Plano Reads: What Rose Forgot
3 mins read

Plano Reads: What Rose Forgot

Read our review of What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr, a Mystery Book Club pick for August.

You can join us to virtually discuss What Rose Forgot on August 19 at 7 p.m. using Zoom! Register online here. Starting in September, Mystery Book Club returns to in-person meetings at Haggard Library. The September meeting will be a hybrid meeting: you can attend in person or attend through Zoom.

What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr

Currently available through the PPL Catalog as well as Overdrive and the Libby app.

Description from Overdrive:

Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she’s been committed to an Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she’s “not making it through the week,” Rose is convinced that if she’s to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape.

The only problem is—how does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her.

With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old granddaughter Mel, and Mel’s friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back—to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they’re holding all the cards.


book review

What Rose Forgot begins as a horrifying and scathing review of assisted living facilities but quickly pivots to a nail-biting thriller. Rose, the titular heroine, is quite the unreliable narrator as a woman who has lost her memory (either due to an illness -as she has been told- or drugs provided by the assisted living facility), but her quirkiness will win readers over in no time. As Rose tries to remember her past, she must also find out why a large man with a knife is trying to kill her. Nevada Barr excels at crafting a sometimes hilarious, but more oftentimes intense, thriller in this standalone title. Fans of Lisa Jackson, Margaret Maron, and Catherine Steadman will surely enjoy Barr’s What Rose Forgot.

Emery, Librarian

Nevada Barr is an award-winning novelist and New York Times best-selling author. She has a growing number of Anna Pigeon mysteries to her credit as well as numerous other books, short stories, and articles. She currently resides in New Orleans with her husband, four magical cats, and two adorable dogs.
–From the author’s website.


Read-alike titles available on Overdrive, the Libby app, and through PPL: