I found myself struggling to believe the world created by the Author. Fantasy isn't my favourite so i found myself skimming pages, but im sure fans of this style would love it

Yesterday is set in an alternate reality where the population is split between Monos and Duos. The difference? A Duo can remember two days and a Mono only one. This creates a class divide and Felicia Yap uses it to explore prejudice.

At the heart of the story is a dead woman, assumed murdered however murder is pretty rare as most people don't have the same grudges they would if they remembered everything clearly. However, the victim could remember everything, and had been institutionalised because of it. Her diaries suggest she hadn't the only one either, all condemned to madness.

With no long term memory you would expect civilisation to collapse. To get round this, everyone keeps a diary, once kept on paper but now, thanks to Steve Jobs, people can store them electronically. If they study their diary regularly, they can commit facts to long-term memory. Also, children can remember everything, with memory loss starting at age 18 for Monos and 23 for Duos. This gap strengthens the stereotype of Monos being stupid, as it prohibits a university education. Just as in our world, the working class have greater hurdles to catch up with the middle class, who have better opportunities afforded to them by wealth and connections.

It works if you don't think too hard about it all. With the memory constraints, it's a miracle this alternate world has the same technological advancement. I liked how precious the diaries were, a nod to current concerns over data privacy, as well as the potential for data loss. Claire discovers she is missing a period of time in her old diaries, events she didn't attempt to memorise. They put trust in their diaries just as we trust in hard drives and cloud storage.

It seems to me that thrillers these days must have unlikable characters, and Sophia and Mark definitely fit the bill. Sophia is the victim, whose diary tells us of her thirst for revenge against Mark, a famous writer (books are written to be read over a couple of days at most). Her reasons for revenge are not revealed immediately, which helps keep the pace.

Fortunately for me, Hans the detective and mark's wife Claire, are much more sympathetic characters. It says a lot that these are the Monos, whilst the Duos come across as arrogant and prejudiced. Normally, Monos' career prospects would be limited by their status but Hans has been pretending to be a Duo, his track record at solving crimes within a day contributing to his success, both as a detective and as a Mono in hiding.

Everyone assumes Claire was just the pretty but stupid Mono wife. Mark's running for MP and part of his campaign is about mixed marriages, of which his is one. Yet there's more to Claire than meets the eye. The change in her diary style over 20 years shows she has improved her writing skills.

The diaries provide much of the narrative, jumping around in time as well as between characters. There are also press clippings that add some context as well as shedding light on the mystery, or confusing it more in some cases.

It's an interesting concept and I'd recommend to anyone who is getting a little fatigued by the usual domestic thrillers.

Lured by the blurb, I was eager to read this book, not having realised it was going to be more Sci Fi than mystery. Even though the style of writing is faultless, I was unable to derive any pleasure from the story and gave up after a few chapters.

3.5 stars. It took me quite a while to make my mind up about this one... I was intrigued by the concept and enjoyed the way the author executed it. I found some aspects fairly confusing though! The story is set in a world where there are two types of people - 'Monos' and 'Duos.' Monos have a memory span of one day, and Duos, two days. The tale follows a married couple, consisting of a Mono and a Duo. A body is found and turns out to be the body of the husband's mistress.

The story is told from four different viewpoints, and I felt that this was a nice touch. I found some parts to feel slightly repetitive, but being able to read from different views helped that out a bit.

There are a couple of twists in the book - the first of which I found to be completely predictable. Though I really didn't see the next one coming!

The main thing I struggled with in this book, is how accurately some of the characters seemed to know parts of their past, apparently through 'memorising diary entries.' (Both Monos and Duos are required to keep a daily diary and learn important 'facts' from it.) It didn't affect the story, but I have to admit it bothered me a little! Overall, this is a good read with a very interesting concept. It was nice to read a murder mystery with a bit of a difference -it felt quite dystopian.

I loved the concept of the Duo and Mono race, but felt it wasn't really explored enough. I ended the book with more questions than answers 😏

In a world where there are only two types of people ones that remember only one day previous and the ones that remember two day previous (monos and duos), where all write in diaries to remember what's happening in their lives and have to be studied to remember the facts of their lives. The story starts when a body is discovered in the local river, it is written from the prospective of the four main characters, there are many twists and turns and lots of secrets revealed. I found the book a little confusing at times, I had a lot a questions that weren't answered, however it was a brilliant read and would definitely recommend it
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It's very rare that I find myself giving up on a book, but I found 'Yesterday' to be absolutely chronic. An interesting concept is ruined by some truly awful, cliched writing. It is tedious, repetitive and overwritten, featuring terrible characters who would be rejected from a soap opera for being 'too much.' I am genuinely shocked at how much praise this is getting, which shows that you can go a long way with a great idea, even when it's horribly executed.

The concept of this book, based in a 2 class world where people can remember only the past 24 hours, the Monos, or 48 hours, the Duos is an interesting one. Monos are looked down on and mixed marriages frowned upon. Duo Mark Evans, a successful author has been happily married to Mono Claire for 20 years. Or are they happy? Their life is turned upside down by Claire thinking Mark is having an affair and by the discovery of a woman's body in the river Cam. Both are compelled to look back to the past, by reading their idiaries, as everyone, whether Mono or Duo has to write events in a diary and learn them as 'facts' before they disappear from memory. There are many twists, turns and surprises in the stories, narrated from various characters, that enfold. Although the concept initially feels very strange, eventually you can envisage this world. A good read.

