Rating:

The Pain Of Remembering

Author: Adam Sternbergh

Memories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you open and leave you in pieces. ~ Richard Kadrey

The entire town of Caesura is filled with criminals – killers, rapists, and worse. The twist? They don’t know it.

Welcome to Caesura, or The Blinds as the locals call it. They’re all here for life, for better or worse. They all got here by accepting a desperate deal, allowing the memory of their crimes or, in rare instances, of what they have witnessed, to be wiped free. In exchange, they must live here forever, outside of civilization, under the watchful eye of the Institute that expunged their memory and continues to monitor their well-being. It’s a fresh start, but everyone has their doubts, the nagging sense that they have done something terrible and the desperate hope that they are a true innocent: that rare person in the wrong place, at the wrong time, who cannot bear to remember. But can a leopard change its spots? There’s only one gun in town, which belongs to Sherrif Cooper, yet there has been a rash of shootings. Is this social experiment doomed? Are residents reliving their deepest, darkest desires? Has someone remembered something, or has a vengeful outside world finally found this hidden enclave of the desperate and isolated?

The Blinds is an interesting concept, with a half science-fiction and half western vibe. It’s told from multiple viewpoints, but mainly oscillates between Fran and Sherrif Cooper. Fran is a pregnant woman who arrived, her mind wiped clean. The only child in Caesura lives with her, and Fran knows that this town cannot provide a real childhood, but she’s terrified to leave, especially after what has happened to those who struck out into the world again. She may or may not be innocent, but this child, he certainly is, and he deserves better.

The other character, a more multifaceted personage with some baggage in his past, is the down and out Sherriff with secrets. Cooper fits right in here, because he’s not the good guy either. The only thing is, he took this job knowingly. He knows who he is and what he’s done, and he finds refuge here among the broken and depraved. Yet . . . something about Fran and that lonely child pulls at him, inspires him to be better. It may be a redemption of sorts, or just another delusion in a long-running experiment. Who’s to say?

Image by Peter Middleton from Pixabay

As the escalating violence in town gets the Institute’s attention, Cooper weighs his options. Outsiders are starting to come into the town, to investigate, and the residents are stirred, a restless horde. Meanwhile, a new shipment of amnesiac criminals is arriving. Two of them, however, aren’t what they seem. Both have agendas that tie into the bigger scheme. The stakes are escalating, the experiment is rushing towards a conclusion, and the leopard is shifting in the tree, dark spots morphing into the blackness of its intent. Buckle up, because this is a wild, violent, heartbreaking, and somewhat redemptive ride.

The Blinds has a big cadre of characters, but our main person is Cooper. He is surprisingly compelling in all his excuse making, his shady brand of self-justified morality, and his one soft spot that almost redeems him and leads to a bombshell conclusion. The other characters, including Fran to some extent, are more stories than people, and we are left to wonder along with Cooper if change is really possible or if criminality is somehow buried in the DNA. Can killers stop killing? Can the desire be forgotten, even if the memories are? Well . . . there’s something bigger at play anyway, so hold that thought and watch your back.

The conclusion has some great reveals that tie into the story well, it’s only the very last few moments that destroy the momentum and the strange reality that author Adam Sternbergh crafted. If only we could forget those final moments at the Institute, that fake leverage that makes no sense, that dramatic yet unjustified conclusion. Everything that lead up to this moment was viable and lively, but the final face-to-face leaves much to be desired, perhaps because the Institute and its headwoman were made altogether too powerful and the town’s residents too powerless, despite their history of extreme violence. Still, we can cast our eyes away from those last few pages and instead just enjoy the revelations, the innovation and creation, and Cooper’s struggles with “the right thing,” something he has never done nor felt compelled to do before a child came to this sad town. Recommended.

 

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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