‘Before I Go To Sleep’ by S. J. Watson has been one of this year’s most talked about thrillers. The plot centres around Christine who wakes up every day not knowing where she is, who her husband is or what has happened in the last twenty odd years of her life. With her memories of the day being erased every single night, who can she trust?
The concept of memory loss is an interesting one and if it is done convincingly, like in the film ‘Memento’, it can be highly intriguing and enthralling. The first part of the novel seemed very promising. However, as I was reading the book, I found myself wanting to pick holes in the situation that Watson presents to us. For a start, Christine’s journal entries are too detailed to be plausible and are still written in the style of a novel (who has time to write 20+ pages in a day with complete dialogue?). The fact that nobody checked up on Christine after she was discharged from hospital is also barely believable (but then S. J. Watson did work for the NHS so maybe the catalogue of failings in Christine’s care is based on truth…). Continue reading
A Little Blog of Books 