ADRIFT, Lisa Brideau’s debut novel, is a terrific thriller with an amnesiac protagonist who is navigating a world similar to yet starkly different from our own and still picking up the pieces from a pandemic.

She goes by Ess because her actual name has slipped her mind. After waking up aboard a sailboat somewhere in a remote part of the Pacific Northwest, Ess slowly starts to recall some details. Initially, she couldn’t remember anything at all, not even the prior day. As she looks around the cabin of the Sea Dragon, she comes across a cryptic note written in a hand she doesn’t recognize:

There are pills in the drawer for the headaches.
You want answers, but this has been done to keep you from them.
This is the only way out alive.
Start over.
Don’t make yourself known.
Don’t look back.

"ADRIFT is the ideal title for this engaging novel as Ess is adrift both physically and mentally in a frightening new world that provides her with few answers."

Ess scours the small craft and notices some envelopes containing information that might be helpful. Paperwork with the name Sarah Song is found there, but that means nothing to her. She learns that the year is 2038, and supposedly she was born in 2004. The GPS tells her that she is tucked away in the archipelago of Haida Gwaii off the coast of British Columbia and south of Alaska.

Ess sails through rough waters to an unknown town where she hopes to settle down. She always has the feeling that she is being watched and does not doubt that whoever wrote that note is invested enough to still keep tabs on her. Her solitude is broken when she is visited by Hito, a member of the Harbour Patrol who has some routine questions for her. They live in a dangerous new world, and any stranger is treated suspiciously.

Hito scans her boat permit and finds that the ship has a “do not board” status. He apologizes and remains hands off. However, this doesn’t keep him from inviting her out to see the local town of Nanaimo. She begins an innocent relationship with him and meets his eccentric artist sister, Yori. She also comes into contact with some people who obviously know her from her former life and tell her about the man with whom she was always seen.

Word then spreads that several dozen people are suffering from a form of amnesia. Whether this is a byproduct of whatever virus still exists or something that was consciously done to these individuals remains to be seen. While Ess is settling into her new existence with ease, she knows she must make a decision about whether to stay as she is and enjoy her new life, or to continue to learn who she really was and why her memory was wiped.

Seizures begin to wrack Ess’ body, which makes her realize that she must determine exactly what was done to her. The problem is that it was done for a reason, and it might be more dangerous for her to find out why.

ADRIFT is the ideal title for this engaging novel as Ess is adrift both physically and mentally in a frightening new world that provides her with few answers. Congratulations to Lisa Brideau for producing such an enjoyable and intriguing read. If this story is any indication of what is to come from her, then please sign me up for her next release.