The short answer is: No.

Vitamin X is a standalone thriller featuring a brand-new case, a new cast of villains, and a completely different set of memory challenges.

You can dive straight into Vitamin X and immediately start learning the Mnemonic Calendar and the Memory Wheel alongside Detective Williams.

Although the story won't bring you up to speed instantly, you'll quickly get caught up using the "Flyboy Case File" below.

Beyond that, here's what matters:

1. The stakes are fresh: The murder of Officer Greene and the rise of the "Immanent Insurrection" are new threats that Williams must face from scratch.

2. The memory techniques are advanced:

Whereas Flyboy introduced the basics of the Memory Palace, Vitamin X forces Williams to upgrade his skills to survive deep undercover work.

You will learn these advanced methods right alongside him, regardless of your prior knowledge.

3. The context is woven in:

In a meta-twist, Detective Williams has actually written a true-crime book about his previous case. As he reflects on his own writing, you’ll get all the essential backstory you need without feeling lost.

However...

If you want to witness the full evolution of a memory master who starts out as a skeptic struggling with PTSD and becomes a detective capable of building complex mental architectures under fire, reading Flyboy first will add a rich layer of depth.

But if you are ready to jump straight into the deep end of conspiracy, experimental drugs, and time-bending memory techniques?

You can start right here with Vitamin X.

Need a refresher on Detective Williams' first case? Or completely new to the series?

Here's a quick briefing on the story with spoilers minimized and a briefing on the memory techniques taught in Flyboy so you can jump straight into Vitamin X...

CONFIDENTIAL CASE FILE: THE FLYBOY INCIDENT

Subject: Detective David Williams & The Origins of the Memory Detective Status/

1. THE DETECTIVE: David Williams

Profile: A veteran homicide detective battling two enemies, the criminals on the street and his own mind.

The Condition: Williams was diagnosed with early-onset cognitive decline and severe PTSD following the murder of his wife and daughter by a vehicular attacker named Garrett Thompson.

The Stakes: Williams wasn't just trying to solve crimes. He was trying to save his career and his sanity before his memory failed him completely.

The Transition: Throughout the Flyboy investigation, Williams moves from being a staunch skeptic of memory techniques (who is also a bit lazy) to a practitioner, proving that cognitive decline can be fought—and won—through training.

2. THE MENTOR: Jerome

Profile: Described as "The Real Life Sherlock Holmes of the Mind," Jerome is Williams' best friend and a blind Grandmaster of Memory.

The Role: Jerome serves as the consultant who teaches Williams how to use "Memory Palaces" to store clues, names, and procedures.

The Philosophy: Jerome teaches that memory is not a passive storage bin but an active muscle that must be exercised. Jerome has a philosophy that also exercises Williams' mind (and will exercise yours too).

3. THE ADVERSARY: "Flyboy" (a.k.a. Carl Singer Jr.)

Profile: A wealthy, nihilistic heir to a pharmaceutical fortune who views murder as a "high art" that opens up extreme existential possibilities.

The M.O.: Singer targeted patients taking Trizderol (an antidepressant his father’s company manufactured). He staged crime scenes based on film adaptations of books (e.g., Mary Poppins, Peter Pan), earning him the nickname "Flyboy" due to the flying themes in these stories.

The Confrontation: CLASSIFIED to avoid spoilers.

The Outcome: CLASSIFIED.

4. FIELD TRAINING: The Techniques Established

Before you open Case File #2 (Vitamin X), review the core protocols established in the Flyboy investigation.

A. The Memory Palace (The Foundation)

Concept: Associating information you want to remember with a physical location you know well. Example from Case File: Williams used his police utility belt (Sam Browne belt) as a "mini" Memory Palace.

12 O’clock position: Buckle.

3 O’clock position: Gun.

6 O’clock position: Handcuffs.

9 O’clock position: Taser. Application: By placing mental images on these physical "stations," recall becomes instant.

B. Associative Imagery (The Magnetic Glue)

Concept: Abstract information (like numbers or names) is slippery. To make it stick, you must turn it into a vivid, weird, or violent image.

