Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

I know how it feels like to be scared before going to sleep. One time I noticed a deadly looking fly in my bedroom but neglected to kill remove it – I spent the entire night afraid that the dreaded being would attack me as I lay defenseless in my covers.

Christine has it much worse. She forgets everything when she sleeps. After waking up, she doesn’t remember anything about herself. She is shocked to see her aged body in the mirror, and shocked to see that she’s married to a middle-aged man named Ben. As she struggles to recall the truth about the incident that led to her memory loss, Christine faces a force that could result in much worse than her forgetting her life… she could lose it entirely.

Before I Go to Sleep was certainly a thrill ride of a novel. I didn’t want to put it down, and I didn’t put it down. S.J. Watson cleverly utilized the diary method of narrating so that readers learn of events that occurred in the past concurrently as Christine does. The sheer suspense of the story pardons the slight implausibility of the plot.

At times Christine came off as personality-less, but then I remembered that she has no foundation to foster an identity besides her diary – which made me feel sorry for her. I think the end of the book may disappoint some people who possess high expectations of it, although it satisfied me and left me with that awesome tingly sensation you feel after an adrenaline high (no, I’m not talking about drugs…)

Anyway, if you’re looking for a pure psychological thriller at its finest, I would recommend Before I Go to Sleep. If you’re searching for something more sophisticated, I would skip this one.