Book Review: Water Memory by Daniel Pyne

About:

Water Memory by Daniel Pyne is a thriller following Aubrey Sentro, a black ops specialist, with brain damage, trying to survive a pirate attack on a ship, while contemplating her life, motherhood, and career.  Mr. Pyne is an author, educator and screenwriter who currently lives in Los Angeles.

• 365 pages
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1542025036

My rat­ing for Water Memory — 4
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Thoughts:

I’m a sucker for espionage books, as a bonus my wife wanted to read this book as well. Water Memory by Daniel Pyne, however, is more of a black-ops story for the middle-age folks who can relate to the struggles of Aubrey Sentro, while piling on top outrageous events with twists around every corner.

The protagonist of the book is a widow, mother, as well as a combat veteran (did they have women in combat 30 years ago?). She is now working for a company specializing in ransom/rescue efforts. Aubrey’s memory is damaged from a lifetime of physical abuse because of her work. Subsequently she hides that from her co-workers and family, a family, by the way, who doesn’t know what she’s been doing for a living the past few decades.

Aside from these very unlikely scenarios, Water Memory by Daniel Pyne works very well. The confusion and frustration Ms. Sentro feels when her brain fails her is, sadly, starting to be familiar. The actions sequences are very well written, suspenseful, and as I mentioned, twists and turns galore. The narrative is not fast paced, however there is a lot of inner monologue, very descriptive language, and flashbacks which certainly flesh out the story, which I found sometimes helpful, sometimes distracting. I don’t think the marketing for this book did it justice by promising a fast-paced story.

The book is marketed as first of a series (Aubrey Sentro #1), so I wonder where the author will go from here since Ms. Sentro’s secrets are now out in the open.

Synopsis:

Aubrey Sentro knows something is wrong. Her brain is not working right, she keeps forgetting names of people she works with, events and appointments. A lifetime risking her life as a spy is taking its toll.

Aubrey’s husband is dead, and her kids see her as a bad mom, which she was, but don’t know the reasons. She decides to take a vacation and ends up on a freight ship which gets hijacked by pirates.

Buy Water Memory from Amazon.com*
More Books by Daniel Pyne*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book from the Amazon First Reads Program
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account