Example from Case File:

To remember the name of a forensics officer named "Angel," Williams imagined a pair of icy wings frosted over her shoulders. The Rule: The more exaggerated and sensory the image, the harder it is to forget.

C. The S.W.A.T. Method

Concept: A protocol to ensure information moves from short-term to long-term memory.

Say it.

Write it.

And Test it.

Application: Williams used this to memorize the name of a suspect ("Ricky Eleby") by imagining the singer Rick Astley kicking a wallaby.

5. CURRENT STATUS (The Setup for Vitamin X)

David Williams has survived the Flyboy ordeal. He is no longer a skeptic. He knows the techniques work because they saved his life.

However, a new threat has emerged. A new mystery that requires not just memorizing facts or codes, but mastering Time itself.

You are now ready to open the file on... VITAMIN X.

Officer Greene is dead, executed inside a police station that should have been a sanctuary. But for Detective David Williams, this murder is just the opening move in a psychological war consuming Vancouver.

Chaos reigns in Williams' mind in this thriller from bestselling author Anthony Metivier. Forced undercover to infiltrate a sinister movement known as the "Immanent Insurrection," Williams isn't just hunting a killer. He is fighting to hold onto his own identity.

And he's using memory techniques to help prevent his mind from being utterly torn apart.

As a mysterious nootropic drug known as "Vitamin X" floods the streets, Williams struggles to distinguish reality from hallucination, and his true self from his violent undercover persona, "Brad Vessent."

Turning once again to Jerome, the blind memory champion, Williams attempts to anchor his fracturing psyche.

But the stakes have evolved...

Simple memory palaces are no longer enough. To survive a conspiracy involving elite doctors, hypnotic satellites, and violent anarchists, Williams must master the perilous "Memory Wheel" and the "Mnemonic Calendar."

But the enemy is already inside his head.

As Williams loses time and memories to the drug, he realizes his old nemesis, Flyboy, may not be as gone as he thought.

Targeted by a mind-altering weapon that rewrites the past, Williams discovers that the only way to save his city and his pregnant girlfriend is to unlock a portal hidden deep within his own shattered memory.

With his sanity crumbling, Williams prepares to beat the enemy at their own game...

Just as your own game will improve thanks to the included study guide on the "Mnemonic Calendar" method.

This unique mnemonic technique allows you to enhance your own memory practice as you watch the detective use the technique to fight for his life.

"Just spoon feed it to me."

These words from one of my email subscribers really struck home.

You see, for years I have created memory improvement training materials for people who want to remember foreign languages, names, and speeches. They are often fascinated by the ancient art of memory and dazzled by the feats of memory competitors.

But I always used to encounter a MAJOR problem.

Many perfectly intelligent people struggle to understand how the memory techniques I teach are going to help them until they see them in action. Because they can't make the connection in advance, the question of "why" we use strange associations to remember facts, foreign language vocabulary and numbers becomes a barrier.

The Memory Detective stories are my solution to this problem.

I realized I cannot simply "spoon feed" memory mastery to anyone. Real learning happens when you engage with the process.

So, I decided to tell stories about a person who is forced to learn these techniques not for fun, but for survival.

This is exactly what happens in Vitamin X.

In this new thriller, Detective David Williams isn't just trying to solve a crime; he is fighting a chemically induced war against his own mind.

Dosed with a mysterious nootropic that scrambles his sense of time and identity, Williams can no longer rely on his natural memory to tell him what day it is... or even who he is.

This is where the magic becomes real.

Working with Jerome, the blind memory champion, Williams must master a specific tool to anchor himself in reality: The Mnemonic Calendar.

