“What if the mind remembered too much—and still couldn’t make sense of the present?”

I love a book that explores memory, identity, and the strange workings of the human mind. The Strange Case of Jane O. is exactly that kind of book: unsettling, layered, and impossible to put down.

Told in a fascinating dual perspective between Jane, a seemingly ordinary woman with an extraordinary memory, and her psychiatrist, Dr. Henry Byrd, this story starts as a quiet case study and morphs into something far more uncanny and speculative. Jane suffers from blackouts, hallucinations, and premonitions, and after disappearing for three days without a trace, she’s found with no memory of what happened.

Jane begins writing letters to her young son in the hope of explaining the inexplicable, while Dr. Byrd dives deeper into her case. But as their sessions unfold, so do questions about memory, trauma, time, and truth. What is happening to Jane? And why does it feel like the future is somehow bleeding into the present?

If you love speculative mysteries, and stories that bend your brain in the best possible way, this book is for you. It’s quiet and cerebral, but emotionally charged. And the Big Twist is completely satisfying.

I was totally immersed in Jane and Dr. Byrd’s unravelling narratives. The unreliable narration, the creeping sense that something isn’t quite right, the exploration of how grief and motherhood shape our realities - it all worked for me.

A speculative psychological mystery that lingers long after the last page, The Strange Case of Jane O. is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read this year. Walker delivers again, and I already want to reread it just to catch all the clues I missed the first time.

Really unusual style and subject matter and in a few pages I found myself caring deeply about both Jane and Dr Byrd. I found the topic and structure really engaging which is often a challenge when a book is made up of letters or diary entries.

I really enjoyed The Dreamers, so wanted to give this a chance, but it never came to life for me. It has a very old-fashioned feel - its use of the psychiatrist and patient trope feels tired (sometimes silence can be a powerful tool etc...). It moved very slowly, then got strange, but not in a good way.
*
Copy from NetGalley

“But one of the most volatile of psychic territories is a man who feels he's been made a fool.”

A psychiatrist recounts one of his strangest cases, that of Jane O, a young mother who experiences episodes of amnesia in which she goes missing for increasingly long periods, and is unable to remember what happened. What makes her interesting, is that she usually has a photographic memory. Jane also experiences what she believes to be hallucinations and an impending sense of dread. Is it past trauma that's causing her dissociative fugue? Or something inexplicable?

I didn't quite know what to make of this book. It's part mystery, part contemporary fiction but for me, the mystery lacked the kind of depth that would make me so curious that I couldn't put the book down. At the same time, I didn't connect with either of the characters (Jane of her psychiatrist) – both felt aloof and a bit wooden to me.

The story is slow, which gives it a languid, almost dreamlike feel, mirroring Jane's fugue state. However, I felt like this created a lack of tension, which affected my interest in the mystery of what was happening to Jane.

The final explanation from the psychiatrist about the truth of Jane's disappearances left me unconvinced and unsatisfied. I am someone who can easily suspend disbelief. After all, I'm a fantasy reader, but the 'reveal' in this book just didn't work for me. I've heard great things about the author's other book so I might try that one.

Around a year after her child is born Jane starts suffering from strange psychological symptoms. She disappears only to be found with no memory of the intervening hours. Psychiatrist Dr Byrd feels inexplicably drawn to Jane, wanting to solve her puzzling casd before something worse can happen.

The ending was a little confusimg and hard to discuss without spoilers. Neverless i finished the story unable to decide if i was intrigued and enjoyed it or was disappointment and underwhelmed its hard to explain unless you have finishrd the book.

Interesting concept and characters. A story that gets you thinking of how your alternative life could be and what roads would you follow..

I love all of KTW’s stuff and this one didn’t disappoint. The same writing style, same dream like story and characters. Loved. Can’t wait for the next

This was a very addictive story about a woman who wakes up after "disappearing" for a couple of days leaving her infant son and having absolutely no memory of where she has been.

Told through the point of view of her therapist and herself, this story examines the fragility of the mind and questions everything we see and hear.

Fascinating and original.

I'm not going to tell you a lot about this novel, since almost anything I would say would spoil the reading experience.

The novel starts with a psychiatrist who receives a mysterious visit from a new patient, Jane. Several days later, she's back, having experienced a blackout that led to her waking up in a nearby park after having gone missing and forgetting to pick up her son from nursery.

