Review: The Summer We Forgot - Caroline George
Review: The Summer We Forgot - Caroline George - March 2022
Starting a new job this week has completely thrown my reading routine off balance. Between the longer days, shorter breaks, and the mental exhaustion that comes with learning everything from scratch, I've barely had time to crack open a book. Yet somehow, I managed to squeeze in three reads this past week, and The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George was one of them – a testament to how gripping this YA thriller turned out to be.
The premise immediately hooked me: a group of teenagers who attended summer camp two years ago have absolutely no memory of what happened there, especially regarding their teacher who mysteriously vanished. It's like someone took an eraser to that entire summer in their minds. Some kids remember fragments – fleeting images, half-formed feelings – but the rest is a complete void they've learned to live with. That is, until their teacher's body surfaces, clearly murdered, and suddenly their forgotten summer becomes everyone's problem.
What really kept me turning pages during my brief lunch breaks was the psychological thriller element. Someone knows what happened at that camp, and they're not keeping quiet. The teens start receiving anonymous messages, texts, and even videos showing events from that summer they can't remember. It's genuinely unsettling, and Caroline George does an excellent job building that creeping dread as the blackmailer tightens their grip.
The mystery deepens when one of the group goes missing, forcing the remaining teens to work together despite their fragmented memories and growing paranoia. There's something compelling about watching characters piece together their own lost history while being hunted by someone who remembers everything they've forgotten.
However, I'll admit the resolution left me feeling a bit deflated. After all that buildup and psychological tension, the explanation for their memory loss felt somewhat anticlimactic. Without spoiling anything, it just didn't pack the punch I was hoping for after such an intriguing setup. Similarly, when the blackmailer's identity was revealed, it felt like a letdown – not quite living up to the sinister presence they'd maintained throughout the story.
Despite these shortcomings, The Summer We Forgot is still a solid YA thriller that kept me engaged during a particularly hectic week. Caroline George creates genuine suspense and explores interesting themes about memory, trauma, and how we cope with things we can't understand. While the ending didn't quite stick the landing for me, the journey there was worth the read – especially when you're stealing moments between learning new job responsibilities and trying to maintain some semblance of a reading life.
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