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This is Karen Thompson Walker’s third novel, and I’ve read all three in rapid succession. At first, I thought it was less like a novel than a psychiatrist’s patient notes, almost a documentary. But it is a novel and a wonderfully inventive one with numerous twists and developments � with which I insisted on regaling my husband as the story progressed. (I knew he wasn’t likely to read it or I’d have avoided spoilers.) The sections alternate between the notes and observations of psychiatrist Henry Byrd and the letters and thoughts of his patient, Jane O, who suffers from episodes of dissociative fugue � periods of time for which she would have almost no memory. She also had episodes of what she came to believe were hallucinations. But most baffling is that she knew things that she couldn’t possibly have known or made up.

The book has been called a thriller and speculative fiction, but I think it’s a mistake to assign a genre label, though it contains elements of those forms. This is literary fiction at its finest, a compelling story that explores the depths and mysteries of the human psyche, weaving in much of what’s known (and unknown) from such fields as history, physics, and psychiatry, along with Dr. Byrd’s musings about them.

While he wouldn’t admit to believing in supernatural events, Byrd nevertheless is open-minded. He seeks some way of understanding Jane’s case from a scientific point of view, recognizing that many areas of subjective experience cannot be explained, or indeed have not been adequately addressed by science. For instance, Byrd says, “It takes no courage to dismiss the unlikely. But some fields of science are composed almost entirely of the seemingly unbelievable. Take the concept in astrophysics of dark energy. Even more mysterious than dark matter and far outside my own field of knowledge, of course, but appealing to me because of the way it honors the fact that we do not yet understand all there is to understand.�

I listened to the audio editions of all three of Walker’s novels and loved the narrators in her first two books. In this one, I didn’t really care for the female narration of Jane’s side of the story. Especially in the first few chapters, the narrator’s voice seemed to vary greatly in volume in a way that didn’t seem necessary or consistent with the content. I kept turning the volume up and down, which was annoying. I did male narrator’s rendition of Dr. Byrd, the psychiatrist. The tone of his voice seemed a good match for Byrd’s portrayal as rather formal, careful, and professional at all times.

A fascinating tale. Jane’s case might remind you of the bizarre tales recounted by Oliver Sacks in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a book that inspired the author and kindled her “pleasure in being reminded that we don’t yet know all there is to know about the universe.� I highly recommend all three of her novels.

This is #33 of the 100 books I aim to read in 2025.