The rest of the novel is told from two perspectives - the psychiatrist's notes, which become less and less 'professional' as the novel progresses, and Jane's. Together, these two unreliable narrators try to figure out what's happening to Jane, why she's blacking out and why, last week, she vividly remembers having a conversation with a teenage friend who died 20 years ago.

The mystery was engrossing, and I found it a real page-turner. It's told at a propulsive pace and I really wanted to know what was going on - and while we're piecing together what happened to Jane and just who this psychiatrist is and what happens to him, everything around us is getting stranger.

There's so much here that's very good - but that I don't want to go into for fear of spoiling it for you. Pay attention to the clues and remember, if something doesn't feel quite right, there's probably a reason for it.

Highly recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A strange read. Psychiatrist Henry Byrd is contacted by a woman, Jane who has experienced strange symptoms. She recalls having seen him 20 years previously. Jane has an incredible memory - she remembers every detail of times and places. But now she's having periods of blackout where she's not aware of what is happening. Fear of the deadly virus, Nippa, that's reached America in 2018 is overwhelming her. All is not what it seems. Henry is captivated by Jane's case. This reads like a factual report rather than fiction and I was hooked. #netgalley #thestrangecaseofjaneo

I found this book interesting rather than compelling. It is written from two perspectives: a patient, Jane O, who despite having perfect recall, has been experiencing periods of prolonged amnesia; and the psychologist who is treating her and trying to understand what is going on. Although well researched, it reads at times like a fictional account of a psychologist’s medical record or case study. I’m not quite sure what to make of it

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A young woman, Jane O., arrives in a psychiatrist's office having been suffering a series of worrying episodes: amnesia, premonitions, hallucinations and an inexplicable sense of dread. As the psychiatrist struggles to solve the mystery of what is happening in Jane's mind, she suddenly goes missing, only to be found a day later, unconscious in a park, with no memory of what has happened to her. Are Jane's strange experiences related to the overwhelm of single motherhood, or long-buried trauma from her past? Why is she having visions of a young man who died twenty years ago, who warns her of disaster ahead? Jane's symptoms will lead her psychiatrist to question everything he once thought he knew . . .

This is a very cleverly written book, I particularly enjoyed how the author broke up the book into sections, each part alternating between the story being told by the psychiatrist and the journal written by Jane. The writing style where the characters are speaking directly to you, like you were sat in a room with them telling the story, is also very involving to the reader.

The information from the two main characters, Jane and Dr Byrd, is cleverly filtered through the case notes from their conversations, to the diary entries Jane writes for her son, to document her movements. It is in the latter half of the book that this psychological thriller really picks up speed and takes a completely unexpected, unnerving, but truly captivating direction.

There is only so much I’m able to say in this review without ruining any twists, but it’s definitely a book that gets you thinking, questioning if you have it all figured out before reaching an unexpected conclusion - an ending that you will definitely want to discuss with others that have read it!

Whilst I read a lot of crime fiction this novel was slightly out of my comfort zone and I’ve never read anything like it before. The dual time narrative and dual narrator I’m used to, it is common, but when one was extremely unreliable it was a little more unsettling.
The novel concerns Dr Byrd, a psychiatric and his patient Jane. Both are lonely, single parents and unhappy without being able to admit it. Both have suffered loss and as the novel progresses the reader sees the impact that has had on them. Dr Byrd was a character that many, including myself, would empathise with. A young child, as well as a career which wasn’t straightforward and when Jane’s situation makes headlines the errors he made in his past came back to haunt him. Jane was, for me, a lot more difficult to understand. Because of my lack of understanding I’m still not sure a few weeks after finishing if I liked or trusted her.
Jane’s narrative is told by a series of letters to her young son Caleb. In them she explains what she feels, the loss she suffered when a friend committed suicide. The same friend she claims to have met years later who had advised her it wasn’t safe in New York. But as well as her incredible and quite worrying memory she also has blackouts where she can’t remember anything. She disappears and the police become involved which makes her situation a lot worse. They understandably don’t believe what she says, questioning and doubting what she tells them. When she tells the police and Dr Byrd certain memories they are proved to be fake, but could eerily a premonition of the future her situation became a lot more complex.
In many ways this was also a love story, a difficult relationship between the two and I wanted it to be a happy ending for both of them. The ending was special but I’d have been more convinced if the narrator was a different one. But I hope it was true.
I thought at one point I knew which way the novel was going but there were differences. To know more I would recommend reading it.

