Memory Man

David Baldacci’s mystery novel, Memory Man, is the story of a man who has lost the ability to forget. Amos Decker starts out as a football player for the Cleveland Browns. During his first game, he suffers a head injury that alters his brain.

Decker spends time at the Cognitive Research Institute, where his condition is diagnosed as a combination of hyperthymesia—which Decker refers to as his inner DVR (that is, digital video recorder)—and synesthesia. He is incapable of forgetting anything, even the smallest details about an event, and his brain categorizes information using a system of numbers and colors. Unlike people who are born with these attributes, Decker is a manufactured savant.

His new mental condition makes it difficult for Decker to relate to other people, and he’s only able to function because his wife and daughter act as a grounding influence. Decker builds a successful career as a detective until the night someone murders his wife, brother-in-law, and daughter. Decker’s first impulse is to commit suicide because he doesn’t know how he can function without his family. 

Decker can’t forget the horrific murder scene, and he goes into a downward spiral, losing his job and home.