Trust No One by Paul Cleave

Acclaimed thriller author Jerry Grey is given some devastating news: at the ripe age of forty nine, he’s been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.  Not knowing how to cope with his newfound illness, Jerry begins a project dubbed “The Madness Journal”, a guide for him to refer to when the disease ravages his brain.

I received an advanced copy from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

Trust No One feels like two stories inside one novel.  Using alternating chapters, one will feature excerpts from Jerry’s madness journal – written in the first person – while the next will be following present day Jerry – written through a narrative style.  Over the past year or so, I’ve grown to like this approach to storytelling, after being resistant to it for so long.  I feel like it works best with a story like Trust No One, a unique situation where the main character is essentially presented as two different people.

Through the beginning stages of the Madness Journal, past-Jerry has his wits about him, but as time rolls on, you can slowly see him falling victim to the disease, suffering from relentles confusion and paranoia.  Skipping ahead to present day Jerry is especially heartbreaking.  He has no idea where he is, often forgetting important moments in his life, and is constantly convinced people are either lying or manipulating him.

I found that some of the scenes tended to feel a bit repetitive as the novel wore on.  Having to listen to other characters tell Jerry – or have Jerry suddenly remember – important events and people over and over again cooled the story down during points where the action was beginning to heat up.  That being said, there are enough twists, turns and misdirections that kept me guessing the outcome right to the very end.

Trust No One is an interesting novel unlike any murder mystery I’ve read.  It could have worked a little better had it been a little shorter, but that’s my preference.

Trust No One hits shelves tomorrow, August 04th, 2015.