Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin- Blog tour/Book review.

I’m so pleased to be part of the Random Things  Tours blog tour for Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin- a thought provoking speculative fiction exploring memory.

Genre: Speculative fiction

Publication Date: 12^th May 2022

Source : With Thanks to Hutchinson Heinemann and Random Things Tours

Across the world, thousands of people are shocked to receive an email telling them that they once chose to have a traumatic memory removed. Now they are being given the chance to get that memory back. For Mei, William, Oscar and Finn there is a piece missing, but they’re not sure what. And each of them must decide if the truth is worth the pain, or better left unknown. For Noor, who works at the memory clinic Nepenthe, the process of reinstating their patients’ memories begins to shake the moral foundations of her world. As she delves deeper into the programme, she will have to risk everything to uncover the true human cost of this miraculous technology.

Review

I was expecting, Tell Me a Story, to be a hardcore science-fiction novel about tech. But Jo Harkin has created a speculative fiction exploring on memory and its impact on our personality, lives, and relationships.

I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased review.

The story is told in the present tense from the third-person points of view of several characters- Noor, an employee at Nepenthe, Mei, Oscar and William- people affected by the memory wipe, and Finn, the husband of someone who can’t remember having a memory wipe. The connections between all of them become clearer towards the end of the book in a satisfying way.

The book is slow to start with but picks when Noor begins to suspect her boss Louise of misleading Nepenthe clients and the characters begin to receive emails about the memory wipe being carried out. Noor’s investigation into Nepenthe was my favourite part especially given her own problems and conflicts.

 The other stories were more character-driven but also explore the concept of memory and how people are the product of our experiences and memories. Are we the same people we were once we take away memories of painful events and the effects this has on us?

I thought the author explored how this technology could be abused realistically and well.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves character driven plots with high level concepts and a touch of mystery.

Perfect for fans of

Thought- provoking speculative fiction and the TV show Black Mirror

About the author

Jo Harkin studied English Literature at university. She daydreamed her way through various jobs in her twenties before giving in and becoming a full-time writer. She published four real-world literary fiction novels under a pseudonym, before deciding to follow her passion and move into speculative fiction. Her focus is ‘what if’ stories with an emphasis on human lives. She lives in Berkshire.