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Have You Seen Me?

Review

Have You Seen Me?

Finance journalist Ally Linden shows up at the office a little after 8:00 one morning, soaking wet and disheveled. To her further dismay, her key card isn’t in her purse. Luckily, another worker comes along and lets her in. Shortly thereafter, Damien, the company’s owner, arrives and is shocked to see her. It’s not her appearance that surprises him, but the fact that she’s there at all. As he points out to Ally, she hasn’t worked at the company for years. Well then, why did she come here today? She doesn’t know, nor does she know when she last left home.
 
Over the first several hours, Ally slowly begins to learn a few things about herself and where she’s been, yet more than a day remains lost to her. She has no clue what she was doing. Her husband, Hugh --- yes, she discovers she has a husband --- can fill in some pieces of the puzzle, but not all of them. The mystery nearly drives her mad. In an effort to quell her fears, she seeks help from her therapist, who cautions against pushing too hard to remember, explaining that the brain and psyche need rest in order to prevent a relapse. See, Ally had a dissociative episode. Scarier still, it can happen again at any time. While wanting to figure out why it happened in the first place, she must take it slow and allow herself to heal.

"The intense, nonstop suspense in Kate White’s HAVE YOU SEEN ME? propels Ally forward with dizzying speed, pulling readers along with her.... You won’t want to miss the stunning conclusion."

Ally is told that a traumatic event leading up to her blanking out could be what triggered it, or it could be something from deep in her past. That suggestion creates an upsurge of old memories, memories maybe best left undisturbed. But she is obsessed with finding out the truth. Could a long-ago horror really be what caused her to snap? Or something more recent? Something closer to home maybe? Something having to do with her husband? Hugh seems oddly detached lately. Is he being completely straight with her? Ally shakes off that idea. Hugh has nothing to hide. What about Damien? Her ex-boss keeps sending texts, asking about her recovery, but something feels off about them. They once had a romance, one she didn’t want to end, so her judgment might be skewed.
 
Ally would like to ask for the support of her best friend, but she claims she’s sick. And Ally’s dear brother offers his help, but that wife of his constantly interferes, pushing Ally to ease off. She decides that, aside from sessions with her therapist, she will need to handle this herself. The problem with that is she doesn’t know where to even begin to look. And asking the wrong people the wrong questions might get her answers that she doesn’t want to hear. Or worse, questions that might get her killed. Like, did she imagine it, or did someone purposely shove her that one evening? Is she being followed, or is she being paranoid? Ally can’t trust her own instincts, but she can’t trust anyone else’s either.
 
The intense, nonstop suspense in Kate White’s HAVE YOU SEEN ME? propels Ally forward with dizzying speed, pulling readers along with her. Awakening from a fugue state would terrify anyone, but then to feel completely vulnerable on the streets and in one’s own home, totally on one’s own, would be a nightmare. Ally Linden is living that nightmare, with no understanding of why. She hopes to find out before it’s too late. You won’t want to miss the stunning conclusion.

Reviewed by Kate Ayers on May 1, 2020

Have You Seen Me?
by Kate White