Flashback - Hardcover

Siler, Jenny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080507211X ISBN 13: 9780805072112

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 2004

Synopsis

Desperately searching for a way to recover her memory, a young American woman on the run must unlock a terrible secret from her past

Discovered in a ditch by the side of a country road in France, Eve has only good American dentistry and a ferry ticket scribbled with Arabic letters to suggest her identity. That, and a bullet wound in her brain that she miraculously survives, even as it destroys her memory. Only a few scattered violent images remain—or are they dreams?—along with one undeniable physical fact: she has had a child.

When the nuns who have sheltered her for a year are brutally massacred, Eve realizes that whoever she was in her past life, she had powerful enemies. Just half a step ahead of her pursuers, she lights out for Morocco in an attempt to retrace her steps and discover her past. Away from the convent, she begins to discover things that startle her—among them, her capacity for violence and her facility with guns. Was she a spy? Who is the dying man in her nightmares? As she searches through spice-scented souks and glamorous nightclubs for clues to her past, she has to figure out who is after her, and why—before it’s too late.

Within scenes of heart-stopping terror, Jenny Siler’s lyrical writing and memorable images stand out. As Marilyn Stasio said of Easy Money in The New York Times Book Review, Siler’s is “a voice that gets your attention like a rifle shot.”

About this title

About the Author

The critically acclaimed author of Easy Money (0-312-97686-0), Iced (0-312-97952-5), and Shot (0-8050-7203-9), Jenny Siler lives in Missoula, Montana.

Reviews

The complex puzzle of a life forgotten powers this beautifully written spy novel by Siler (Iced; Shot), set primarily in the dangerous alleys and souks of spice-drenched Morocco. A convent of nuns in the French countryside takes in an unidentified woman with a head wound who is unable to remember anything of her former life. She is dubbed Eve; the only clues to her past are a ticket from the Tangier-Algeciras ferry and a mouth full of fancy dentistry that could only be American. After most of the convent is brutally slaughtered by mysterious intruders, Eve flees to Morocco, intent on unraveling the mysteries of her lost life. In Tangier, she is aided by an odd little man, Joshi, who points her in the direction of a mysterious American, Brian Haverman, who tells her she was once his brother Pat's lover. Tantalizing sparks of recognition goad Eve as she combs Tangier for clues and finds she has a real talent for self-defense and gunplay. Eve and Brian go to Marrakech to search for the missing Pat. In Marrakech, an international arms dealer captures Eve and tortures her, trying to find something she supposedly possesses though she has no idea what it might be. Gradually, she tweezes out the story of her past, although the revelations are neither particularly pleasant nor especially hopeful. An air of lyrical melancholy hangs over the novel, as if a young John le Carre had rewritten The Bourne Identity with a female protagonist. The plotting is deft, the characters believable and, in the end, Eve finds who she was, even if she remains unsure of what that means or what she will become.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Siler's fourth stand-alone thriller features a young woman named Eve who has no memory of her life before she arrived at a French convent. Scars indicate that she was shot in the head and that she once gave birth. American dentistry points to her country of origin. But when the sisters who shelter her are massacred, she must delve aggressively into her past to find out who is after her and why. The trail begins with a ferry ticket from Morocco and extends to a package containing some of Eve's belongings: a gun, lots of money, and numerous passports. These discoveries, combined with Eve's realization that she has a knack for hurting people and escaping from life-or-death situations, lead her to worry about whose side she was on in her former life. With its exotic locales and with a heroine who resembles an action hero--kicking, shooting, punching, and knifing her way past all the bad guys in her path--this high-energy thriller is sure to please fans of the TV series Alias. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080507211X
• ISBN 13: 9780805072112
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272