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breadjpg's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
so good wtf !!!! the plot twist had me going INSANEEEE it was so good omg i’d been thinking that could be the twist and then when it happened i GASPED
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
booksjessreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book is about a woman named Christine who had anteriograde amnesia. She is encouraged to write a diary to help her remember things but she starts finding out intriguing things about her past. The writing was good and kept me interested throughout. One thing I did find a little hard to get through in the beginning was reading the same beginnings to her diary entries. I know her memory loss couldn't be helped, but until the story picked up in the middle I certainly found it hard to keep my concentration there.
However, I did really like the book and particularly towards the end I was hooked to see what was going to happen. This has definitely sparked a curiosity within me to start reading the other S. J. Watson works!
However, I did really like the book and particularly towards the end I was hooked to see what was going to happen. This has definitely sparked a curiosity within me to start reading the other S. J. Watson works!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Rape
Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Miscarriage
melplays9000's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Going into it, I expected this book to be repetitive, then I expected the ending to be unsatisfying. This book however, exceeded all those expectations. I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I found myself excited to continue reading it every time I put it down. The concept was so unique and the execution perfect meaning this book is exactly what I wanted and exactly what I came for. I did not predict the ending at all even though I tried to and I loved how it was left quite open but in a way which was satisfying and we as readers knew that whatever happened it would be okay.
If I had to give something I didn’t like it was that the main character wasn’t the most likable. Well none of the characters were totally, but I feel this made them feel real and in my opinion only added to the story, so this isn’t much of a criticism.
Overall I think this is the best thriller I have read to date and I need to make my mother read it too, because I feel she would love it. I kind of wish I had a prettier copy for my collection. 5 stars.
If I had to give something I didn’t like it was that the main character wasn’t the most likable. Well none of the characters were totally, but I feel this made them feel real and in my opinion only added to the story, so this isn’t much of a criticism.
Overall I think this is the best thriller I have read to date and I need to make my mother read it too, because I feel she would love it. I kind of wish I had a prettier copy for my collection. 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy
holdenwunders_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse
gracefulbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
In this book, we follow Christine a middle-aged woman who when she falls asleep each night her memories of that day and multiple ones before are forgotten and lost and she wakes up in a confused state. She wakes up to a husband she doesn't remember, seeing a face in the mirror she doesn't recognize and having no idea how she got to this point, to begin with, other than she had an accident years ago that messed up her memory.
So I saw multiple people rating this book super-low because it's unrealistic but because I saw those reviews I was able to suspend my belief in this book just a bit. But even with that I genuinely don't think this book is entirely unbelievable (I know that TWO parts, in particular, could be like ok...that doesn't make sense) and maybe the disbelief comes from Christine's condition-I don't know enough about the brain and memory to refute anything though so I will say I enjoyed this book for what it was.
I listened to this on audiobook and I think the narrator did a fantastic job portraying a lot of the confusion and worry that comes along with the main character's condition. Also not to mention I was really wanting to know what happened to Christine all those years ago. I found myself on the edge of my seat, super excited, and also beyond nervous for her.
I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to wake up every day and have no recollection of anything other than the earlier parts of your life-maybe. It was so interesting and suspenseful and I had a great time getting to enjoy it.
Also, the way the audiobook worked made the flash-forwards and flashbacks kind of fuse together but rather than ruining my experience it intensified it because I wound up feeling as confused as Christine did and I think it genuinely put me in her shoes.
I will say the only reason this isn't a 5 or a 4.5 stars is simply that I can see where there were some issues with the entire story. Also because near the end my interest did kind of wane just a tiny bit-but besides that it was a super enjoyable reading experience for me.
So I saw multiple people rating this book super-low because it's unrealistic but because I saw those reviews I was able to suspend my belief in this book just a bit. But even with that I genuinely don't think this book is entirely unbelievable (I know that TWO parts, in particular, could be like ok...that doesn't make sense) and maybe the disbelief comes from Christine's condition-I don't know enough about the brain and memory to refute anything though so I will say I enjoyed this book for what it was.
I listened to this on audiobook and I think the narrator did a fantastic job portraying a lot of the confusion and worry that comes along with the main character's condition. Also not to mention I was really wanting to know what happened to Christine all those years ago. I found myself on the edge of my seat, super excited, and also beyond nervous for her.
I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to wake up every day and have no recollection of anything other than the earlier parts of your life-maybe. It was so interesting and suspenseful and I had a great time getting to enjoy it.
Also, the way the audiobook worked made the flash-forwards and flashbacks kind of fuse together but rather than ruining my experience it intensified it because I wound up feeling as confused as Christine did and I think it genuinely put me in her shoes.
