The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

One afternoon, a man’s shadow disappears.  It is an inexplicable occurrence, and generates world wide media coverage.  Then it begins to happen around the globe, and people discover that the loss of their shadow also means loss of their memories, be it sudden or gradual.  The scariest part of this phenomenon is that in certain cases, something that a person forgets may also disappear or change form.  Thus some people can talk to animals, some locations vanish from existence, the power grids no longer function — anything can happen, really. 

Ory and his wife Max hide out at a hotel in the hills of Virginia, until Max’s shadow disappears.  Max leaves when Ory is away hunting, and then Ory sets out to find Max.  Many people hear rumors of “The One Who Gathers” in New Orleans, and many groups are heading that way.  The final showdown between shadowed and shadowless factions happens there, and you finally find out if Ory finds Max.

Overall, I liked this book and the questions it poses about what makes a person who they are.  Parts of the book annoyed me, as I felt the author wasn’t consistent enough with her “magical” rules (ie, just because one particular person forgets a place, why does that make it disappear when plenty of other people remember it?)   She never explains.  If you can get past that type of thing, you may like this dystopian debut novel.