Member Reviews

Fantastic book with great core characters. Recommend to friends for anyone who loves this genre of book!

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I thought this was a very ambitious novel, with a great premise. It's intriguing and compelling and I'm really excited to see what the author does next, because I'm so interested in ideas.

That said, I felt that this was lacking somewhat in execution. I didn't love the structure and I felt like I was at a remove from the characters. For a fairly hefty novel, it didn't always make as much sense with the characters and their motivations as I would have liked. Still, I find this fascinating. I really enjoyed seeing it come to life.

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What if you could have one traumatic memory wiped forever, one you never ever have to relive? Would you choose to have it wiped? What if you receive an email telling you that you could have that memory back? What would you choose?Harkin's novel - Tell Me an Ending follow William, Oscar, Finn, and Mei as they navigate that decision.

Noor works at the memory clinic where the memories would be reinstated and she sees and hears things which go against her moral compass - but will she act on what she finds?

A gritty, dark suspenseful tale.

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The premise of the book was excellent and fresh, what if you could erase unwanted memories? I was invested in reading this, though I found it a slog at times, and the ending just fizzled out. Not really a favourite read of mine, but understand others may enjoy this. May thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

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The title describes very accurately what i feel at the end of this book.
This was a good premise a procedure that can delete painful memories but with something of a glitch. However I had real problems following the concept of how some people knew they had had deletions but others didn't although in a lot of cases they ha asked for the deletions.

Told in multiple voices I failed to really connect with any of the characters introduced. I felt that there was lots of information lots of event but the connection between the two just passed me by

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It's an interesting idea but I couldn't get into.the book. The characters were not very interesting and just bumbled along

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I struggled with this book due to its content and could not finish it. This is no slight on the author at all it is just that the content was a bit too much for me.

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While sci-fi isn't my favourite genre, I will make an exception for lit-sci-fi on occasion, and I didn't regret it with this one. The exploration of memory, trauma, and human morality was fascinating, and I liked how the stories of the protagonists were all linked. For me this was more about the consequences and repercussions of the memory removals rather than the removal itself, which was why I liked it, I think - I'm more interested in the fallout than the original decision.

Smart, dark, and interesting, this one was a puzzle box, and completely original.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, who granted me a free ARC copy of this book in exchange fro an honest review.

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Loved the premise of this! This novel had me engrossed from early on and I found it difficult to put it down. I thought all the characters were endearing and convincing, and I thought the way the many characters were connected was great.
The book definitely gets readers thinking about how much our memories shape who we are, how easily memories can be erased, and whether doing so is desirable. Definitely a book I'd suggest.

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The premise of this book looked great and reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Nepenthe is a clinic which offers memory deletion. Louise is Noor’s boss there, and they seem to get on well, until Noor becomes suspicious and uncovers the truth behind a secret trial. It has come out in the media that memories can’t be fully deleted, so patients are being offered a restoration procedure.

The chapters are very long and alternate between many different characters. All the characters have some connection to Nepenthe, and some characters are linked to each other.

I found the jumping about between characters made it very difficult to follow what was going on. It was hard to keep track of who was who and the chapters were extremely disjointed. The chapters were also far too long, by the time you’d got to know one character it had switched to someone else. When a character was revisited I found it took a while to remember what was going on with them because of the length of the chapters.

This book was a slog to read which was a shame as I think the idea for the plot was good. The ending felt like a let down and I found the book very disappointing overall.

I wouldn’t recommend it and wouldn’t be rushing to read more from this author.

Thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for a copy to review.

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What a BOOK! It's almost... genre defying?! It has the gripping-ness of a Thriller, and the compassion-ness of well written contemporary fiction. It will challenge you to think 'what would I do?'

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I haven't read anything by Jo Harkin before, so this caught me by surprise! I liked the writing and the descriptions. It was a mysterious and thrilling read that follows an almost unreliable narrator. I did like the pacing, although it got a little slow near the end. I would really like to read more by this author and see what other mysteries they can conjure up!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc!