You will watch over Williams’ shoulder as he learns to navigate the fog of memory loss by turning abstract days of the week into concrete, unforgettable images, including a Candle for Monday, a Swan for Tuesday, a Handcuff for Wednesday and more.

Unlike Sherlock Holmes, where the "Mind Palace" is treated like a superpower you never get to see inside of, Vitamin X takes you through the construction of these memory systems step-by-step.

You will see how Williams uses the "Memory Wheel" to decode complex conspiracies.

You will observe how he memorizes lists of dangerous drugs and cover stories to survive deep undercover.

You will learn alongside him as he builds a Hand Memory Palace to reset his fractured psyche.

Jerome refuses to "spoon feed" the detective, forcing Williams (and you) to discover that the only way to keep the techniques is to earn them.

I hope you find the world of Vitamin X thrilling, but more importantly, I hope you find it useful. By bypassing the dry "how-to" instructions and immersing yourself in the "why" and "when" of the story, you’ll see how easy, fun, and life-saving these techniques can be.

Because as Detective Williams discovers, when your memory is gone, the only thing left to save you is the training you’ve done.

And not just any training.

We all need to train the way we fight and the time to prepare is now.

The first step is to enter the story and shadow Detective Williams, just as if you were going deep undercover yourself.

As you read, you will watch Williams attempt to use advanced tools like the Memory Wheel and the Mnemonic Calendar while under extreme duress.

If something Williams says about how he uses these techniques doesn't quite make sense at first—keep reading.

In Vitamin X, confusion is not just a hurdle; it is part of the plot. Williams himself is often baffled, struggling to distinguish between reality, simulation, and the effects of the drugs in his system. He frequently fails to understand Jerome's riddles immediately and must fight to survive long enough to ask his mentor for clarification.

If you simply follow the gist of the action, the mechanics of how these techniques work will click into place by the end, just as they do for the detective.

That is why I encourage you not to read the study guide until the very end.

The book actually opens with a warning: "Do NOT skip ahead.".

While there are no "Memory Palace Police" coming to arrest you (though Williams does encounter the "Pronunciation Police" in his hallucinations), skipping ahead spoils the ride. You need to experience the chaos of the "Memory Sphere" alongside Williams to truly appreciate the solution.

Once you have survived the journey and reached the final page, turn to the Study Guide.

Read it thoroughly, take action on the steps, and build your own Mnemonic Calendar. It is the best way to ensure you never commit the crime of unnecessary forgetting.

That is a good question. There are a few reasons, but the most important has to do with the unique mental stimulation only the crime genre provides.

1. The Ultimate Cognitive Workout When you read a standard novel, you are often a passive observer. But in a mystery, you are an active participant.

In Vitamin X, you aren't just watching Detective Williams; you are tracking multiple aliases, decoding anagrams, and navigating a labyrinth of false memories alongside him. You naturally get a memory workout as you filter red herrings from vital clues, distinguishing between the hallucinations of "Brad Vessent" and the reality of the investigation.

2. The Stakes of Forgetting I am personally drawn to this genre because it mirrors the urgency of real life.

One of my earliest memories is picking my dad up from prison. One of my uncles was a professor of criminology. I know that in the world of crime and justice, the consequences of forgetting are not just embarrassing—they are dangerous.

In Vitamin X, Williams cannot afford to forget his cover story or the face of a killer like Christopher Snow. The detective genre allows us to explore memory techniques not as "parlor tricks," but as essential survival tools.

3. A Journey Through History and Science The world of Detective Williams is about more than just catching the bad guy. It is about following along as a skeptic learns the deep history, philosophy, and science of memory under fire.

You will see Williams apply ancient methods—like the Lukasa memory board and the Memory Wheel—to solve modern crimes involving satellites and experimental drugs.

Combined, his discoveries will allow you to solve the ultimate crime of all:

The crime of unnecessary forgetting.

Q: Is shipping really included in the price?

A: Yes.

Fun fact:

In Vitamin X, Detective Williams laments that the "printing and shipping process" for his own book was "so damn expensive" that he "barely made a dollar in the end".

