A beautiful woman wakes in a hospital bed, shackled and confused. She’s been in a coma for weeks. And can only remember her first name—Blue.
Blue learns she fell from a window on the fourth floor of a hotel. Did she jump? Or was she pushed? To discover the truth, Blue must figure out who she is and what she was doing in that hotel.
And she needs to do it fast. Because someone is out there, hunting Blue down, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Not knowing where to turn or who to trust, Blue must rely on her instincts to survive. Gradually, her memories begin to return, and they’re darker than she could ever have imagined.
Will she put the pieces of her life back together before she’s silenced forever?
The Forgotten Girl – the gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Alex Michaelides, Freida McFadden.
NPR Featured Author on Bob Kustra's Reader's Corner Best of 2020 Thriller Suspense - SUSPENSE MAGAZINE Best Action Thriller in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards Book of the Year in the 2023 Best Thriller Book Awards
Daco is a storyteller at heart, raised in the Deep South where tradition meets imagination. As an award-winning author of thrillers and suspense, she writes gripping, emotionally rich stories designed to keep you turning the pages late into the night. She loves connecting with readers—feel free to leave a review or reach out with a question!
She is a member of the ITW, MWA, Alabama Writers' Forum, Authors Guild, Novelists, Inc., and Alabama State Bar.
The premise of this book was actually a mystery to me. I started reading it without any idea of what I was getting into.
A woman jumped off from the fourth floor of a 5-star hotel and woke up in the hospital with amnesia. Her identity is a puzzle to the police and someone is after her. Who is she? What is the Cassiopeia?
The book started off strong with a promise of thrilling and intense execution. Everyone appears to be hiding something and trust is easily questioned as the main character slowly regains her memory piece by piece.
It was alright. Honestly, I expected more from the story but it lost me around the middle part and it didn’t pick up from there. It wasn’t bad but not really memorable.
Cheers to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for the advanced copy. Appreciate it.
I received a gifted copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review as part of the book tour hosted by Lovebookstours.
The Forgotten Girl is a fast paced, pulse-rating thriller that pulls you in from page one. Blue awakes in a hospital room, with no idea who she is except for her first name. No-one seems to know who she is or how she fell from a fourth floor hotel window. With the help of a detective on the case, Blue starts to remember small things, names and places. After a woman comes forward claiming to be Blues friend, Blue has to work with her instincts to work out who to trust, who to believe and who and what she was before waking from a coma. After numerous attempts on her life, Blue starts to do things her own way, trusting herself to keep herself and her mother safe. This book has plenty of twisty turns along the way and I flew through it desperate to find out the ending and who Blue really is.
I fell out of a window? Did someone push me? Why was I even in that hotel?
Blue has no idea...she doesn't even know her name. Do the police believe her, and are they really trying to protect her?
Her memory loss has her in danger, but her friend who she doesn't remember comes to her rescue and gives her a place to stay.
The question is: Is Lorraine really a friend? Blue has no idea.
We follow Blue as she tries to remember why she was in a hotel and why she was pushed out of the fourth floor window.
She has some close calls and had me biting my fingernails at the risks she takes as Ms. Auffenorde keeps you turning the pages to see how it all turns out.
Some of the scenes were a bit unbelievable, but the book will keep your interest. 4/5
This book was given to me by the author for an honest review.
In this sparkling and gripping thriller, a young woman named Blue wakes up in a hospital able to recall only her first name. She miraculously survived a fall from a four-story building with only minor physical injuries. The trauma has caused her to suffer from dissociative amnesia—a real condition (think Jason Bourne). Then Blue gets a threatening phone call—unless she divulges certain information, she’ll die. But what information? With the help of a determined police detective and a flamboyant friend from the forgotten past, Blue slowly unravels the tangled strands of memory to get to the truth. Amnesia stories are hard to write; Auffenorde’s writing is masterful, taking the reader on a wild ride, while at the same time exploring serious questions about trust, reality, and loyalty.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the arc of this book! I was really excited to start this book after reading the description.
A woman falls out of the fourth floor of a hotel and wakes up from a coma in hospital with no memory. Who is she and who can she trust?
From the first page, the story captured my interest and had me flipping the pages for more. Although I though the ending seemed rather rushed, it was a quick read for me and would recommend to anyone looking for a fast paced thriller.
I read this book in one sitting, twisty and unpredictable with an ending that I didn't see coming. A really enjoyable read that thriller fans will love.
Well, this story took an interesting turn. Started off well with a very interesting premise but then descended into a full-blown action movie sort of feel! The incompetency of the police force also bothered me throughout the story. It was definitely an impressionable ending, but I am not the biggest fan of that kind.
