Before I Go to Sleep

by S J Watson

As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me ...' Welcome to Christine's life. Quite simply the best debut novel I've ever read. - Tess Gerritsen. Brilliant in its pacing, profound in its central question, suspenseful on every page - and satisfying in its thriller ending. - Anita Shreve. A deft, perceptive exploration of a fascinating neurological condition, and a cracking good thriller. -Lionel Shriver. A terrific first novel - well-written, genuinely unsettling and psychologically very plausible. Thrillers seldom come much better than this. Loved it, read it in one - Joanne Harris. An exceptional thriller. It left my nerves jangling for hours after I finished the last page - Dennis Lehane. So high-concept, so ambitious and so structurally brilliant. It's so rare to read a thriller that's perfect in every detail, but this one definitely qualifies! - Sophie Hannah. A deeply unsettling debut that asks the most terrifying question - what do you have left when you lose yourself? - Val McDermid. A truly amazing debut.
The central character, Christine, is beautifully drawn. It's hard to imagine a more compelling, believable and sympathetic portrayal of a damaged human being. I loved it from start to finish. - Mo Hayder.

• ISBN10: 0857520172
• ISBN13: 9780857520173
• Publish Date: 28 April 2011
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 10 August 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Doubleday
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

Christine has an extraordinary problem: ever since a specific event, her memory is impaired so that she suffers amnesia every time she goes to sleep.
The next morning, she has to relearn her own life's story. Every single day.

When she finds a note in a journal that says "Do not trust Ben." things start to unravel.

Huh. So, this was a debut novel. A debut novel that kept me intrigued from the start to the very end, and made me consider whether I really needed to keep appointments today.

I did end up going out but regretted it half-way through my exercise in the park session, and was longing to get back to the book. That does not happen that often, even with the most gripping of mysteries.

There is not much that I can say about the plot or the characters without giving away spoilers. However, I really liked how the author fleshed out Christine, our MC. So much so, that I was under the impression that S.J. Watson was a woman. I only found out my mistake after I looked up what other books he had written.

While the characters were fantastically real, there were a few issues with the plot by way of loose ends and I also had a problem with the pacing of the novel - until it dawned on me that the repetitive writing emphasised the repetitive efforts of our MC to try and piece together the fragments of her own life every day to find out who she is and what happened to her.

I had several theories throughout the book but I am delighted to say that I was not able to see the solution until the last few chapters when I was literally sitting on the edge of my chair to find out what happened next.

[Bianca]

We’re constantly changing facts, rewriting history to make things easier, to make them fit in with our preferred version of events. We do it automatically. We invent memories.

— Got predictable towards the end but that doesn't matter to me. This is so good and unputdownable.

[noqas]

It turned out to be a very hard to read book, because it's repetitive. The story itself is amazing, though.

[Amber]

I randomly picked up Before I Go To Sleep because I needed a book to read on the train home after I met up with Gaby in London. It was sitting on my bookshelf for quite some time, and I figured I could do with a quick thriller, so that was that. I read Before I Go To Sleep in about two days, which is quite impressive when you take into account the giant reading slump that I have been in since I binge-watched The 100. Luckily, Before I Go To Sleep was captivating.

I am a lover of all things to do with (fictional) memory loss. The main character of Before I Go To Sleep wakes up every morning without her memories - a phenomenon that has been troubling doctors ever since Christine's accident about two decades ago, which caused the trauma to her brain so that it can't retain new memories.

Christine wakes up every morning not knowing who her husband is, where she lives, or that she's in her forties. In her mind, she's usually in her twenties, although there's little consistency on that front, and so looking in the mirror is a shock. This truly gave me goosebumps because can you imagine waking up next to a middle aged man that you don't know? When you are (or you think you are) twenty two? It's creepy as hell and it really freaked me out in the beginning.

The story is one big thrill ride, with Christine waking up every day to read her journal and discover new things about herself. The reader can start to piece together clues about a bigger mystery that's playing out here, and this is something that I really enjoyed. I liked gradually finding out more and more about Christine's accident, and I pretty much ended up suspecting every single character of foul play by the end.

Since I had so many theories, it was easy to have one that turned out to be right. That's what happens when - and also why you should - cover all your bases when Sherlocking. The ending didn't really shock me, but it did make me gasp and gave me intense goosebumps because it was just as creepy as I had imagined.

