Deadliest Love

Recently, Hal read on YouTube and other places about a group of perhaps a hundred people, worldwide, who have perfect recall: they remember everything and often have very emotional reactions to vivid parts of their life which they are able to evoke.

And this bit of interesting trivia pointed him in the direction of “Deadliest Love.” His first-person character, Jesse Jacobs, tells of his struggles with hyperthymesia and its influence on his life as he tries to expand his computer chip business, as he falls in love, and as he attempts to avoid what the FBI has explained is a multiple Russian assassination attempt.

He is able to intertwine Jesse’s personal struggle with the ongoing and very real invasion of Ukraine by Russia through the introduction of the beautiful and talented Katerine (Kate) Kaputka, whom he has hired, as his business begins to expand.

Chelsea, his wife, disappears shortly after their honeymoon, and he tries to use his exceptional memory to determine what may have happened to her. A year later her body is found in a shallow grave. The FBI becomes involved, and he joins forces with them. Jesse survives a long-range sniper attack and is told by the FBI of a suspected Russian plan for eliminating intellectually gifted Americans before they achieve greatness. He believes that fact could also explain Chelsea’s murder because she was a high achieving virologist on the cusp of a breakthrough with the zoonosis virus.

A final attempt is made on the lives of Jesse and Kate in an invasion at Jesse’s home.

The outcome of this encounter causes Jesse to sell all of his possessions and leave for Ukraine to locate Kate’s parents.