Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

19 reviews

zara89's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Rape

Minor: Car accident, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

annelidreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

juliana_caterin's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'll never be ready to talk about this book. If you're looking for a fast-paced, thrilling story, this is the one. I'm not usually an avid reader of the psychological thriller genre, but this did it for me. I need more books like this one. This is not a mystery, per se. I could predict every twist and turn since the beginning of the book. This is the definition of a thriller! I couldn't stop reading, I just flew through this book in a matter of days. I had a knot in my stomach, my hands were sweating, and my heartbeat raised with every chapter. 
If you're having doubts about reading this book, I suggest you give it a try. I was hooked since page one, and I needed to finish! 
If you like diary entries or jump in time to a specific time, I'd recommend reading this book. I don't think I've read a more thrilling book ever (but I don't usually read thrillers, so take this with a grain of salt). 
Again, it's quite predictable from the beginning, so if you're looking for a book that will blow your mind with a big twist at the end, maybe this one isn't the one. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

Kidgnapping

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

The references to Clive Wearing's journal made my little psych nerd brain far too happy. This was pretty great

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

joice's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book was really suspenseful but it felt long to me. Also, I didn't always like the writing because it was simultaneously written off as journal entries and as play-by-play first-person exposition/description.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Suicide

creativeworld's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical 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!
 

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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

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and 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

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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