Memory Man characters

Appears from the start

A former professional football player and Burlington police detective whose career ended almost as soon as it began. A violent collision on the field altered his brain, leaving him unable to forget the details of his life and causing numbers and events to appear to him with colors and other sensory associations. Those abilities made him a formidable investigator but cannot ease the memory of finding his family murdered. Sixteen months later he is isolated, physically neglected, and earning little as a private investigator.

Appears from the start

Amos's wife, whose murder in the family home remains fixed in every detail in his altered memory. His recollections of their marriage preserve both ordinary happiness and his awareness of how difficult he became after the football injury.

Appears from the start

The young daughter of Amos and Cassie. She was killed with her mother and uncle, and Amos's perfect recall makes every memory of her inseparable from the crime scene he discovered.

Appears from the start

Cassie's brother and the third victim found in the Decker home. His death established that the attack reached beyond Amos's wife and daughter, but the original investigation found no convincing motive linking all three killings.

First appears in chapter 4

A Burlington detective and Amos's former partner. Lancaster knew him before and after his neurological change and understands both the value and the cost of his exact memory. She brings him back into contact with police work when an apparent confession reopens his family's unsolved case.

First appears in chapter 6

A man who walks into police custody and claims responsibility for murdering Amos's family. His manner and account offer the first apparent break in a case that has been stalled for more than a year, but Decker is unwilling to accept a confession that does not fit the details he remembers.

First appears in chapter 10

A journalist pursuing the story of Amos, his extraordinary memory, and the renewed murder investigation. Jamison is persistent enough to challenge his hostility and practical enough to help him navigate information and people he has pushed away.

First appears in chapter 17

An FBI special agent involved after the mass killing at Mansfield High School. Bogart is methodical, experienced, and initially cautious about giving an unofficial investigator access, but he recognizes that Decker's memory and local knowledge may be essential to understanding the attack.

First appears in chapter 4

A senior Burlington police officer who worked with Decker before the murder of his family. He must balance institutional responsibility for the new investigations with the unusual insight, and unpredictable behavior, of a former detective who is personally tied to the evidence.