Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson (Book Review)

I’ve been feeling guilty lately because I haven’t been reading books. There are just so many things to do, so many other forms of distraction, that I find myself unable to finish any of the books I start reading.

Or so I thought.

Turns out, all I needed was a book that would hook me, a book that would be unwilling to be put down. I found my match in S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep. Once I started on it, I wanted to know how it ended and I read it all in one day, at the cost of me sleeping at 3am. Lots of coffee were had the next day.

The story is a psychological thriller, something along the vein of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. (Which is a totally awesome read, by the way, read my review here.)

The summary of this book taken from the official website:

Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle- aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up with must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories.

But it’s the phone call from a Dr. Nash, a neurologist who claims to be working with Christine without her husband’s knowledge, that directs her to her journal, hidden in the back of her closet. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her daily activities—tearful mornings with Ben, sessions with Dr. Nash, flashes of scenes from her former life—and rereading past entries, relearning the facts of her life as retold by the husband she is completely dependent upon. As the entries build up, Christine asks many questions. What was life like before the accident? Why did she and Ben never have a child? What has happened to Christine’s best friend? And what exactly was the horrific accident that caused such a profound loss of memory?

Every day, Christine must begin again the reconstruction of her past. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more un- believable it seems.

When I first read it, I thought, 50 First Dates? This one is no rom com, though. There is little humor to be found in this book, and just a little romance. There is mostly a mystery, and twists, and I love those, don’t you? I had so many questions in my head, so many potential solutions, and I really didn’t know whom to trust while I read. At some points I didn’t even trust the narrator herself. Some people would say that the ending is a predictable twist but it’s still a good one.

And oh, it’s being made into a movie starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth slated for release next year, so do try to pick it up before then!