I do not want that obstacle standing between you and this training. That's why I have absorbed the shipping costs into the price to ensure this manual gets into your hands as quickly and affordably as possible.

Q: How fast will my copy arrive?

A: Orders are processed immediately.

As Detective Warren warns in the climax of the story, "Time’s ticking". In the battle against the crime of unnecessary forgetting, every second counts. We work hard to get this tool into your arsenal before the details fade.

Q: Do you ship internationally?

A: Yes. Just as Jerome’s reputation as a "Grand Master of Memory" spans the globe, this unique training guide ships to aspiring Memory Detectives all over the world.

Whether you are in Vancouver, New York, or London, Vitamin X will make it to your door.

Q: I have a "bad memory" or struggle with focus. Will I actually be able to use this?

A: Absolutely.

In fact, you are exactly who this book was written for.

In Vitamin X, Detective Williams isn't a memory genius.

He is a man struggling with PTSD, "early onset dementia" fears, and a mind that feels like it is "working against him." He constantly forgets names and details.

You will watch him start from zero, struggle with the basics, and eventually use these techniques to survive impossible odds. If a detective under the influence of a mind-altering drug can master the Memory Wheel to save his life, you can certainly use it to remember your daily tasks.

Q: Is this just a textbook disguised as a novel? Will I be bored?

A: Not a chance.

This is a thriller first.

And as Jerome tells Williams, "The war against cliche is a terrible thing." I have literally avoided the dryness of standard instruction manuals by using every trick in the book I know about popular fiction and movies.

I have a PhD in it. I taught Film Studies for 10 years. And I worked as a story consultant.

So instead of boring drills, you will learn the Mnemonic Calendar because Williams needs it to know what day it is while being hunted.

You will learn the Hand Memory Palace method because Williams must use it to "auto-exorcise" a false personality from his mind.

You learn by osmosis, not by rote memorization.

Q: Is there any scientific validity to learning memory techniques through fiction?

A: Yes. It is well-established that the act of reading complex narratives exercises multiple aspects of memory, including working memory and episodic recall.

As Jerome explains to Detective Williams, "voluntary challenge grows the necessary brain connections... just like tearing muscle fibres at a gym".

When you track clues, suspects, and aliases across a thriller, you are engaging in a cognitive workout that primes your brain for the techniques themselves.

Q: Are you testing this method further?

A: Absolutely. I have recently established a series of Magnetic Fiction experiments to measure just how effective this approach is.

Some readers of Vitamin X may be officially invited to participate in these studies through the Open Science Framework.

As part of the Magnetic Memory Method mission, these participants will receive bonus Magnetic Fiction content, including exclusive "placebo stories."

The proof is already in the pudding. But rest assured that I will be running experiments for the rest of my career, all designed to help you push the boundaries of what your memory can achieve.

Q: Is this just a novel? What exactly am I getting for the price?

A: Vitamin X is not just a thriller you read once and put on a shelf. It is a comprehensive memory training system disguised as a story.

When you order any of my "Memory Detective" novels, you are securing:

The Collector's Edition.

The Neuro-Encoding Audiobook (engineered for entering a flow state and enjoying an epic rollercoaster ride).

A Seat at the Live Implementation Workshop on Jan 4th (where I personally coach you).

Students usually invest much more for my online Masterclasses to get this level of access. You are getting the training, the tools, and the live coaching for a fraction of that investment for a limited time only as I celebrate the launch of this new book.

Q: Why not just release this training information as a video course?

A: In a digital world designed to distract you, a physical book is a sanctuary. And a good story soothes the soul.

Even though this thriller involves a lot of thrills, chills and spills, the print medium allows you to focus.

And that's the very skill required to build a Memory Palace and use other memory techniques.

By holding this book, you are taking the first step in reclaiming your attention span from the "blacksmiths" of the digital age.