Forget You Know Me: A Novel

The next “masterful” (Publishers Weekly) novel from "the gifted Jessica Strawser" (Adriana Trigiani), hailed as “immensely satisfying” (Kathleen Barber) and “that book you can’t put down” (Sally Hepworth). A video call between friends captures a shocking incident no one was supposed to see.

The secrets it exposes threaten to change their lives forever.

Molly and Liza have always been enviably close. Even after Molly married Daniel, the couple considered Liza an honorary family member. But after Liza moved away, things grew more strained than anyone wanted to admit—in the friendship and the marriage.

When Daniel goes away on business, Molly and Liza plan to reconnect with a nice long video chat after the kids are in bed. But then Molly leaves the room to check on a crying child.

What Liza sees next will change everything.

Only one thing is certain: Molly needs her. Liza drives all night to be at Molly’s side—but when she arrives, the reception is icy, leaving Liza baffled and hurt. She knows there’s no denying what she saw.

Or is there?

In disbelief that their friendship could really be over, Liza is unaware she’s about to have a near miss of her own.

And Molly, refusing to deal with what’s happened, won’t turn to Daniel, either.

But none of them can go on pretending. Not after this.

Forget You Know Me is a “twisty, emotionally complex, powder keg of a tale” (bestselling author Emily Carpenter) about the wounds of people who’ve grown apart. Best friends, separated by miles. Spouses, hardened by neglect. A mother, isolated by pain.

One moment will change things for them all.

"[A] great hybrid of women's fiction and suspense...strong character development and unpredictable plot." - Library Journal

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Published Mar 3, 2020

336 pages

Average rating: 7.25

4 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

JHSiess
Feb 03, 2024
8/10 stars
Author Jessica Strawser knows how to grab readers' attention immediately. As Forget You Know Me opens, two long-time friends, Molly and Liza, have finally carved out time for a "girls' night" while Molly's husband, David, is away on a business trip. But since Liza lives in Chicago, and Molly resides in Cincinnati, they are getting together via a video call, When Molly leaves the room to check on one of her children, the call captures a shocking and frightening incident that no one was supposed to see. And the ramifications forever change the lives of both women, whose friendship has been strained the past couple of years following Liza's move. Molly's marriage has also become strained almost to the point of breaking. Molly has ensured a series of physical ailments, and instead of those challenges bringing them closer, the emotional distance between has continued to grow.

In light of what she sees on the video call, Liza drives all night to be at Molly's side, only to be rebuffed when she arrives. She returns to Chicago convinced that their long friendship is really over. However, when she gets home, she is shocked to find that she has narrowly escaped calamity herself and that only exacerbates Liza's long battle with anxiety.

Female friendships are complicated during the best of times. But secrets and lies can signal their death knell, no matter how close and enduring the relationship has been up to that juncture. In Forget You Know Me, neither Liza nor Molly wants their strong bond and shared history to evaporate, but neither of them is sure whether they can regain the closeness they have enjoyed for so many years. What is clear is that they will never be able to carry on unless they are honest with each other.

Molly and David have secrets of their own. In Molly's case, her desperate search for healing and wellness has led her to try various alternative modalities that are costly and not covered by insurance. Rather than tell David the truth, she has attempted to negotiate a deal to pay off the bills she has amassed. A deal that has put her and her family in grave danger. David, meanwhile, has not been honest with Molly about his whereabouts, but he has confided in her about the financial malfeasance he has discovered in his workplace. And he has to decide whether he has the courage to stand up and do the right thing, even as he devises ways to save his marriage. David is worried that Molly has launched an extramarital affair with their neighbor, Rick, a widower raising a troubled young daughter with whom Molly and their daughter, Nori, have been spending a lot of time.

Forget You Know Me is a contemporary tale of best friends, spouses, and a mother who has become increasingly isolated by pain and her own unwise choices. Strawser has given her characters multiple challenges and complications with which to deal, but expertly pulls the various unpredictable threads of her story lines together in a cohesive, plausible manner. That video call sets in motion a series of actions that, at long last, mean secrets must come to light and relationships must be explored. The characters have each -- in his/her own way -- reached a crisis point individually and collectively. Strawser's portrait of three lead characters under immense pressure unfolds from each one's unique perspective.

The result is a compelling and emotionally rich story about the ways in which neglect, indifference, and harbored resentments eat away at relationships. Strawser demonstrates, through her characters' actions, how fear -- of judgment, of consequences, of abandonment -- feeds that erosion. She also illustrates how truth and honesty can heal. Each of Strawser's characters is endearing in his/her own right, but deeply flawed in ways with which readers will readily empathize.

Ultimately, Forget You Know Me is entertaining, thought-provoking, and will leave readers feeling hopeful and resolute.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Readers' Copy of the book.
Firesmythe
Feb 26, 2023
10/10 stars
Yet another fantastic novel by Jessica Strawser. The subtlety within the novel of just going about your daily life while under the surface everything is flowing out of control is page turning bliss for this story. I felt a strong bond with each character and only found myself wishing things could have gone differently with just one character. All in all a great read that I highly recommend.

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