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If you could erase a bad memory - something that was cruel, upsetting, horrible, embarrassing you would wouldn’t you? But what happens if this memory is linked to others or if your memory starts to come back?

I really loved the idea of this book - set in the not too distant future. Told from multi POV that ultimately links together and all the characters having different opinions of the process. It started off with a bit of a slow burn and then built up to a faster ending. I did struggle a bit with the writing style to start with but once I’d got used to it I found it easy to pick up. A good thought provoking read.

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Now this is definitely a book that actually makes you question what you would do if you were given the opportunity to erase any unhappy, traumatic and painful memories permanently. Would you erase them or live with them and try to heal naturally?

Nepenthe is a top class tech company that can help to successfully remove unwanted memories.

Told from various POVs of both staff and patients, throughout the story you realise that each character is woven into the next in some way. I'll admit that at times this did get confusing as not only was there a whole host of characters but also the chapters are really long.

Now whilst I could not put this down, it really did have a grip on me, I can't say I particularly liked the overall book and I wasn't satisfied with the ending BUT that's a pure personal opinion and down to the fact that I'm not a sci fi fan so that aspect of the narrative wasn't of particular interest to me.

Thanks to netgalley and Random House UK for the ARC.

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This book wasn’t for me. I found it too full on and I quickly lost interest. I’m sure it will be enjoyed by others.

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I really enjoyed this book, I liked the charaters and how they developed throguhout the story. Loved the way it kept me reading and not once had trouble following the direction. Great book, pretty easy read

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Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

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I love books to do with memories or lack of and the workings of the mind. Which is why I was really excited about this one. All the individual stories and characters, figuring out how they were all connected, who was good/bad etc was excellent. The ending though, didn't satisfy me. I wanted more, I needed it to be tied up better. Because of that I can't give it 5stars but it was still a really great premise and journey. I would definitely read this author again.

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This shiny new sci-fi drama debut about memory erasure procedures naturally draws parallels to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of my favourite films. And I can see the comparisons, but this book tells a story all of its own.

At the heart is Nepenthe, an organisation which makes a business of erasing unwanted, painful or traumatic memories. We are introduced to Nepenthe at a point of controversy, when problems have been discovered with the procedure – people are experiencing ‘traces’ of their forgotten memories. And people want their lost memories back.

“Memory is a strange thing. Floating in the water, like a jellyfish. Gelatinous, both sticky and slippery. Translucent. Venomous.”

This is a multi-layered tale with 5 narrators. Their stories are all interlinked and, of course, they all stem back to Nepenthe. Although they’re only loosely connected, as a reader with a personal hate of short story collections masquerading as novels, I found the connections and characters strong enough to enjoy it all and found it easy to follow.

We meet Noor, who works at the Nepenthe lab in London, and a selection of their previous clients and their partners who are now scattered across the world. It’s a globe-trotting, emotional deep-dive into relationships, philosophy and how much your memories make you who you are. The characters are diverse, but every voice felt real – an impressive feat in itself for a debut.

The only place where this book slightly fell down for me is, ironically, the ending. The author beautifully builds up the tension and emotion, and it makes for compelling reading as you follow each person’s journey to learn what their erased memory was, and what secrets lurk under the surface of the clinic. While they do come together in some ways, it really presents a multitude of endings for every character’s individual circumstances. Some were satisfying, some were emotional, and some fell a little flat. But, still, for a debut, this book packs a big emotional punch, made me question things, and kept me gripped until the end.

So, if you love speculative, character-driven sci-fi, give this one a go. It’s worth it for the journey alone.

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i was really looking forward to reading this, it sounded CRAZY, but it took me quite a while to get through!! it scared me, surprised me, and did keep me guessing and theorising but the ending wasn’t the massive shock i was hoping for. i feel like i’m the minority with my opinion on this one, i know so many other people would absolutely adore it but it just wasn’t for me which i’m sad about. thank you netgalley & jo for letting me read :)

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