Fast Forward

Mercer's first novel, about the perils of an amnesiac, lives up to its title. Ariel Gold wakes up one morning utterly disoriented: she has no memory of her previous life. Not only does she feel alienated from her body (``she... stared at her legs in horror'') and face (``a big, fat valentine'') but, it turns out, someone is trying to kill her. Retracing her past, Ariel discovers that, before losing her memory, she was an investigative journalist tracking the murderer of a rich young model-a woman with whom she now feels an uncanny connection. Following a serpentine path, Ariel also learns that she was adopted and had a twin sister from whom she was separated at birth, and that she was married to an unsavory man who also was murdered. Though in considerable danger, Ariel is oddly rejuvenated by her obsessive hunt and finds a number of men flocking around her-including, perhaps, the killer. The narrative, told through multiple viewpoints, accumulates force and speed as plot lines converge and characters' identities prove surprisingly protean. Readers won't suffer amnesia about this entertaining debut. BOMC alternate; Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection; British, German, movie and TV rights: Lantz-Harris Agency. (June)