Mr. Nobody

In this over-the-top psychological thriller from bestseller Steadman (Something in the Water), a man with a head wound turns up on an English beach, having no memory of who he is or how he arrived there. London neuropsychiatrist Emma Lewis can’t resist a fugue case or a request from Richard Groves, the top neuropsychiatrist in their field, to treat the man nicknamed Mr. Nobody—even if it means returning to a town that she left 14 years ago, where she has secrets of her own. Once the story about Mr. Nobody breaks, the police hotline floods with calls about his identity claiming variously that he’s an illegal immigrant, a missing husband/son, a TV actor, or a former soldier. Emma comes to realize that Mr. Nobody recognizes her in a world full of strangers, and he knows things about her past that she thought she’d buried. Point of view shifts diminish the novel’s readability at times, but the elaborate plot, filled with seemingly impossible twists, drives to a suspenseful conclusion. Readers will look forward to Steadman’s next. Agent: Camilla Wray, Darley Anderson (U.K.). (Jan.)