Blue wakes up in a strange bed, to find herself in a hospital where she has been in a coma for weeks, after falling or being pushed form a fourth storey window of a hotel. All she can remember is her first name, Blue, and nothing else. Why she was there and what really happened is unknown. Detective Matteo DeLuca and his partner Roudebusch are working her case. Some in the hotel remember her because of her striking beauty, but some believe her to be a high class escort, even though they had never seen her going upstairs to the rooms. To figure out what really happened, Blue must try and find out who she really is and why she was there, but that is difficult to do with amnesia of all parts of her life apart from a first name! Someone soon makes an attempt to take her form the hospital itself and she isn’t sure if she can even trust Det. DeLuca. Someone wants what she was supposed to have given them, a ruby known as the Cassoipeia Ruby, a bringer of good fortune for the owner as myth goes. Gradually, little snippets of her memory return, but it seems whoever is after her is able to get at her wherever she is hiding, in the hospital, in a woman’s refuge the detective places her in, then even in the home of the uncle of a women she is supposedly friends with at a dance studio she used to go to, called Lorraine Baglietti. It seems Lorraine’s daughter Gaby had seen Blue dance and wanted to be as good as her! Blue needs to rely on her instincts to survive whatever is happening to her and certainly staying under the care of DeLuca and even Lorraine, is not going to get her any answers. The next threat is to her mother, who she can only now vaguely remember from images of her childhood. She knows she is good at dancing, was raised around horses possibly on a farm, and can speak French, but where she lives or where her parents live is another matter altogether! She needs to put all the pieces of this puzzle together and they don’t show her in a great light, as what she can remember shows she worked in an illegal manner and was very good with figures. Did the latest deal she was working on wrong somehow, even though she never would reveal herself to clients or use her real identity? Somehow, she is being tracked and even Lorraine and DeLuca somehow manage to turn up just as she thinks she has eluded them. Nobody is quite what they seem and the people she was supposed to give the ruby to, are the most dangerous of all. A great puzzle of contradictory personas and some dangerous people, willing to kill to get what she has! She may not get out of this quite as she hoped, but deals must be done for the good of the majority sometimes! A great read that I really got into and ended up buying as I enjoyed it so much. Loads of twists and misdirection, then threats and being on the run, not knowing who to trust and finding out more about yourself as each day passes. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
Normally amnesia storylines aggravate me. They should be the ultimate mystery, because the main character can’t remember how they got there. Unfortunately, I can usually figure things out really soon with them. BUT in The Forgotten Girl, I was actually surprised and enjoyed the journey to recover memories! From the hospital, to running in the streets of NY, the reader is taken on a fast moving ride through blurry memories, revelations and suspicion. Blue is not what she seems, but she doesn’t know that either lol. The reader experiences everything for the first time, with her. You can’t help but get caught up in the chaos. I think reading this book on audio, takes things to a more immersive level. Though it is only one narrator, Jane Oppenheimer, she gives the illusion of many. Jane nailed male and female parts, along with accents that are not easy to replicate. This gave a fuller experience as the settings change throughout the book. I recommend this book for those that enjoy gathering clues for a bigger mystery!
The first positive is that the author is a good writer. So many books I’ve read lately has been full of grammar mistakes, but this author knows how to write. Since the premise is about a girl with amnesia, and the added suspense of being chased by bad guys, the story is captivating from the start. I felt that the writer did a great job of keeping the pace going at a fast speed. There were multiple gripping moments that would make this book a great source for a movie. The other characters were also interesting especially the cop and the friend that helps her out. I only wish there had been a different resolution, but I understand why it ended the way it did. I definitely recommend!
Blue awakes from a coma with no memory of what happened to her. This is the start of a journey that I certainly didn’t see coming. With no memory Blue has no idea who are the bad guys and who she can trust. She goes by instinct but can instinct always be trusted? As Blue unravels more and more of the mystery that is her past she finds out things she wishes she hadn’t. And all the while the bad guys are one step behind. But why? What does Blue have or know that makes them so desperate.
This was certainly an action packed thriller. Maybe a little too action packed at times. How many gun fights can you have in one lifetime? Nonetheless it was a thrilling and enjoyable read building to quite a climax.
Blue wakes up in the hospital after falling out of a hotel window. She doesn’t remember who she is or what happened to her. She must uncover her identity, and her past, with the help of Lorraine. However she is not totally sure ahead trusts Lorraine, or even trusts herself. This book has a lot going for it! It has mystery, intrigue and a bit of deceit. It took me a while to figure out who was the deceitful one though - well done! There were a lot if twists and turns, and at times I needed some suspended disbelief. But I was kept riveted to the book, and I just had to find out who Blue really was and what had happened to her!
