The Memory Eater by Rebecca Mahoney

Razorbill, 2023

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593524602

Available: Hardcover ( Bookshop.org )

Whistler Beach in Maine is a magical place, but frightening for those who know the truth. When was the last time Maine wasn’t like this? Stephen King didn’t invent the spookiness and weirdness of the state– it’s been there forever. Rebecca Mahoney has unchained the dark charms of the coastal region and churned out a beautiful storm of a YA novel that is tough to categorize. At different points, it could be considered horror, fantasy, thriller, or family drama. All fit, and that’s the charm of The Memory Eater

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Seventeen-year-old Alana Harlow has an interesting job. While she should be planning for college and enjoying the hell that is high school, she’s inherited the Harlow business. Every day, she treks down to the cave on the beach and helps people lose chosen memories– and makes sure they emerge alive.

Inside that cave resides a unique monster. The Memory Eater was brought into the country two hundred years ago by the Harlow family. Instead of killing the massive beast, they imprisoned her with a dark magic deep within the cavern. What does the creature look like? Two stories tall, or long, depending on the situation, and clever. Her flesh is covered in the faces of the memories she devours, and her own memories might not be her own. She speaks in riddles, hungry, aching to be filled with the lives of others. Mahoney has created a masterpiece of a beast here.

Alana guides guests into the cave to have unpleasant memories taken from them, while protecting the rest. The business keeps Whistler Beach bustling. The family business is a tricky, twisted history. Her own life is a mess, too, navigating romance and friendship while figuring out how to handle the weight of the job.

Then one day, the Memory Eater escapes, along with a bunch of secrets. The holes in Alana’s memory become crucial bits of the puzzle to survival and her family history.

The writing is lean and deceptively simple. Mahoney nails teen relationships and small town life. There’s a lot to digest in these pages, yet she has penned a novel that flows easy, allowing the horrors and relationships to build in waves.

Recommended.

Reviewed by David Simms