Unknown

by Chris Martin

Without a past, how can we possibly have a future? Darkness. The black, shapeless void that refuses the presence of light. The kind of darkness where only the dead dare to explore, and the living fear to gaze upon. With no memory of my past, I wake up inside a pizzeria with nothing but a wadded up piece of paper in my pocket. I will have to rely heavily on my instincts in order to survive. I have no idea who I am. I don't know who to trust. Faded images briefly flash through my mind, but they make no sense. Are they memories from a past I have somehow forgotten? Are they clues to my identity? Only time will tell.

Genres: Mystery

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 3, 2012

About the author

Chris Martin has been writing since high school, drawn early to stories that live just beneath the surface of ordinary life. He writes fiction that explores relationships, good and evil, and the quiet moral pressures faced by people who don't see themselves as heroes or villains—just human.

He lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina with his beautiful wife, Jennifer, their two amazing daughters, and a six-year-old pit mix named Milo. When he's not writing, Chris and Jennifer run a wedding videography business, Martin Summit Media, where they spend their days capturing real moments, real emotion, and the unscripted edges of people's lives—an influence that carries naturally into his fiction.

Chris also works full-time as a Client Onboarding Manager with Bride&Groom.video, helping wedding filmmakers build and grow their businesses.

Chris's work is grounded in realism, tension, and psychological depth. His characters are rooted in the familiar: families, marriages, memories, routines. What interests him most is what happens when those familiar structures begin to crack, when truth is buried, when systems protect the wrong people, and when doing the right thing comes at a personal cost.

Why I Write
I write because I'm fascinated by what happens beneath the surface of ordinary lives. I'm drawn to the quiet moments where relationships strain, where good intentions collide with fear, guilt, or love, and where people are forced to make choices they never imagined they'd face.

Writing is how I explore those moments. It's how I examine the way the past lingers, how stories get shaped by power and memory, and how people carry enormous weight without anyone noticing. I don't write to offer easy answers or clean resolutions. I write to sit with the uncomfortable questions, to tell stories that feel honest, human, and just unsettling enough to stay with you after the last page.

Reviews

[Lynxie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unknown is a quick story that takes us through a couple of days in the life of our protagonist. We don't know his name, nor where he came from, but then, neither does he.

Imagine what it would be like to wake up somewhere and know nothing... Not who you are, what you like, what you do for a living, if you have a partner?

Imagine still, that in the midst of this personal horror, that someone is trying to kill you. That they're determined to shoot you and you don't know why.

I enjoyed this mysterious thriller, it highlighted the scariness and creepiness of amnesia and the extent we rely on our memories to get by in everyday life.

One thing I noticed:
25% how could mom hold a purse he bought her for Xmas if she died while giving birth to him?

[Dave Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This thriller does an excellent job of portraying the confusion of amnesia without losing a feeling of narrative progress. While it is not the same type of amnesia it reminded me of Memento.

This book is the first part of the True Identity series. The story opens with the protagonist awakening in a meat locker of a pizza parlour with almost complete amnesia. Greeted with violence by the owner almost as soon as he emerges, he is saved by a mysterious man who seems intent on kidnapping him. Driven from place to place by threats and unsubstantiated claims of friendship he struggles to recover enough fragments of his past to pick a side.

I found this book to be well written with solid believable characters. The protagonist's recovery of fragmentary memories and commensurate transition from a reactive to proactive strategy was very well told.

However there were two imperfections. First the protagonist suffers two moments in short succession where he has not noticed something straight away. Although it is believable he would not have been consciously aware, the description of the two events is almost identical giving a repetitive feeling; this created a false image of the protagonist as someone who habitually does not pay attention.

Second, and more seriously, the ending - while entirely consistent - is a cliff-hanger rather than a resolution of the protagonist's immediate situation. This made it feel like and episode of a serial and not the first part of a series.

I enjoyed this short story. However, I would not recommend reading it until you have the rest of the series.

[Kyra Halland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man wakes up in a restaurant walk-in freezer with no memory of what happened, how he got there, or even who he is. All he knows is that strange flashbacks seem to hold some clue to his past... and that a lot of people seem to want to kill him.

Unknown is a breathtaking ride through the first few days of the nameless man's struggle to find a safe refuge and learn who he is. The storyline kept me guessing - is each person he runs across a friend or an enemy? What about the protagonist - is he one of the good guys or a bad guy? He doesn't even know. I liked the characters, and the story is written in a clear, easy-to-follow style.

Unknown is a novella-length work, the first installment in what looks like a four-part story. More questions are raised than answered, and this installment ends with a shocker. I really really hope the next book is available soon!

[Isi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es la primera parte de una trilogía de misterio.
Un hombre se despierta sin saber quién es, y desde el comienzo varias personas intentan perseguirle y contactar con él, y no puede saber quiénes son los buenos y quiénes son los malos.
Le han inyectado una sustancia para que olvide una información que otros quieren y que matarían por ella, así que se supone que es para protegerle, pero sus "amigos" ni siquiera quieren decirle su propio nombre, argumentando que podría perjudicarle y causarle trastornos permanentes...
No ha estado mal, pero tampoco me ha enganchado tanto.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping novella, I can't wait to read the next one the cliffhanger at the end is driving me nuts.