"Before I Go To Sleep" Review

Before I Go To Sleep

by S. J. Watson

10/10

My Synopsis:

Everyday Christine wakes up with a stranger.  She has to be introduced to her husband Ben.  She has to familiarize herself with her own home.  Christine is an amnesiac and loses her memory every time she goes into a deep sleep.  No recollection of what happened yesterday.  No hope of what will happen in the future.  Each day is the same as she tries in vain to remember a past that she is told is hers.  Not sure who she can trust and who she can’t, Christine must make her way through every day piecing together what she can of her life.  Then, one day at the prompting of her doctor she begins to keep a journal.  She reads her past everyday like a novel, but this time it is her own words that remind her who she is.  Lies, paranoia and inconsistencies show her that her life may not be what she is being told by others.

My Opinion:

I really liked Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson.  It is a wonderful mystery/suspense novel.  It has an addictive quality and I read through it voraciously.  The book has a true sense of panic and anxiety that makes your heart race.  It takes familiar things and makes them scary through the eyes of an amnesiac.  There is twist after twist after twist leaving you reeling and it even left me feeling a little confused at times.  I had to reread some parts to make sure I was understanding them correctly and was able to keep up.  There were a few repetitive places in the book but that just accentuates Christine’s rediscovery of her life on a daily basis.  The character of Ben kept me guessing as well as the character of Dr. Nash.  Page after page is filled with revelation after revelation but you’re not sure if they are revelations or imagination.  The book kept me questioning my own view of things in Christine’s life.  Like Christine herself, I didn’t want to be duped by someone fooling me with fictitious stories of her past.  I wanted to help Christine.  I wanted to figure out what is really going on.  I almost gave this book a 9 since the ending just left me wanting more, but I liked it too much to give it anything less than a 10.  A must read.  10 out of 10!