The Memory Ward

About the book

From critically acclaimed author Jon Bassoff, The Memory Ward is a haunting Russian doll of a novel about one man’s attempt to discover what’s real and what isn'''t …

They say it’s always beautiful in Bethlam, Nevada. No place you’d rather live. The people are friendly, if a little nosy, and there’s no crime to speak of. Life is pretty perfect.

But postal worker Hank Davies has started to suspect something is off in this idyllic little town. And he’s certain of that when he realizes the letters he’s been delivering are just blank pages.

Hank isn’t the only one who’s noticed the oddities in Bethlam. One such person knocks on his window in the middle of the night, urging him to investigate his bedroom wall. When Hank pulls back the wallpaper, he discovers dozens of sheets of paper, full of a story that is either complete madness or unbelievable truth. As he begins looking beyond the veneer of his smiling neighbors and their white picket fences, Hank is drawn further and further into a disturbing new reality …

Told in Bassoff’s lyrical and evocative style, The Memory Ward is a disquieting page-turner that examines the nature of identity, trauma, and what it means to be human.

Praise for this book:

"The Memory Ward is a nesting doll of horror and suspense. Bassoff artfully crafts a novel that questions morality, free will, and what makes us human. Compelling from the first page to the last." - Erin E Adams

"Jon Bassoff is a master of that territory where pulp becomes poetry, and crime fiction mates with horror." - Ramsey Campbell

"This book scared the shit out of me so much I had to close my blinds one night while reading. It's also funny as hell. And that's where Jon Bassoff gets you, in that bizarrely tense space between unsettled and funny and heartwarming. I don't know what or who is real anymore. I'm still shook!" - Steven Dunne

"Bassoff's uncanny Bethlam, Nevada, hits the map to stand toe-to-toe with eerie heavyweights Stepford, Connecticut, and Twin Peaks, Washington." - Warren Hammond

"The Memory Ward is a mystery box of a novel that you will delight in unraveling--a true mind-bender that expertly subverts your expectations and will leave you wondering how Bassoff pulled it off. I dare you to put this down once you start it." - Rob Hart

"The Memory Ward starts with a fast one-two combo of unease and quiet suburban terror and only gets better from there. If The Stepford Wives and The Truman Show had a creepy, punk rock baby, it would be The Memory Ward. Read it. Visit Bethlam. And don't worry if your memories feel a little funny." - Gabino Iglesias

"Half waking dream, half living nightmare, The Memory Ward is a palpitating descent into a verisimilitude of madness that could only be written by one of the very best in the game, Jon Bassoff." - Craig Johnson

"Jon Bassoff's The Memory Ward mixes the page-turning momentum of a beach read bent on thrills with eerie and mysterious Twilight Zone vibes. This exploration of the subjectivity of memory and self spirals down into the darkness beneath the idyllic town of Bethlam and demands we contemplate the disturbing truth of who we are (or aren't). Fun and weirdly funny until its final-act trap springs, The Memory Ward merges the psychological thriller with the literary horror novel to unsettling results." - Jeremy Robert Johnson

"Written with a timeless quality, The Memory Ward is mysterious, clever, and unnerving--a book to be read quickly that demands further thought after the final page is turned." - Zoje Stage

"The Memory Ward is a twisty sci-fi mystery sure to delight fans of Black Mirror and any reader who was thrilled to discover Philip K. Dick paperbacks at their local library branch." - Molly Tanzer

"Bassoff's Memory Ward is one of those rare jewels: a page-turner that's conceptually spectacular. If The Truman Show and The Crying of Lot 49 had an incredibly weird, wonderful baby, The Memory Ward would be it. Couldn't put it down." - Erika T Wurth