For Review: Before I Go To Sleep ~ S J Watson

Christine Lucas wakes up one morning, and she has no idea where she is. There's a strange man in the bed next to her, and she doesn't recognise him. She doesn't recognise herself either because her reflection is twenty years older than she is expecting. The man introduces himself as her husband Ben, and fills her in on a history that she can't remember. But none of this is new, because Christine wakes up like this every day.

Christine, of course, wants to find some way out of her terrible amnesia. She gets involved with a Dr Nash who talks her through various methods of possible antidotes. He suggests that she begins writing a journal so that, every day, she can learn about her self and the past she doesn't remember. The majority of Before I Go To Sleep is Chris' journal, and through it she attempts to figure out her life. Every day she accepts what Ben tells her, only she realises that he tells her different truths every day. Not necessarily always lies, but there's a lot of things he seems to keep secret some days. Obviously, this is cause for concern, and more than ever Christine is determined to find out what is going on. The only two people she sees are Ben and Dr Nash, and a paranoia builds as she tries to figure out who is telling the truth, if either of them are. As stories go, this is a good 'un. The idea of waking next to some guy who claims to be your husband is a bit creepy in the first place. And then putting your faith into a man who claims to be a doctor who can help. It's impossible not to think over the things that Ben and Nash say and do, with the obvious fear that someone somewhere is taking advantage of her illness.

Christine's likeable, at least, even if she does wear tights under her trousers (do women really do this? I can't imagine anything more uncomfortable). At times she seemed more paranoid and anxious than necessary, but who can blame her? Someone who wakes up confused every day is quite a bland, blank slate, but as she begins to see flashbacks of memories, the reader can begin to collect more of an idea of Christine's personality. I felt for her, and I shared most of her concerns regarding Ben - is he really her husband? Is he having an affair? Though Nash was a bit weird at times that I wondered that she didn't have more distrust for him than she did.

Before I Go To Sleep is unsettling, and it's enjoyable to see things unravel, and fit together pieces of her journal. By the end, I didn't feel especially wowed or surprised, given that there were suspicions about certain characters that I'd harboured throughout most of the book. Still, it was quite fun. The plot was interesting, but the novel didn't deliver all that hype it carries with it. A fine read for a couple of free afternoons. Oh, and it's going to be made into a film (starring Nicole Kidman) which doesn't surprise me in any way - in fact, I think there's potential for the story to better itself at the cinema.