The Memory Game by Sharon Sant

"If there is a hell, I think maybe this is it."

Three weeks after fifteen-year-old David died, he is still hanging around and he doesn't know why. The only person who can see and hear him is the girl he spent his school days bullying. 

Bethany is the most hated girl at school. She hides away, alone with her secrets until, one day, the ghost of a boy killed in a hit-and-run starts to haunt her. 

Together, they find that the end is only the beginning...

Star Rating

I received a copy of 'The Memory Game' from the author, Sharon Sant, for an honest review.

With it's explosive and shocking start, 'The Memory Game' grips the reader from start to finish. The story begins with fifteen year old David looking down on his dead body at the scene of a hit  and run accident. The story is told in the first person and the reader is immediately drawn into the story wondering who David is and what has happened to him - "I should go somewhere, but I can't seem to leave my corpse alone. It looks so... vulnerable. Stupid, I know - it's just a body now, after all." 

As soon as I had read the first couple of pages I just knew that this book wasn't going to disappoint! The story had a 'Lovely Bones' feel to it with David watching life go on without him. It was interesting to read about the repercussions of death from the victim rather than the grieving family. Sharon Sant made many references to the loneliness and emptiness of death as the ghost of David came to terms with what had happened to him "I feel like an empty crisp bag on the wind, blown around, useless and unwanted. I'm like a walking memory." It was heartbreaking to see David wandering along the school corridors, unseen, unheard and unwanted. 

After a frustrated tantrum in the school assembly, David realises that Bethany Willis, a girl in his year group, can see him. The rest of the story focuses on the relationship between these two characters as they begin to build a strong friendship together. David and Bethany begin to spend every waking second together and the reader, along with David, enters upon a journey of discovery - who is the real Bethany Willis and why is she the only person who can see and hear David? On this journey, Sharon Sants introduces us to some very dark and mature themes that will stay with the reader long after finishing the book! It made me realise that you can never truly know what goes on behind closed doors and that families all over the world must hold hidden secrets and untold truths. 

It is the dark themes in this book that make it stand out and sets it aside from many other YA books out there. Sharon Sant is one of those authors who can make the reader laugh, gasp and cry. The ending is superb and was exactly how I wanted the story to finish. I feel privileged to have been asked to read this wonderful book that I am sure will stay with me for a long time. A five star read and highly recommendable!