The Memory Ward

by Jon Bassoff Narrated by Dawn Harvey, Janina Edwards, Bronson Pinchot

Overview

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.

Book discussion questions are available here: https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/www.blackstoneaudio.com/The%20Memory%20Ward_Discussion%20Questions.pdf

Editorial Reviews

Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Ancient Ramsey Campbell

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

author of KOP and Denver Moon Warren Hammond

Bassoff’s uncanny Bethlam, Nevada, hits the map to stand toe-to-toe with eerie heavyweights Stepford, Connecticut, and Twin Peaks, Washington.”

author of Potted Meat Steven Dunn

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!”

author of the Walt Longmire mystery series Craig Johnson

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.”

Bram Stoker Award finalist and Edgar Award–w Erin E. Adams

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.”

Erika T. Wurth

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.”

USA Today bestselling author of Baby Teeth Zoje Stage

Fans of Iain Reid will love this chilling psychological tale. 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.”

author of The Loop Jeremy Robert 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.”

bestselling author of Assassins Anonymous Rob Hart

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.”

author of Vermilion and Creatures of Will and Temp Molly Tanzer

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.”

award-winning author of House of Bone and Rain Gabino Iglesias

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.”

firstCLUE Reviews

Bassoff weaves a tale that mixes Ira Levin with the best horror films, where you want to yell at the screen to warn a character of what is about to happen…Readers will not be able to put this book down.”

Bram Stoker Award finalist and Edgar Award-winning Erin E. Adams

The Memory Ward is a nestling 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.”

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192276563
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	03/04/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged