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Amnesia
Aaron Clifford's life takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself stranded in Grand Central Station--unsure of where he is, how he got there, or even who he is--but as he attempts to put together the various pieces of his life, he is plunged into an even more sinister nightmare. Original.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
103 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Neiderman
74 books394 followersAndrew Neiderman is the author of over 44 thrillers, including six of which have been translated onto film, including the big hit, 'The Devil's Advocate', a story in which he also wrote a libretto for the music-stage adaptation. One of his novels, Tender Loving Care, has been adapted into a CD-Rom interactive movie.
Andrew Neiderman became the ghostwriter for V.C. Andrews following her death in 1986. He was the screenwriter for Rain, a film based on a series of books under Andrews name. Between the novels written under her name and his own, he has published over 100 novels.
Andrew Neiderman became the ghostwriter for V.C. Andrews following her death in 1986. He was the screenwriter for Rain, a film based on a series of books under Andrews name. Between the novels written under her name and his own, he has published over 100 novels.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 31, 2012
I was a bit reluctant to start reading this book, but once I did, I just wanted to keep going and going and going ...
You know something is off the whole time, but you can't quite put your finger on it.
The curiosity to know what exactly is going on along with the fast paced well written structure of the book makes it such a pleasure to read.
You know something is off the whole time, but you can't quite put your finger on it.
The curiosity to know what exactly is going on along with the fast paced well written structure of the book makes it such a pleasure to read.
March 27, 2023
They were both smiling.
But both had the same strange smile.
A knowing smile.
That smile shouldn’t be doing this, he thought, but it made him feel afraid.
And he had no idea why.
How do you cope when suddenly you have no memories, no recollections of anything about yourself, your life, your past or even your present? Aaron Clifford, a renown architect is finding himself stumbling through a train station in New York as he grapples for any sense of directions of who he is or where he's at. At the gentle nudging of kind strangers, he searched his wallet for his name and found a payphone to call his house to try and find the wife everyone's convinced he has. When Megan answers the phone she's shocked to hear of his confusion, swallowing the anger she felt at him for vanishing seemingly without a trace for hours after work. Convinced he's just intoxicated, it wasn't until he was home that they truly understood how lost he was. Unable to even recognize his ten year old daughter Sophie, his memories of everything seemed to be washed away. When the two sell their home and move to Driftwood, the community itself seems a little odd. All the woman are breathtakingly beautiful and the husbands all seem to have the same blank and glassy looks in their eyes. Everyone seems eternally indebted to Mrs. Masters who seems to run the gated community. As Aaron sees a doctor in town to prescribe him medicine quoting his memory loss as the result of a stroke, he finds himself in a perpetual fog after every pill. When his doubts and need to know of his past begins to overpower him, he finds evidence of things not even he can explain. As he finds the photo of Jason, Megan's true first pick but who she explains as her brother, he's shocked at how little he knows. Every photo, every video lacks him in the frames and as he tries to retrace his steps to New York, he finds no one with any recollection of him. As he finds his way back to Driftwood, the story would unfold further as he learns the truth of the Magics at play, and when him and Megan has sex for the last time he crashes awake in a hospital room. After suffering a horrific car crash with his wife behind the wheel, everyone is relieved when their four year old daughter Tammy wakes from her coma. At the end of the story, readers get a glimpse of Laurie and her new husband seemingly with the same amnesia.
The images we create about ourselves, our persona, our moods and our ideas, all of it serves to protect us, to dress us, he thought. Being so indecisive and unclear stripped away the shields. He had to rely on others to tell him who he was, and that made him helpless, naked, and weak, someone always at the mercy of someone else, sometimes even strangers, always dependent upon their goodwill and kindness, especially Megan’s.
But both had the same strange smile.
A knowing smile.
That smile shouldn’t be doing this, he thought, but it made him feel afraid.
And he had no idea why.
How do you cope when suddenly you have no memories, no recollections of anything about yourself, your life, your past or even your present? Aaron Clifford, a renown architect is finding himself stumbling through a train station in New York as he grapples for any sense of directions of who he is or where he's at. At the gentle nudging of kind strangers, he searched his wallet for his name and found a payphone to call his house to try and find the wife everyone's convinced he has. When Megan answers the phone she's shocked to hear of his confusion, swallowing the anger she felt at him for vanishing seemingly without a trace for hours after work. Convinced he's just intoxicated, it wasn't until he was home that they truly understood how lost he was. Unable to even recognize his ten year old daughter Sophie, his memories of everything seemed to be washed away. When the two sell their home and move to Driftwood, the community itself seems a little odd. All the woman are breathtakingly beautiful and the husbands all seem to have the same blank and glassy looks in their eyes. Everyone seems eternally indebted to Mrs. Masters who seems to run the gated community. As Aaron sees a doctor in town to prescribe him medicine quoting his memory loss as the result of a stroke, he finds himself in a perpetual fog after every pill. When his doubts and need to know of his past begins to overpower him, he finds evidence of things not even he can explain. As he finds the photo of Jason, Megan's true first pick but who she explains as her brother, he's shocked at how little he knows. Every photo, every video lacks him in the frames and as he tries to retrace his steps to New York, he finds no one with any recollection of him. As he finds his way back to Driftwood, the story would unfold further as he learns the truth of the Magics at play, and when him and Megan has sex for the last time he crashes awake in a hospital room. After suffering a horrific car crash with his wife behind the wheel, everyone is relieved when their four year old daughter Tammy wakes from her coma. At the end of the story, readers get a glimpse of Laurie and her new husband seemingly with the same amnesia.
