What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr

4 Stars

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Book

Date of publication: September 17th, 2019

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Where you can find What Rose Forgot: Barnes and Noble | Amazon | BookBub

Book Synopsis:

In New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr’s gripping standalone, a grandmother in her 60s emerges from a mental fog to find she’s trapped in an Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. How does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane.

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First Line:

Rose’s head drops, jerks, and she’s awake.

What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr

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My Review:

I was on the fence if I wanted to read What Rose Forgot. The blurb didn’t give me any insight into the book. What made up my mind was reading other reviews. Either people loved it, or they didn’t. I am glad that I read What Rose Forgot. It was an exciting, action-packed book.

What Rose Forgot plotline was fast. There were a couple of times where the book did lag. The author was able to get the book back on track after the first time it lagged. The second time, though, it didn’t. Weirdly enough, the lag came at almost the very end of the book.

I loved Rose!! I did wonder, for the first half of the book, if she was having issues with her memory. I did think to myself, “Does she have Alzheimer’s?” My question was answered in the second half of the book. I will say that Rose is a tough cookie, too. She took several beatings during the book that would have broken a lesser woman.

I loved Rose’s relationship with Mel. Their exchanges made me smile and added some much-needed humor into the book. I liked that Rose treated Mel with respect. She listened to what she had to say and, most importantly, she didn’t treat her like a kid. She treated her like an equal, and I loved it!!

I was saddened by how her stepsons treated Rose. Unfortunately, it is an accurate reflection of how our elderly get treated today. Put in nursing homes and forgotten about by their family.

The mystery angle of the book was wonderfully written. I thought I had everything worked out, only to have my theory thrown out the window. I wasn’t shocked at who was behind everything, though. There were some significant clues dropped throughout the book. It was the other half of what happened that surprised me.

I wasn’t a fan of the ending of What Rose Forgot. It seemed rushed to me. I can’t get into much without spoiling the ending. So, I will leave it at that.

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I would give What Rose Forgot an Adult rating. There is no sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread What Rose Forgot. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**