This was a fascinating book, ordinarily the rule of thumb is that authors research well, but as readers we don’t learn too much of that research. Not so in this case; the research is scattered throughout the book and it was all the more interesting for it

I found this book to be a really interesting and engaging read. It delivered a fascinating insight into a complex and possibly damaged young woman’s psyche, and taught me more about the complexities of human psychology and psychiatry.

The story is told through two voices , Dr Byrd is a psychiatrist who has started to treat Jane O, the second voice is from Jane‘s own perspective and told in diary form to her young son. She is brutally honest in her writing, desperate to explain herself to her son.

Jane has a condition which means she has perfect recall and her memory is infallible. This has proved to be a poisoned chalice as she can’t forget anything that has happened to her .

Jane goes to see Dr Byrd because she has been found in an amnesia state and can’t recall anything that has happened to her. She remembers meeting Dr Byrd twenty years previously and details the layout of his study to demonstrate her total recall. .
Dr Byrd’s own background is complex and possibly unreliable. As the story develops we find out more about his life and his personal interest in premonitions.
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The storyline captured my attention completely; the plot developments were brilliantly plotted and delivered. I could have read more , which is very rare for me to say!

I found this book to be fascinating and unusual. Written mainly from the perspective of Dr Byrd, a psychiatrist working with a young woman called Jane. Jane disappeared from her life and for a woman with a prodigious memory, she has no recollection. She also experienced a hallucination in the form of a conversation with a friend. The problem being that said friend died twenty years previously.

As Dr Byrd delves deeper into her mind he finds it impossible to diagnose any known disorder. He is fascinated by the concept of premonition and believes there is far more we don't understand about our brains and how they seemingly malfunction. Defying logic perhaps, he comes to believe that Jane may be entering not so much a dissociative fugue as a parallel one.

I found this to be such an interesting concept and I was enthralled throughout this brilliant book.

The Strange Case of Jane O is a unique and fiendishly clever book that manages to combine psychological thriller with a sprinkling of sci-fi in a way that challenges the reader but works so well.

The story centres around Jane O and is told from her point of view, in letters to her son Caleb, and through Jane’s psychiatrist Dr Byrd and his account of her very perplexing case.

It is one of those books that is hard to sum up without giving too much away but suffice to say it will have you questioning everything and everyone as you try to piece together the puzzle that is Jane’s mind. It is beautifully written, it is thought provoking and it will keep you on your toes - it is definitely different but I enjoyed it all the more as a result.

I loved this book. Despite it being a novel it read like non fiction plus I found the different ideas explored fascinating as well as the characters.

The Strange Case of Jane O is going to challenge you, and really make you think about all those memories that we lock away. As time passes do our memories change, become embellished or less than we originally experienced. What about what we experience on a daily basis, do we have times when we ‘float’ through life slightly detached from reality? Do we wonder how we got from one place to another but cannot remember the in between?

Using Dr Byrd, a psychiatrist and his patient Jane, Walker attempted to unlock these perceptions and thoughts. Sounds a bit heavy? Not at all, it’s was cleverly done, the individual voices of her characters brilliantly portraying each side of the story.

Dr Byrd, the widower, single parent, fascinated by Jane O and her presentation. Theories whirled in his mind, his confusion, his need to assign terminology, use science to diagnose and explain was fascinating. The trauma of grief, of past professional misconduct made him lonely and vulnerable.

Jane, a young single mother, a librarian, quiet, reserved, a loner, friendships always hard to form. The trauma of her one true friend committing suicide as a teenager followed her to present day, maybe the trigger for her vacant episodes? Jane’s first episode of memory loss short, the second three weeks, her parents, Dr Byrd and the police all involved in looking for her.

The connection between Byrd and Jane grew stronger, as if they needed each other, as if the loneliness they each experienced drew them together. I found it quite touching and poignant, and wondered where Walker would take us and them.

Jane’s final fugue episode was perhaps the most dramatic and traumatic, a culmination of a woman detached from all reality. You had to feel empathy and sorrow, admiration for Byrd’s persistent doggedness, or was it something else that bound him to her.

The final scenes were incredibly touching and highly charged, the reader left bereft at leaving the characters and the novel behind.

It was novel of superb narrative and exceptional characters that will stay will the reader long after the final page has been turned.

Thanks to NetGalley and Karen Thompson Walker for this ARC!

I was NOT expecting genre-bending in this book. I won’t say why, as a lot of the joy of reading this book lies in its unexpected twists, but I really enjoyed it.