A review by nasab
That's Not My Name by Megan Lally

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The synopsis of this book is very intriguing. 
A girl finds herself bruised and stranded in the middle of nowhere. An officer finds her and brings her to the station. Later on, a man comes to the station claiming to be her father. But the thing is, the girl lost her memory and doesn't even remember her own name! She's relying on this "father" as her source of information for basically everything.
I'm not sure if this is because I'm growing out of the YA phase but I don't like reading about teenagers. The Drew chapters felt too long. I want to know what's going on with the girl. All in all its a good book to read if you want a thriller it was very nicely done. The girl's unexplained fear and dread was well executed and I felt it! I was scared and thanked God a hundred times I wasn't her! 
It felt realistic how others in the community reacted to gossip and rumors. It doesn't take much for people to hate someone without real evidence and it's frustrating!! 
Speaking of frustration, when officer Bowman insisted that Mary isn’t in fact Lola I was soooooo angry!!!!! Like come on how is this a coincidence!!! Only to find out later that he was right, it wasn't her. Lola is in fact dead... that kind of broke me. I was so sure. So hopeful. I should've expected it but I didn't. And neither did Drew. Sometimes I think that's why he risked his life to save Madison. His shock and guilt made it sensible pay for his mistake with his own life. It would make him and Lola even in some twisted way. 
It's hard to move on. Even harder when your hope is shattered for the second time. I can't even imagine how her parents felt. Finally accepting she's not coming back and then someone tells them she's been spotted alive! Only then to discover that it wasn't her, their real daughter was kidnapped and killed weeks ago. I pray that no parent ever experiences that. 
When grieving someone you could get so stuck up at the what-if's? It could drive you insane!! I'm so thankful to be a Muslim and believe in fate. That no matter what, nothing could stop what's bound to happen. When it's your time, you could die by the prick of a needle. It's never easy to grieve but this belief could make it a bit easier to accept and move on.
There was one thing I didn't like about this novel, even thought it's insignificant and doesn't affect the story in anyway, was the gay parents of Drew. It was uncomfortable to read about them. The author obviously supports this group and there's even an appearance of a lesbian couple (they pass a house where there are two old women in the yard of a house with a rainbow colored mailbox). It's only for the point of inclusion and they're inconsequential so it didn't affect my rating or overall experience.