The Date by Louise Jensen

Author: Louise Jensen 

Title: The Date

Publisher: Grand Central 

Published: 2018

Pages: 368

Genre: Thriller 

     Something bad has happened to Alison Taylor. Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, she is excited. She is about to take a step into her new future. By Sunday morning, Ali's life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows that something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt and she has no memory of what happened to her. Worse still, when she looks in the mirror, Ali doesn't recognize the face staring back at her. She can't recognize her friends and family. And she can't recognize the person who is trying to destroy her...

     Jensen is an author whose work I have enjoyed many times over. She creates narratives with complex twists and heroes that seem very relatable to us. But for some reason or another she slipped from my current reading pile, I guess other works took her place. So whilst working out what to read next I thought it might be time to slip back into her books. In part, I went with The Date as it seemed like more of a mystery novel. Having been a bit heavy on the murders as of late and I thought it might make for a bit of a change of peace. And as she is an author I completely trust to give me a great thriller it kinda seemed like a no-brainer. What more could you ask for than an author whose work you have willed away many an enjoyable hour with.

     We are thrust into the mind of Ali a person not exactly at the best point in her life. She is struggling to find balance in a world that has most certainly put her truth the ringer. So you would think that going on a few dates might be a bit of fun and she might even find a little love along the way. But I think even most of our worst dates would not add up to just how bad Ali's life is about to get because of hers. Can you imagine waking up not only covered in blood and losing the ability to see people's faces? I can say for myself that this would definitely be something that would scare the hell out of me. In a strange sort of way, it makes her story all the more claustphobic. We become completely reliant on her ability to try and work out who she is with. We are left at the mercy of someone that is questioning not only everyone around her but also just how she came to be in this predicment. Only made worse but some slightly fishy behavior of those that she calls friends and family. 

     As ever Jensen brings her superb style of writing to bear on us. It's so easy to get lost in her storytelling, each detail is worth pinning to our mental mind boards for later use. This can be tricky as I would say this time around that the story moves along at a much quicker pace. We are hardly left any time to stop and take account of what is taking place. In part, as I said before this is due to the use of the medical condition prosopagnosia. It's one that works well here but I was left feeling that in a much longer novel it would soon become a bit tiresome. As ever when using a medical condition as one of the backbones of your work it's fine but you best be ready to back it up with a good narrative.  Which is handy as I can once again rely on her to have a well-thought-out story to hand. She clearly takes a great deal of care in constructing her works from the ground up. And whilst not everything gets wrapped up in a nice little bow, she does always give us a very satisfying ending to her work. 

     Now is this my favorite of her books? Well, the answer is probably not but that is ok. We all like different works for different reasons. She still gave me an entering book that I was more than happy to spend a few hours with. Her tales are always ones that keep you going forward and wanting to learn what really took place. And is that not the mark of a great author. Someone who can time and again bring us back and make us enjoy the adventure. And sometimes it's just nice to have a bit of escapism and a tale to try and untwist all wrapped up between the covers.