Not bad.
The first thing I thought of when I bought this book is that it sounds a lot like 50 first dates!
Believe me, it's not.
It's a sinister, mind f*ckery psychological thriller . Very much not a Rom Com! Though, I must add for all you wimps out there, It's not scary at all.
I just couldn't put this book down. I read the first chapter or two in the first day, but was quite busy so had to leave it a bit. Then in my second day of reading, read for 4 hours, and finished that evening.
So, what happens in this book (without spoiling it too much!), Christine wakes up next to a strange man, in a strange house and she looks old in the mirror. He tells her she has amnesia, which she has because of an accident she had years ago, that she wakes every morning and has to tell her the same thing, and show her around her own home.
She later on gets a phone call from some doctor she's apparently been seeing who tells her to look in her journal he says she's written.
Then begins the journal entries which aren't as bad as you might think if you're not into the whole journal view point.
You realise as time goes on that something isn't quite right with her story but you just don't know if or who is lying. Or is Christine just inventing herself a story to make up for the fact she can't remember anything?
Obviously I don't want to give away too much but there IS a 'big' twist at the end. I guessed from about halfway through what the outcome would be. Or at least could be. But it was still a shocker and it didn't want to make me put it down.
As a mother it's hard story to swallow, I couldn't imagine waking up every day and forgetting if I even have a child and no idea if i was married or not. It makes it very easy to like the main character and empathise with her.
This is a must buy. I'm very much looking forward to the film now!
Oooh this has been sat on my Amazon wish list for a while, I might purchase it on Kindle now after reading nyour review.
ReplyDeleteBEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is a novel that explores the intricacies and the deficiencies of memory. I've read other books that have explored Alzheimer's disease but in this case, Christine's memory has been affected by an accident in her past. During her waking hours she can cope with daily living but every morning, after falling asleep the night before, she wakes not having any prior memories.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine anything that could be too much more frightening. To lose your memories is to lose yourself, the very essence of what makes you an individual. To not remember your husband or children and have to rebuild your past every day - overwhelming.