Memory Minefield

Book excerpt: A seven-day pandemic results in less than one percent of the worldwide population forgetting everything. Ari Cortez is one of eight memory loss victims from her high school. Although her parents and best friend promise to guide her down a seamless path of self-discovery, their facts about who she was contradict each other, and she struggles to trust them. When Ari finds a letter with risky instructions on how to get her memories back, she jumps on the opportunity. Jeremy Sargo wakes up to discover that his best friend lost his memories and moved away. Struggling to deal with the sudden isolation, he plans a money-making scheme to distract himself by volunteering for paid research testing as a fake memory loss victim. Jeremy begins to enjoy this new persona, and he takes the scam one step too far. When the government funds memory loss counseling as part of the Mental Health Initiative Act, Ari and Jeremy cross paths every Tuesday and Saturday afternoon. While Ari struggles to find her memories, Jeremy fights to keep his a secret. But it's only a matter of time before their true identities are exposed.