Nameless Series by Dean Koontz and When I Was You and The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent

In a series of six short stories or novellas, Dean Koontz presents different episodes in the life of a man who doesn't know his own name, can't remember his life prior to two years ago, and suspects that his amnesia has been induced at his request.

His mission is to take down targeted evil doers.  He doesn't know who assigns the targets, but with each case, he is provided with a fake name, appropriate identification, a thorough background of the individual...and anything else he might need.  The operation is well-organized and well-funded, but the man knows little more than his own role.

Each short story/novella takes an hour or so to read and is like an episode in a book with each case resolved before another assignment appears.  

In an unusual move, the "Nameless" series is only released in electronic and audio formats, and you can download them free if you are an Amazon Prime member.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz comes Memories of Tomorrow, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

I went through the series in late December and enjoyed them.  Dean Koontz knows how to capture and hold your attention. 

When I Was You by Minka Kent.  Brienne Dougray was brutally attacked and barely survived.  Now she suffers from terrible headaches and memory loss and a near constant fear that her attacker will return.

When an attractive doctor becomes a tenant in her home, Brienne feels more secure, but her fear of her unknown attacker keeps her largely housebound and depressed.  Her old active and more social life has disappeared.

Then she discovers that someone has stolen her identity and is imitating her life in alarming detail.  Brienne is forced to leave her house to find out more about this woman.  What she discovers is more complicated and disturbing than what she originally assumed.

Interesting, but not exceptional, I liked it enough to get another of Kent's novels.


Thomas & Mercer.
Psychological Suspense.  Feb. 1, 2020.  Print length:  282 pages.

The Stillwater Girls is another standalone by Minka Kent.  Two young women are living alone in an isolated cabin in the woods.  Their mother left months earlier to try to get medical help for their younger sister, but never returned.  Food is running low, winter is coming, and they don't know how they will survive.

When a strange man shows up at the cabin, he tells them he plans to take them to town.  Having been raised to fear any outsider and told never to leave the forest, the young women are terrified and eventually escape after drugging the man.  

Not very believable, but entertaining.  There are actually two parallel stories being told that coincide, but the plot seems too contrived.  

Thomas & Mercer.
Mystery.  2019.  Print length:  256 pages.

Both books kept my attention and had some interesting characters and plots, but felt a little too convenient.  I liked, but didn't love them.