The Memory Foundation - by Amanda West (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Wealthy clients looking for the cure for memory loss find themselves trapped in a remote mountainous facility in this ingenious thriller, perfect for fans of Blake Crouch and Alex Michaelides.

Struggling new single mom Natasha Walker is desperate to get back to her job as an investigative journalist. When she receives an anonymous tip about the Memory Foundation, a secretive research clinic that promises the cure for memory loss, she is instantly intrigued. Given her mother's dementia diagnosis, the story hits close to home. Despite the perilous snowbound location, she's determined to uncover the truth about the mysterious founders and their patients.

Meanwhile, Lydia Hunter has faithfully worked alongside her husband, Wade, the founder of the Memory Foundation, to revolutionize the way the world understands memory. But the research is expensive, and they're hemorrhaging money. In order to gain more financial support, they open up the facility to an exclusive group of wealthy guests, promising that each one will experience a "memory flight" that will allow them to relive precious memories.

But when the wealthy clients arrive at the Memory Foundation, set high in the Alps in an area prone to avalanches, all is not what it seems. And when the weather takes a turn for the worse and power outages and a growing sense of paranoia begin affecting everybody, it becomes clear that no one at the Memory Foundation will ever be the same--and not everyone will survive the week.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Memory Foundation
"West's debut is a thriller that plays with the ways the protagonists remember their lives. She builds tension and paranoia before ratcheting up to a gripping climax . . . A great book for fans of Blake Crouch's Dark Matter or Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife."
--Booklist

"The questions at the heart of Amanda West's gripping thriller The Memory Foundation are unnerving and profound: who are we without our memories? And what if memory became a tool for manipulation and control? . . . A smart and beautifully written page-turner."
--Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author

"A locked room mystery with a sci-fi twist; original, claustrophobic and chilling"
--Jackie Kabler, USA Today bestselling author of The Revenge Plot and Run for Your Life

"Nothing is quite what it seems in this white-knuckle ride of a book about memory and manipulation . . . All the ingredients for an unputdownable thriller."
--Kate Riordan, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Heatwave and Summer Fever

"The Memory Foundation is a pacy, chilling thriller, with a twist you won't see coming and an ending you won't forget."
--Jo Callaghan, Sunday Times bestselling author of In the Blink of an Eye series

"Amanda tries her hand at something different in this speculative thriller set in a frozen landscape - and, boy, does it pay off . . . Immensely readable."
--Fiona Cummins, bestselling author of All of Us are Broken and Some of Us are Liars

"A journalist's burning curiosity about a cure for dementia gets her in too deep. A twisty thriller of obsession and deceit, where the chapters pulse with ever-increasing tension. A chilling and truly gripping tale."
--Jane Bailey, author of Stay and Sorry Isn't Good Enough

"Amanda West is terrific at capturing characters with broken hearts and broken pasts. The thrill of this novel is not only the propulsive plot and mystery . . . but also the secrets that each character keeps."
--Alice Kuipers, author The Death of Us and Me and Me

"The Memory Foundation is a chilling, unsettling and beautifully written thriller. With two narrative strands as unpredictable underfoot as the avalanche-prone setting, this is a gripping, clever novel about memory, control and choice."
--Nicci Cloke, author of Her Many Faces

"I loved The Memory Foundation and I raced through it. It was so atmospheric, intriguing and clever. Unputdownable."
--Karen Hamilton, author of The Contest

"Obsession and memory drive this compelling and twisty thriller . . . The sort of book you find yourself reaching for in every spare moment until you finally reach the end."
--Andrea Stewart, author of Someone Else's Daughter

"Filled with secrets, billionaires, and no shortage of deception . . . just as diabolical and addictive as anything by Ruth Ware, and certainly stands shoulder to shoulder with The Woman in Cabin 10."
--Urban Waite, reviewer and author of The Terror of the Living

About the Author

Amanda West is the pen name of Amanda Reynolds, whose debut novel, Close to Me, was published in 2017 by Headline and was adapted in 2021 by NENT Studios UK as a major TV series starring Connie Nielsen and Christopher Eccleston, which aired worldwide (Channel 4 in the UK and Sundance AMC in the US).

Since then, she has published five more psychological thrillers as Amanda Reynolds, two more with Headline and three with Boldwood Books. Her Husband's Lie, published in 2024, spent two months in the Kindle Top 100 and has hundreds of five-star reviews. Her books are translated into multiple languages with bestsellers in Finland, Brazil, and Poland.

Amanda Reynolds lives in Cheltenham with her husband and their golden retriever. She is an author coach with the Novelry. The Memory Foundation is her first speculative thriller.