The dream jolts her awake. In the hazy, gray glint of dawn, it leaves her feeling anxious, disconnected.... Her memory has vanished. She doesn't know if Ariel Gold - the name on a Los Angeles driver's license - is hers. All she knows in her panic is that she is badly cut and bruised; she is in a house that has been viciously ransacked; and, on a crumpled heap of clothes, there is a blood-caked shirt, and a gun. In these gripping, nightmare moments, Judy Mercer's FAST FORWARD propels us onto a surefire track of nonstop, page-turning suspense. Alone, completely disoriented, "Ariel" begins her search through a strange house and a stranger's life, trying to find out who may be trying to harm her, and whom she can trust. She discovers that Ariel Gold has a vintage home, a classic car, a pedigreed dog, and a successful career as a producer for a television newsmagazine. She remembers none of them. Concealing her amnesia, she starts to improvise her life - moment by unpredictable moment. Back at work, Ariel uses all her ingenuity to grapple with a job she knows nothing about, aware that the friends, colleagues, and strangers she encounters may be sources of danger. Gradually, she uncovers a turbulent, painful past, and a present linked to the worlds of high-fashion modeling, the New York theater - and to murder. Those who knew the old Ariel are intrigued by her new persona, by subtle changes in the way she looks and acts - and the mystery around her deepens. With only her own wits to rely on, Ariel plunges from hope to despair and back again, as much an enigma to herself as she is to others. But someone is secretly watching her every move. The life she has inherited is no safe place to be...and her stubborn quest is leading her right into the sights of a killer.