And She Was by Alison Gaylin

I will definitely be reading the sequel to this one. I was a afraid that the perfect recall thing might be a little too gimmicky, but Gaylin handled it well. It is well imbedded in the story, but I am not totally convinced that it is essential to it. The whole thing is so fast paced that I didn't have time to consider whether or not someone intelligent and insightful might accomplish the same things without the trick memory. Actually in most cases, the memory was a problem for Brenna rather than a help. It did reduce her need for telephone directories and GPS systems, though. I'm trying to imagine a perfect career for someone with perfect recall - not merely an eidetic memory, Lisbeth Salander has that - but perfect recall.

The mystery was engaging, with a monster that reminds me of Salander's evil half-brother whose strings were being pulled by another monster in the background. Maybe I am seeing these parallels because I just watched the first two Millenium movies again.

The crimes seem to spiral in around an incident in the past, the disappearance of a child, but there are motivations and events which have grown all around it. This draws Brenna, whose speciality as a PI is missing persons, because the central event of her childhood was the disappearance of her own sister. This event echoes through Brenna's investigation.

The only thing I found really predictable is the developing romance between Brenna and the cop. Saw that coming a mile away.