I will say the only reason this isn't a 5 or a 4.5 stars is simply that I can see where there were some issues with the entire story. Also because near the end my interest did kind of wane just a tiny bit-but besides that it was a super enjoyable reading experience for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
Moderate: Child death and Infidelity
erincarton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
novi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I read this in one sitting. It's so fast paced and I kept wanting to know what actually happened because right from the first page until the end, the suspense is always there. As we read more, we know that we can't trust any character in this book, not even the narrator (it uses first person pov from the main character). This book scared me a lot of the times and I didn't see the twist coming, even though it's not something very extra ordinary. But it's still good. I was scared that the ending of this book will haunt me, but thank god it didn't lol so this is not that disturbing. Even though if it did, it means it's really really good. But I still like it nevertheless.
Half of this book, we're reading the main character's journal, but it's not written in journal style, more in the novel style. Which is a bit weird since she has to write it in secret and she basically didn't have a lot of time to barely write before she sleeps and forget everything all over again, yet she wrote in novel style. I am used to writing journal entries for hours and I don't think I can do that lol. I understand why the author decides to do this, though, because if we readers read a journal version of it, we wouldn't grasp the entire situation
Half of this book, we're reading the main character's journal, but it's not written in journal style, more in the novel style. Which is a bit weird since she has to write it in secret and she basically didn't have a lot of time to barely write before she sleeps and forget everything all over again, yet she wrote in novel style. I am used to writing journal entries for hours and I don't think I can do that lol. I understand why the author decides to do this, though, because if we readers read a journal version of it, we wouldn't grasp the entire situation
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Stalking, Rape, and Infidelity
Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy
mlebarrow's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Not the best written book but interesting enough to keep me invested in what was going to happen. Decent pace until the ending, the peak was quick and the aftermath was too perfect. Disappointing ending really.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical trauma
Minor: Toxic relationship, Rape, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Miscarriage
Miscarriage only mentioned once and seemed random, like it was thrown in for the sake of it. Same with the minor rape scene - book wouldn't have changed if it wasn't included.raegan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse
josefinceh's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Slow, redundant and kind of predictable.
The first 100 pages are extremely interesting, thrilling and you just get sucked in to the atmosphere of the book. The last 100 pages were ok but nothing neither brilliant nor mind-blowing about it. As for the middle of the book I feel as it would not loose anything from just throwing out 150 pages or so.
The concept of the story is interesting, I will give it that, but I had so many problems with the charters, plot and writing that towards the end I felt like I was reading it out of spite. I just wanted to find out if the ending I had predicted halfway through was right.
Let's talk about Christine. Now I can understand that writing from a perspective of a character who forgets everything by the next day is tricky, and balancing the style of writing a journal whilst still conveying a good amount of information equally so, but is it necessary for us to learn how confused she was every single time? Her entries were repetitive and with an unnecessary amount of detail about the smallest little thing. Even if she was a novelist the way the entries were written made no sense considering her mental state. It also bothers me how her writing never reflects what is going on in the house or in the place.I expected that, especially after ben hits her or when it's the middle of the night, the the writing would be choppy, short sentences to give us a hint of what was going on, adding suspense by jumping back and forth.
Also:would someone actually write an entire paragraph in their journal about how they nicked their leg wile shaving and then also tasting the soapy blood? There were also times where it felt unnecessarily sensual, where she describes the matching bra and knickers, how she peals of her blouse. I have never found myself so aware of every single moment where she or Ben was naked, not to mention how she describes Ben and his "bobbing erection" because apparently we need to hear about his penis every time he is nude...
The transition of their relationship also makes little sense, we learn in the beginning that we can't trust Ben. Towards the end we are supposed to trust him but we are given no other reason other than the fact that he is her husband. The repetition of that fact serves the purpose of trying to convince the reader that Ben is loving and to be trusted, but never actually shows us a reason why. The book also had a tendency to just drop things that maybe should be talked about, like Christine being raped?
In the end, after the final battle (that made little sense in my opinion), we have the moment where Dr. Nash is explaining everything, what happened to Mike/Ben, how they found her etc. Which just gives me the feeling that Watson couldn't bother writing an ending where everything actually connected so he resorted to telling us that this is what we missed from team Clair and Dr. Nash.
In summary: the story has a lot of potential but suffers from bad writing, plot holes and just lack of logic/beliveability.
The first 100 pages are extremely interesting, thrilling and you just get sucked in to the atmosphere of the book. The last 100 pages were ok but nothing neither brilliant nor mind-blowing about it. As for the middle of the book I feel as it would not loose anything from just throwing out 150 pages or so.
The concept of the story is interesting, I will give it that, but I had so many problems with the charters, plot and writing that towards the end I felt like I was reading it out of spite. I just wanted to find out if the ending I had predicted halfway through was right.
Let's talk about Christine. Now I can understand that writing from a perspective of a character who forgets everything by the next day is tricky, and balancing the style of writing a journal whilst still conveying a good amount of information equally so, but is it necessary for us to learn how confused she was every single time? Her entries were repetitive and with an unnecessary amount of detail about the smallest little thing. Even if she was a novelist the way the entries were written made no sense considering her mental state. It also bothers me how her writing never reflects what is going on in the house or in the place.
Also:
The transition of their relationship also makes little sense,
In summary: the story has a lot of potential but suffers from bad writing, plot holes and just lack of logic/beliveability.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape
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