Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson


Don't we all love that feeling of compulsion to keep reading, of not wanting to put a book down?  If you do, this is a great book for you.  It's definitely what I call addictive 'brain candy.'

Many of us have seen the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie Fifty First Dates.  It's a sweet romantic comedy about a man who falls in love with a girl with a traumatic brain injury, who has to be told each day who she is, what happened yesterday, and why she should love the man next to her in bed.  Now, take that same story, but give it a creepy mystery spin...because if you think about it, there's really nothing funny about not having your memory.  Watson does a very realistic job of peering inside a woman's head who wakes up each day next to a stranger and looks at an older version of herself in the mirror, wondering where all the years have gone.  Christine and her husband, Ben, have created a seemingly reasonable life, using pictures and stories to retell Christine's past each and every day.  However, is it real, or is it fiction?  As Christine discovers her journal and memories of the past, so do we, the reader.  As Christine pieces together the puzzle, wanting to know the answers pushes the reader towards the end.  I will leave it up to you, to decide if the ending works for you or not.  I started it one day and finished it the following evening.  It's not particularly lyrical writing, but the style is solid and Watson narrates a compelling mystery.