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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
While the story is interesting, so many of the conversations are full and repetitive (as is the nature of amnesia). It is full of stops and starts pacing wise and I found myself either completely invested or bored.
If it had been about 100 pages shorter it would have been a lot better.
The end doesn't make up for the time wasted, and although it was riveting, I will likely mostly remember being a bit bored for most of this.
The first and last 50 pages were the best, the middle sections are her reading her own journal, and just way too long. If those parts were shorter this could have been a 5 star read, but much of the tension was lost in those middle sections of her reading and rereading journal entries.
I didn't guess the end so that was a fun surprise!
3/5
This book is great! Really makes you want to put the puzzle together and it really makes you think! Crazy twist at the end that will blow you away!
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
"There are memories I am better off without. Things better lost forever."
Oh, how to keep someone under your absolute control? You have to mess with their mind. Add a traumatic brain injury, where that person can't remember anything for more than 24 hours (other than basic functions, and events from early childhood), and the victim is certainly in quite a pickle! Is she having a memory, something she created in her own mind or dreams, or remembering something that someone else told her over and over until it seems real? This book kept me engaged -- I wanted to find out for sure what was going on! I kind of felt like the ending was too neat, but that is really my only complaint. A great thriller!
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Creeeeepy. Really paranoia-inducing, particularly in the first 60% or so. It does start to telegraph the ending a bit by 75%, rather like a film, but that's ok...part of you doesn't want to believe it's so awful so you can suspend disbelief (something I find very hard to do and it's a sign of the good writing that that was possible). Actually the most horrifying aspect for me is the reminder that people can and do fall through cracks in the care system. What happens to Christine, whilst unusual in that she's relatively young and has a rare set of circumstances, could certainly happen to someone with dementia or any other memory-chewing disorder who isn't able to have friends and relatives close by. Chilling stuff. If you enjoyed this it's worth reading the biography of amnesiac Clive Wearing, "Forever Today" by Deborah Wearing, one of the books which inspired this novel - you will certainly recognise his condition here and I think it's well dramatised by SJ Watson.