Overall I think Before I Go To Sleep is a great thriller, which is easy to read if you're in the mood for something quick but pretty dark. It's also been adapted into a movie, so that should make for an interesting Books in Motion post!

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Before I Go To Sleep is to be likened to the film, Memento, only without Guy Pierce and on crack. Remember, crack is wack. Christine Lucas, gained amnesia after a hit and run accident and can only hold one days memories at a time, when the clock strikes midnight, her brain hits rewind to play out the next day as it had been the first.

Each morning, her husband Ben must remind her that he is her husband guiding her through the day. But as we learn on the first page: DO NOT TRUST BEN! Is this truth or Christine's paranoia? We learn of Christine's life through her daily journal entries, a therapy prescribed by her therapist whom Ben is not aware of. What the Hell is going on here?

Before I Go To Sleep twists a reader's mind like a pretzel, never quite believing what is written, its all a bit off. Because of this, I find it difficult to write a review to give this book justice without giving anything away. Like our main character, I hardly trusted anyone, and reading her daily journal, slowly putting all the pieces together, it was still unclear. Certainly, because those four words haunt the back of my mind "DO NOT TRUST BEN!" Learning of Christine's previous life does help build her character but does not add a clear cut mold as to the characters themselves. Looking back at what I've written, it appears just as long winded repetitive as Christine's journal entries itself. Like Christine Lucas' memory, which restarts every night, I could have read Before I Go To Sleep both frontwards and backwards and would still turn me around. Fantastic.

[ibeforem]

Before I Go To Sleep is easily one of the best books of the summer, and I don’t throw around the term "best" lightly.

When Christine wakes the first morning we meet her, we are just as confused as she is. Who is she? Who is she in bed with? Why is she older than she thinks she is? How is it possible to live without knowing these things? By the time I got to the beginning of her journal, I was hooked for sure. I found this severe case of amnesia fascinating.

There’s something compelling about a book with an unreliable narrator. Not only are we not sure what we can believe, but Christine isn’t sure if even she can believe her own writings. We bounce around her head with her as she vacillates between knowing and not knowing, trusting and not trusting. We applaud each step she takes forward, and cringe with each step she takes backwards.

And the ending... The ending!! It’s been a long time since I got to the end of a book and said “Where’s the rest?” But not in a bad way. Without giving too much away, I would love to know what happens next, but I think the author made the right choice in ending it the way she did. The twist was not at all what I expected; the bait-and-switch was brilliant.

I’ll be looking forward to what’s next to come from S.J. Watson.

[kimbacaffeinate]

S. J. Watson's debut novel is a stunning suspense thriller. I could not put this book down.
Each morning when she wakes up she has forgotten who she is, who she loves, her past. The only people she can trust are her husband Ben and her DR. Ed Nash....or can she?
This novel will grab you in the first few pages and hold you tight, as you and Christine try to reassemble the missing pieces of her past.
i will be looking for more work by this fantastic new author.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I was recommending this book by one of my trusty Goodreads friends and while I wasn’t too sure about it I decided to give it a go. I was thinking this would be a book similar to 50 First Dates but what I go was a book that reminded me more of Memento. Before I Go to Sleep tells the story of Christine Lucas, who is trying to piece back her life after suffering an accident that has caused her to have anterograde amnesia. Chrissy can remember everything that happens to her during the day but as soon as she goes into a deep sleep, her brain goes into delete mode; resulting in Christine waking up next to a stranger. Her memories are not really all gone; her brain just can’t piece the images together.

This book is chilling; watching Christine write in her journal trying to piece together, everything she has missed in her life. The pieces don’t fix and she comes to realise that her life is a lot different that she thinks it is. Making this a gripping read with unexpected twists and turns to keep you reading into the early mornings. I’m really impressed that this is SJ Watson’s first novel; Before I Go to Sleep is an addictive read and masterfully written.

I would recommend this book to everyone one; it is a beautifully crafted book that takes you on a thrilling journey; fully of twists and turns. As far as a book is concerned, this one has it all; suspense, mystery, intrigue, sex, violence and romance. As was really impressed by this book and while have to listen to my friend in the future when it comes to book recommendations. Go out and read this book as soon as you can; it sits in my top 5 read books of the read and probably in the top 2 for best books of 2011.