Jake and Clara are seated next to each other on a plane headed to Denver. Pleasantries are exchanged, as they will be sitting next to each other for a few hours, and yet each one feels there’s a familiarity that they know the other. Twenty questions is started, and with each one asked, it’s a no answer. Was never there. Don’t live there. Never heard of it. Didn’t go to that school. Never been in that direction and so on. Then before the depart, Clara drops a secret that unsettles Jake.

Jake heads off to his hotel to prepare for the job he has been hired and flown out there for. Clara heads off to complete what she feels is a mission. Something she needs to do for herself, this secret as it’s become as the only person who knows is the stranger she told on the plane. She still does not even know why she told him. Jake heads off to write the memoirs of a dying man but things seem odd when he starts talking with him.

Clara and Jake still cannot get the other out of their mind. Something is there, just beyond the surface. Each has a flashback from their childhood but it doesn’t make sense and they’ve both always had memory issues. Jake while sitting in the hotel bar has a woman approach him, she tells him she wants to help him and the things are not at all as they appear. His memoir job is not really what he thinks it is, and his memory issues- there’s a reason for that.

Strange things start happening and this woman may have the answer to the link of him and Carla, but they need to work together to figure out all the pieces. But Carla! She is off on her mission, and he needs to find her then. She is part of the answer, he hopes he can get to her in time. Things spiral out of control and soon Jake is immersed in what feels like a movie. Running from bad guys, shooting someone for self defense and not sure who to trust anymore.

This was a good, twisty psychological thriller. Just on the edge of getting out there, but real enough to be believable. Thank you to the author for the free autographed copy I won in an email giveaway. ( )

The Dead Girl in 2A is heartbreakingly dark and wonderfully twisted. It pulled me into the world of the story from the very beginning, and still hasn’t completely let go. It explores memory and tragedy in a strange and interesting way, and I love the writing style. It’s honestly hard to write a review without spoiling some really great details and moments, but this book is one I would definitely recommend to lovers of psychological thrillers and anyone looking for a fun and fast read. And Carter Wilson has officially become one of my must read authors.

I received a free e-copy of The Dead Girl in 2A by Carter Wilson from Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for my review. ( )

The entire time I read THE DEAD GIRL IN 2A I was seeing it as a movie.

The opening scene would be on an airplane, row 2. There, Jake and Clara would meet by chance. Or is it by chance? They each think they recognize the other; they must have met before but do not remember where or when.

Turns out both have issues with their lost memories. Clara tells Jake she plans to kill herself. After they deplane in Denver, they each go their separate ways, but you know they’ll meet again.

The remaining scenes would mostly be lovely, with the mountains as a backdrop. This is where Clara and Jake find and face their memories. But there are men from long ago, a past neither remembers, who want those memories.

I even have a picture of Jake in my mind. He looks just like Carter Wilson, the author of THE DEAD GIRL IN 2A. Clara would be someone a little too thin, which could be almost any actress in Hollywood.

Although I see this book as a movie, maybe a limited series on one of the television networks would work better. Someone really should pick it up as one or the other. ( )

On a flight to Denver, Jake Buchanan strikes up a conversation with his seatmate, Clara Stowe. Although they’re strangers, both are certain they’ve met before. But they can’t identify any shared moments and, as they continue their conversation, Clara tells Jake she’s heading for Aspen and the Maroon Bells where she intends to kill herself.

And when the plane lands, Clara’s swallowed up in the airport crowd and she disappears.

Well-drawn characters and an intriguing plot . . . filled with both complications and unexpected twists . . . combine to create palpable suspense. But manipulation and memories are at the heart of this suspenseful narrative; tension builds as the well-written story, told alternately by Jake and Clara, pulls readers into the telling of the tale. Paranoia defines this creepy story that readers will find difficult to set aside before turning the final page.

Recommended. ( )

The Dead Girl in 2A isn’t actually dead, she is just about to be. That is what Clare tells Jake who is sitting next to her on the flight to Denver.She might not have been so open with a stranger, but she has this odd sense she knows him from somewhere. Jake has the same feeling of recognition and is equally unable to place her, but then both of them have trouble with their memories. Neither can remember their childhood and struggle with little details in short-term memory.

They go their separate ways at the airport, while Jake goes to meet his ghostwriting client and she heads off to her planned suicide. Now why Jake did not hang onto Clare like a limpet, trying to dissuade her from her intention to commit suicide is beyond me, but folks do some inexplicable things in this book. We soon learn Clare and Jake have more in common than first class seating and trouble remembering as Elle finds Jake to warn him that he and Clare are both seemingly victims of a medical experiment that has gone awry.

I loved Carter Wilson’s “Mister Tender’s Girl” so much that I was eager for The Dead Girl in 2A. I found the story compelling and kept reading to the end. I liked Jake and Clare even though I thought they made some ridiculous choices, such as joining a medical trial or letting Clare wander off to kill herself. Wilson knows how to tell a compelling story.

My problem with The Dead Girl in 2A is the level of conspiratorial complexity was just too much for me. I don’t like James Bond either.

I received an e-galley of The Dead Girl in 2A from the publisher through NetGalley

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