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AFTER ALL I'VE DONE, focused on a woman with anesthesia induced amnesia, definitely benefitted from the audio book treatment with different readers for the three main characters. Diana (the recovering patient), Cole (a very generous friend/lover), and Val (Diana's lifelong friend), share the limelight as we cycle through the various chapters, and the readers are distinct enough to keep the listener engaged. This is important, as the book's characterization can best be described as inconsistent.
Diana has lost about six months of her memory thanks to anesthesia, but that doesn't really explain the disorientation she is experiencing as the action in the book takes place. Somehow, during the blank period of her memory, she became estranged from Val. This is something that Val is aware of and apparently angry about, and it adds to Diana's confusion. The sections narrated by Val help the listener understand much more about this situation than Diana does.
Mid-book, when Diana "meets" Cole, she is unaware that she already knows him, so his sections further inform the listener and fill in the gaps.
Many questions consume Diana's time and energy. What really happened when the car accident that led to her surgery took place? Why does she have nightmares about burying a body in the backyard? Why is Val so angry at her? What happened to a payout she received when she left her job? How did her mother die and did Diana actually kill her? And how can she get around a pre-nup agreement she signed when she married her husband, Jonathan, and emerge financially secure from her marriage?
Jonathan is one of the more poorly written characters in the book. At various times in the book he is vastly different, but he is a clear villain in Diana's eyes. Harriet, Jonathan's mother and Diana's main support system, is a simply drawn enabler for most of the book.
The relationships between the five characters feel more as though they belong in a romance novel than a mystery, which only makes sense given that the author's name, Mina Hardy, is a pen-name for romance writer Megan Hart.
The listener is bounced around among different characters' perspectives and different timeframes. The plot moves very quickly as details are filled in, and we do feel some of Diana's disorientation although one might ask why she doesn't seem to question its nature enough. As the book nears its conclusion, the pace becomes breakneck and a major twist brings resolution. A seasoned mystery reader will have seen this coming for quite some time, and it is so over-the-top that the fun supplants any discomfort. Everything is then very nicely wrapped up in an epilogue.
In the end, AFTER ALL I'VE DONE is an engaging, quick book that benefits from good readers keeping the interest level up. It also benefits from a "go with the flow" listen rather than a lot of deep thought. Sex and violence keep it firmly out of the cozy realm, but it nonetheless has that sort of insubstantial feel.
§ Sharon Mensing, retired educational leader, lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors in Arizona.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, March 2021
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