I have to say this wasn't for me, so I didn't finish it. The beginning didn't grab me and I didn't like the writing style. I know this isn't a very detailed review, but I don't want to be too critical given I didn't read to the end.

A very interesting read, with a unique concept. The idea of Monos and Duos is an original one that inevitably causes class issues. A brilliant story!

I enjoyed this unusual tale of an alternate reality where the world in made up of Monos - those who can remember nothing but the previous day - and Duos who can remember details of previous 2 days. The story follows the murder of a young woman and the main suspect in her murder, the married, respected author and budding politician Mark. Mark and his wife Claire have a mixed marriage as he is a Duo and she is a Mono and the murdered young woman just happens to be Mark's mistress.
An interesting concept told from viewpoints of all main characters with a decent plot twist to climax.
Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for advance review copy.

Okay when I picked this book I expected a plain old psychological thriller but what I didn’t expect was the element of Sci-fi. In this world after the age of twenty three you become divided into two groups Monos, who can only remember the previous day and Duos who can remember two days. Then there is the victim Sophia Alyssa Ayling who can remember everything.

She is hell bent on revenge against duo novelist wannabe MP Mark Henry Evans and his mono wife Claire but she is suddenly found dead in the River Cam. It then up to Inspector Hans Richardson (a mono masquerading as a duo) to uncover the truth.

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were fantastic and even though the storyline was a bit ‘out there’ so to speak, I enjoyed seeing their story unfold. I honestly thought I’d figured out the murderer by about half way through but boy was I wrong (which I have to say doesn’t happen very often!). There’s plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

If you are looking for an out of the box mystery/thriller this is the book for you.

What an interesting concept for a book. Set at a time much like ours now, this parallel world is filled with two types of people; monos and duos. Unlike our current world, it's not your race or religion that defines you, but it is the quality of your memory.

Felicia Yap has been so clever by weaving in aspects of history that we thought we knew - Steve Jobs at Apple for instance, but replacing it with things we've never thought we needed, but in a world where memory is everything are important, like iDiaries. I particularly loved the commentary on how humanity would be if the world was as it was now, wars and terrorism, something that is devoid when you can't remember it to hold grudges.

On top of this beautifully created world we have the story of Sophia, who, much like the rest of us, remembers everything. Unheard of! Unspeakable in this dystopian version of our world. But as Sophia remembers everything, she also remembers how important it is to get revenge. So unfolds the mystery of Mark Evans, Claire Evans and Sophia and how their lives all intertwine.

I enjoyed this book immensely, although perhaps I will say that I expected more from the twists that were presented. But it was well written, cleverly presented and because of the change of scenery something new and original.

How do you solve a murder when you only remember yesterday? Imagine a world in which classes are divided not by wealth or religion but by how much each group can remember. Monos, the majority, have only one day’s worth of memory; elite Duos have two. In this stratified society, where Monos are excluded from holding high office and demanding jobs, Claire and Mark are a rare mixed marriage. Clare is a conscientious Mono housewife, Mark a novelist-turned-politician Duo on the rise. They are a shining example of a new vision of tolerance and equality—until…

...a beautiful woman is found dead, her body dumped in England’s River Cam. The woman is Mark’s mistress, and he is the prime suspect in her murder. The detective investigating the case has secrets of his own. So did the victim. And when both the investigator’s and the suspect’s memories are constantly erased—how can anyone learn the truth?

This is a clever concept book told from four different perspectives, that of Mark, Claire, the detective on the case, and the victim. The added obstacle of their memory limitations really adds to the storyline as details begin to emerge of earlier episodes in their lives which have brought them all to the current situation. The characters are dynamic and easily relatable and much is added by hearing the voice of the victim from her own diary. There were some great twists in this book, and I did not expect the ending! A great debut and well work a read if you don't mind a bit of sci-fi.

Dystopia of memory - intriguing idea, works some of the time

3.5 stars

What an idea - a world where people are either lower class citizens who an only retain one day's worth of memories, or the slightly higher-class people who can remember everything that has happened for the last TWO days. How would you cope? What would be lost?

And what happens when a murder is committed and the killer must be caught?

Definitely caught my interest. And yes, we do follow a police detective as he hunts for the killer (himself under time constraints for reasons he's kept secret), but also the man (a Duo) who is suspected of the murder and his wife (a Mono) - Mark and Claire. Mark is a successful writer, many of his books use the concept of memory in thriller plots. The victim herself is also a narrator - as each can tell us the story through their diaries, the way in which adults in this world preserve their memories to later attempt to recall as 'facts' when they are lost to them.

It kind-of worked, but also didn't. We read diary snippets, we heard the voices of our characters, we saw the past of the victim, and how her life intersected with that of other characters.

Some 'big reveals' and twists, I didn't think were well executed, most twists were obvious, though inexplicable at times. I was confused at points in terms of time period, voice and the setting didn't always feel like a world with no memory.

I would have expected more world-building, to show how different a world lacking in fluidity and shared memory would be, but it didn't really come alive for me. Mark was a bit of a damp squib (especially at the end), with Claire's character arc not as severe or overt as I would have expected, and the ending left me cold. Our detective is BEGGING for everyone to find out his secret, he refers to it so many times "I MUST get it solved today". And the victim's past and present incarnations were rather confusing and it never made much sense, what happened to her.

I did want to read on, to find out more about the world and to come to learn what had been happening, but in the end, with one or two poignant scenes regarding Mark and Claire's own family aside, the murder plot didn't really climax satisfyingly for me.

Great idea, I always love a good dystopia. But the execution wasn't as tight as it needed to be.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy.