Remember Me Like This

Remember Me Like This by Brett Anthony Johnston is the story of a kidnapped boy's family after the boy has been returned to them. The Campbell family had searched for Justin for four years before he was finally rescued. But when Justin’s kidnapper walks free, the family finds different, sometimes illegal, ways to cope with their fears. Hodder & Stoughton published the domestic fiction novel in 2014.

At the start of the story, Justin Campbell has been missing for four years after he disappeared on the beach at Corpus Christi. He was 12-years-old at the time, and his parents have been looking for him ever since. When his mother and father, Laura and Eric Campbell, receive a call to come into the police station, they wonder whether there is any new, pertinent information in Justin's case. Over the years they've been called to the police station to try to identify their son among dead John Does, runaways, and kidnap victims, to no avail.

Arriving at the police station, they learn that the police do, in fact, have their son Justin and that his abductor, a man named Dwight Buford, is in custody. The hospital staff medically examine Justin, and the family has a meeting with the district attorney.



Justin is allowed to go home with his parents and little brother, Griffin, on the condition that no one in the family asks him about his ordeal and that he attend sessions with a therapist.

The family quickly learns that Justin is different than when he left them. He has several nervous ticks, like cracking his neck and pulling at his nails. He sleeps during the day and is awake at night, due to fear, his mother thinks.

Dwight, a 41-year-old newspaper delivery man, is the son of a wealthy local named Mayne Buford. Mayne is able to post Dwight's bail, and Dwight begins staying at his father's house. The Campbell family fears what this means for the stability of their son.



Cecil, Justin and Griffin's grandfather, happens to know Mayne Buford, and when Eric begins stalking Dwight at Mayne's house to ensure his family's safety, Mayne asks Cecil to intercede on his behalf. Furthermore, he tells Cecil his plan to take Dwight and his wife out on his boat where he'll try to convince him to take a deal, sparing the family a traumatic trial.

Cecil at first disagrees with Mayne's plan, feeling that Dwight doesn't deserve a deal. He reconsiders and concocts a plan with Eric to ambush the Buford family while they're on their boat trip. They arm themselves with guns.

Before Eric and Cecil can carry out their plan, however, Laura suspects something and tells Cecil that harming Dwight would do their family more harm than good. He tells Eric he's changed his mind and Eric agrees, but Cecil secretly plans to carry out the murder on his own, freeing Eric from the responsibility.



When Cecil arrives at the marina, however, Mayne speaks with him. He tells Cecil that they won't be going on their boat ride as planned because his son has gone missing. Soon after, the district attorney, Mr. Garcia, calls to inform the Campbell family that Dwight was found dead in the bay. Police suspect that he jumped from Harbor Bridge, committing suicide to avoid the impending trial. The family feels safe at last.

Grief is a prominent theme in the novel, first with the Campbell family grieving the loss of the son, then for the mistakes, they made that could have caused his abduction, and finally for the years that they missed with him and for what he may have experienced while in captivity. Griff, in particular, feels a sense of guilt for having argued with his brother before his disappearance.

Remember Me Like This was well-received by critics and the public alike. It is an international bestseller and was one of the New York Times Editor's Choice books and the Observer's best Holiday reads of 2014. John Irving commended the novel on its "flawless storytelling" and said that he could relate to the story's emotional and psychological authenticity. "Emotionally, I am with this family as they try to move ahead--embracing the 'half-known and desperate history' that they share," he said, "I love this novel."



The book is Bret Anthony Johnston's first novel. He's written primarily short fiction and won the Sunday Times Short Story Award in 2017 for the story Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses. He was also named one of the 5 under 35 by the National Book Foundation. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and is the Director of the James A Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas.