The Memory Hit

by Carla Spradbery

On New Year's Eve, Jess's life is unrecognizable: her best friend is in the hospital, her boyfriend is a cheater. A drug-dealing cheater it would seem, after finding a stash of Nostalgex in his bag.

Nostalgex: a drug that stimulates memory. In small doses, a person can remember the order of a deck of cards, or an entire revision guide read the day before an exam. In larger doses it allows the user detailed access to their past, almost like watching a DVD with the ability to pause a moment in time, to focus on previously unnoticed details and to see everything they've ever experienced with fresh eyes. As Leon, the local dealer, says 'it's like life, only better.' What he fails to mention is that most memories are clouded by emotions. Even the most vivid memories can look very different when visited.

Across town Sam Cooper is in trouble. Again. This time, gagged and bound in the boot of a car. Getting on the wrong side of a drug dealer is never a good idea, but if he doesn't make enough money to feed and clothe his sister, who will?

On New Year's Day, Jess and Cooper's worlds collide. They must put behind their differences and work together to look into their pasts to uncover a series of events that will lead them to know what really happened on that fateful New Year's Eve. But what they find is that everything they had once believed to be true, turns out to be a lie ...

'A pleasingly dark teen thriller with fun, fresh characters. Spradbery is a debut author to watch.' James Dawson

• ISBN10: 144492026X
• ISBN13: 9781444920260
• Publish Date: 4 June 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Hodder Children's Books
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[boghunden]

I received this book as an earc from Netgalley and Hodder Children's Books


This was off to a very confusing start, but it got better as I kept reading.

There weren't that many characters, but I found it hard to tell them apart since they sounded so alike. It's told from different POVs, but I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell them apart if it wasn't for the big fat headline.
I didn't really connect that much with the characters except for Amy, Cooper's sister. She was a fine character. I also didn't really like the lack of parents in this book, it felt really weird that they didn't care one bit about their sons and daughters. Made the book feel less realistic to me.

As far as the plot goes, it was fine. It kept my interest, but at the same time it just wasn't that special. It was trying to be something it wasn't - I have no issue that it's dealing with drugs, but the perspective were just far off! The ending felt a bit rushed, it all had to be squeezed into the last 5-6%, and if I'm being completely honest, there's still things that I don't completely understand, such as how and when did Amy get into this? What was her motive? I know she wanted things to go back to normal, but she didn't want to be like her parents - unless she did want to, but she didn't. Yeah, didn't really get that part.