The images we create about ourselves, our persona, our moods and our ideas, all of it serves to protect us, to dress us, he thought. Being so indecisive and unclear stripped away the shields. He had to rely on others to tell him who he was, and that made him helpless, naked, and weak, someone always at the mercy of someone else, sometimes even strangers, always dependent upon their goodwill and kindness, especially Megan’s.
January 14, 2021
The ending gets on my nerves. Ending it all on it being a dream is so frustrating. It was overall so much good, why would you do that to a good book?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2023
I thought overall this book was well written, with potential to be great. Similar to the other reviewers, I believe the ending somewhat spoiled the book for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2025
I'm going to be thinking about this book for a while ...
February 12, 2014
Andrew Neiderman was born in 1940 and is an American novelist, screen writer and ghost writer. He taught English in upstate New York before he started writing books. Neiderman is married to the former model Dian Wilson and they have two children, and three grandchildren.
Amnesia is certainly not the best known of his novels. Still, I enjoyed it, it was not your average ‘amnesia’ story and I stayed up late to finish it as I could not wait to see how it ended.
The story starts during rush hour in Grand Central Station. Aaron Clifford stops dead in his tracks, commuters swirling around him, but he does not know who he is. He does not know his own name at all. No matter how hard he tries, Aaron has no memory of why he is there, where he came from, or where he is going. It is impossible but it is true.
He finds his way “home” to find he is moving the next day to a new home in what may be a little bit TOO much of an ideal community.
The clues came slowly: from Aaron’s surroundings, from his wallet, from the taste of dry martini still on his lips. Soon Aaron Clifford will piece together the keys to his life. With that relief will come cold-blooded fear because he learns more than he ever knew before. He remembers things he should not really know: things he does not want to know and things that could get him killed.
This is a good, light read but the ending spoilt it for me. It seemed to conclude in the last two short chapters and left questions unanswered. It did not quite fit the feel of the rest of the book. The ending could almost have been from a different novel. It is hard to go into too much detail without giving the plot away. Nevertheless, the book is still worth a look as it is an easy read and definitely still entertains.
Amnesia is certainly not the best known of his novels. Still, I enjoyed it, it was not your average ‘amnesia’ story and I stayed up late to finish it as I could not wait to see how it ended.
The story starts during rush hour in Grand Central Station. Aaron Clifford stops dead in his tracks, commuters swirling around him, but he does not know who he is. He does not know his own name at all. No matter how hard he tries, Aaron has no memory of why he is there, where he came from, or where he is going. It is impossible but it is true.
He finds his way “home” to find he is moving the next day to a new home in what may be a little bit TOO much of an ideal community.
The clues came slowly: from Aaron’s surroundings, from his wallet, from the taste of dry martini still on his lips. Soon Aaron Clifford will piece together the keys to his life. With that relief will come cold-blooded fear because he learns more than he ever knew before. He remembers things he should not really know: things he does not want to know and things that could get him killed.
This is a good, light read but the ending spoilt it for me. It seemed to conclude in the last two short chapters and left questions unanswered. It did not quite fit the feel of the rest of the book. The ending could almost have been from a different novel. It is hard to go into too much detail without giving the plot away. Nevertheless, the book is still worth a look as it is an easy read and definitely still entertains.
September 16, 2024
Don’t know how I found this book initially, but I’m glad I did because it was a good read (from memory)
April 19, 2013
Couldn't decide whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I enjoyed it, it wasn't your average 'amnesia' story and I stayed up late to finish it as I couldn't wait to see how it ended.
But the ending spoilt it for me. It seemed to conclude in 2 short chapters, left questions unanswered & didn't fit the feel of the rest of the book. The ending could have been from a different novel. It's hard to go into too much detail without giving any of the plot away, but it's still worth a look as it's an easy read & still entertains.
But the ending spoilt it for me. It seemed to conclude in 2 short chapters, left questions unanswered & didn't fit the feel of the rest of the book. The ending could have been from a different novel. It's hard to go into too much detail without giving any of the plot away, but it's still worth a look as it's an easy read & still entertains.
February 5, 2013
This was another freebie from Sony eReader. I thought it was a good beach book. Sort of a Stepford-Wives type tale where a man suddenly finds himself in Grand Central station not knowing who he is or where he is going. He finds his way "home" to find he is moving the next day to a new home in what may be a little bit TOO much of an ideal community. A good, light read.
August 8, 2009
This was another freebie from Sony eReader. I thought it was a good beach book. Sort of a Stepford-Wives type tale where a man suddenly finds himself in Grand Central station not knowing who he is or where he is going. He finds his way "home" to find he is moving the next day to a new home in what may be a little bit TOO much of an ideal community. A good, light read.
May 27, 2014
The promise is great. But, there's something lack with this story. I feel like it's lack character development, tension, conflict, and so on. Yes, there's mystery but if feels superficial. It's like we've given subtle hints about the ending. Or maybe this is just not my kind of story. Anyway, I appreciate the author to make the story about amnesia since I really love amnesia story.
June 24, 2014
I have to say this book droned on for a while and really only got good by the last three chapters. Andrew neiderman uses a great amount of metaphors and similes (sometimes too many). However this book kept me guessing the whole time and the ending was not at all what I was expecting. Therefore I give this three stars.
November 9, 2011
This was weird but in a good way. Very descriptive, interesting characters, different.
There were three or four too blatant instances of foreshadowing that were unnecessary, the reader was already suspicious.
There were three or four too blatant instances of foreshadowing that were unnecessary, the reader was already suspicious.
September 12, 2014
From start to finish this book is very spooky. Not in a, something is about to jump out and get you, way. More like they are acting in a strange way. Something doesn't feel alright way. Would you like to live in a world where everything is perfect. But you aren't allowed to question anything?
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews