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The unreliable narrator of THE FORGETTING PLACE, Dr. Lise Shields, is a psychiatrist at an asylum for the criminally insane outside of Baltimore. The facility's name, Menaker State Hospital, seems to carry an onomatopoetic menace that plays out over the course of the book. Dr. Shields' name quickly takes on its own reference, as a young man is brought to the hospital and placed in her care with no paper trail of records. The hospital director and others at the hospital seem intent on setting up a cloak of secrecy around the new patient, Jason. As Lise learns more about Jason, she uncovers a terrorist plot that circles around him and finds herself striving to protect him in his new hiding place, the correctional facility.
As violent events swirl around Lise at the hospital, putting her as well as Jason in jeopardy and resulting in her kidnapping, she relives her childhood memories of a schizophrenic uncle who came to live with Lise and her family during the summer when she was eight years old. Lise developed a close relationship with her uncle that year, when her uncle told her repeatedly that he and she were alike, different from other people. That summer, and what happened with her uncle, were the reasons that she became a psychiatrist and went to work at Menaker.
Jason's memories of his childhood are also sprinkled throughout the book. He realized he was gay when he was quite young, and he was mercilessly bullied. His sister, who later became a counter-terrorist, protected him throughout his childhood. That sister is missing after playing a role in the terrorist plot that sent Jason to Menaker for refuge. Lise struggles to uncover even this much of Jason's background and, throughout the book, she is perpetually fighting the dark forces at work arising from her own past, Jason's past, and from present threats.
The action scenes are mixed thoroughly with both the psychological danger and a palpable sense of menace, creating a book that is very difficult to put down. The atmosphere is dark and brooding, and the buildings themselves seem to embody this menace. In keeping with Lise's use of the word "asylum" to refer to the correctional facility, the book has a gothic feel, although the action scenes include modern references to terrorism, the Iraq war, and weaponry. This juxtaposition of the old and the new further disorients the reader, creating a sense of things not being quite right. By the end of the book, the reader is as confused as Lise is, so the sense of things falling into place during the final pages is an immense relief.
Burley does a fantastic job of bringing mental illness to life in THE FORGETTING PLACE. Even in the midst of creepy undertones, there is kindness and understanding toward those afflicted with mental illness. This book includes a fast-moving, engaging plot, psychological insight, and a fully realized sense of place without sacrificing any one to another. Start this book when you have a few hours to devote to it, because you won't want to put it down until you have finished it.
§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, February 2015
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