Deborah Raney, Remember to Forget

Remember to Forget

Deborah Raney

Howard Books, Feb 2007, $12.99

ISBN 158229643X

At four in the morning in Manhattan, Kevin Bryson sends his girlfriend, graphic designer Maggie Anderson, to the liquor store. However, she never makes it back to their apartment as a man with a gun hijacks Kevin's car with her inside it and dumps her over a hundred miles from the city. Maggie considers how Kevin will react to his car being stolen and her not returning immediately with his alcohol and his change; she decides this is her chance to escape two years of abuse and "imprisonment" while assuming that if she went home Kevin would blame her.

Maggie soon travels westward with the help of several kind people until she runs out of money in Clayburn, Kansas. She decides this is a good place to start anew especially since she deems Kevin would never find her in this samll town. However, as she begins her new life off the books at the Wren Nest still looking back over her shoulder and seeing shadows everywhere, she meets widower Trevor Ashlock. As they are attracted to one another, he feels guilty because he misses his beloved Amy dead two years and she fears relationships after Kevin, who she believes is coming for her.

Purposely using coincidences to remind readers that people, for the most part, are kind souls, Deborah Raney provides a deep character study of second chances with the suspense coming late. Maggie is a fascinating protagonist who fears telling anyone about her abusive relationship because her secret could reach Kevin as remote as that seems and moreso her shame; she blames herself for not leaving. Trevor also has issues as he still grieves the loss of his wife and their son. Readers will appreciate this poignant tale as God's plan allows us to REMEMBER TO FORGET by starting over.

Harriet Klausner