Easy reading that close-up e we wake up and have no memory of the past only to find someone is trying to kill you? Suspense - murder- affair with cop - must read
Blue wakes in a hospital bed with no memory beyond her first name. The mystery of her accident and missing memories keeps you hooked. Not knowing who to trust, and who is after Blue. Action-packed and suspenseful, the story keeps you engaged till the very end. Narrator Jane Oppenheimer does a great job bringing the characters to life. If you enjoy psychological thrillers, this one is a must-read!
A very special thanks to @podiumaudio, @katerockbooktours, and @dacoauffenorde for the gifted copy.
If you're down for a new take on the psychological thriller, and you haven't read THE FORGOTTEN GIRL yet, then this is the book for you. Join Blue on her chilling quest to reclaim her identity and at the same time save her life. I hope you enjoy reading my book as much as I loved writing it.
Quick read for me, kept me going. One thing that bothered me is the name of the main character, since I just read another book, whose main characters name was the same. I found this very odd, so I kept waiting for the characters to be tied. They were not totally different reads. Good read
A great thriller. Fast paced from the first page and the kind of book you pick up and have a hard time putting down. Not a dull moment plus an interesting story line. Definitely keeps your attention. Would have wished for a different ending but it was realistic. Just most definitely a 5 star read.
Hello, psychological thriller. I cannot even contemplate what I would do if I was ‘Blue’ and waking up and finding myself in such a scenario. Unfortunately I bet a lot of people have been through or experienced a love one go through this. From the moment of realising that this could’ve been an intentional event I knew I would get sucked into the plot pretty quickly and oh boy did I get sucked in. For me I loved that this was a pretty exciting thriller and I loved feeling that pace. It wasn’t waiting for just one potential oh my god twist to happen it had this complete level of anticipation and suspense throughout especially when you know someone is wanting to get to Blue.
I loved the mystery and putting together the memories even if they weren’t always the best memories to be remembered. From the moment you begin you can feel the heat rising. I loved the detail and the descriptions and getting to vividly imagine what I could see through Blues eyes. I think I liked this because there was a series similar to this read which I thoroughly enjoyed and I had an urge to discover the forgotten secrets. If you love a page turner that doesn’t stop once you start you’ll absolutely love this. You find yourself not wanting to trust any of the characters throughout and the ending does not disappoint.
Loved the characters in this book .. I would never have guessed the outcome and believe me I tried. So many twists and turns .. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good thriller.
She lost her memory. Now she might lose her life. A beautiful woman wakes in a hospital bed, shackled and confused. She’s been in a coma for weeks. And can only remember her first name—Blue. Blue learns she fell from a window on the fourth floor of a hotel. Did she jump? Or was she pushed? To discover the truth, Blue must figure out who she is and what she was doing in that hotel. And she needs to do it fast. Because someone is out there, hunting Blue down, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Not knowing where to turn or who to trust, Blue must rely on her instincts to survive. Gradually, her memories begin to return, and they’re darker than she could ever have imagined. Will she put the pieces of her life back together before she’s silenced forever?
This is a brilliant read. Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start. Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable. Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously. Can't wait to read what the author brings out next. Recommend reading.
I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own hone\st voluntary review.
Starting reading and couldn't stop. The theme of the story was something I haven't come across in my usual choice of genre, but it certainly kept me glued to the pages. Caught myself holding my breath. Recommended read.
Waking up in a hospital two weeks after being thrown out a window, Blue doesn’t remember anything about who she is. What happened to her? Who can she trust?
This fast-paced novel follows Blue as she tries to figure out what happened while around every corner someone is trying to kill her.
Although there were a few laughable parts and some secondary characters that could have been fleshed out more, I enjoyed the story.
I recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced thriller that could easily be read in a day or two.
Thanks to the author and publisher for an advanced copy for my review.
The story opens with the main character Blue waking up in the hospital shacked to her bed. She only remembers her first name and has dissociative amnesia, which she received after falling from a 4 story building. Miraculously she survived with only minor injuries. Blue receives a phone call where someone tells her she will die unless she gives them the information they're after. With help from people around her she unlocks her memories in order to figure out what happened. Overall this was a great read I would definitely recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.
Forget Me Not is the story of a women who wakes up from a coma after a fall out of a four story window. She doesn't remember anything but when asked her name she replies "Blue."
As Blue learns about how she came to be in the hospital she questions did she jump or was she pushed? Blue is now being hunted and she needs to find out why and what has brought her to this quickly before they find her.
This was an action packed mystery from start to finish.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for an unbiased review.