Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson (with The Bookies book club)

Every day when Christine wakes up she wonders who the man is sleeping next to her.  She does not recognize herself in the mirror.  Every day her husband Ben patiently tells her who she is, what has happened, and how long it has been.  And it has been a long time. 

Christine, as is explained to her, is amnesiac, the result of a serious and mysterious accident. At the urging of her doctor, Christine is encouraged to write in a  journal every day to help jog her memory of what has been happening in her life.  One morning as she goes to read her journal and see who she is she opens it to find one big header:

Do not trust Ben.

What does that mean?  Why would she not trust this patient man who has stood by her patiently day after day as she tries to remember.  And then slowly, very slowly Christine with the help of the journal and her doctor, starts to see glimpses of a past that does not coincide with what she is being told by those she trusts the most.  And for that matter, can she even trust who she has told herself she is?

Word on the street is Before I go To Sleep will be a movie.  I would love to see this as a movie, I think it would translate to the screen in a big way that would keep your heart racing until the end!

Mmmmm hmmmm…. I know right?  Twisty and turny synopsis?  Well it is a twisty and turny book!  This book through my emotional meter out the window.  As it opens, I think Ben is amazing, how patient to repeat the same thing to the woman he dearly loves day after day.  Then…. I don’t like Ben… I have my reasons.  😀  And then… Oh Ben, you are awesome. 

See what I mean?  And it’s not just with Ben.  As Christine learns more about herself, it is still like reading a book through a veil, you never quite see her clearly enough to say you know her.  At the time of the reading, that annoyed me that I could not quite get a grasp on her.  Now in hindsight, I wonder if that is not just a brilliant move by this new author…. after all why should I see Christine clearly when she can not see herself that way?

In the end for me, I was still frustrated… the twists the turns, I felt were too many… I was exhausted trying to keep up and annoyed with all the characters.  Yes… all of them.

But – know this … I am in the minority.

Not only have I read raving reviews on this book, it was also our March book club pick for the Bookies.  I was excited to not only read this for the TLC book tour, but to also include the opinions of a group of fantastic girls that LOVE books and discuss them well.

And so the Bookies reviewed.  Out of the 12 of us in the room, only a couple struggled with the book the way I did.  For the most part they loved the ups and downs and ins and outs never knowing… thinking you know… then realizing you know nothing.  On a scale of 1 to 5, the book pulled in a strong 4 average. 

And of course, if the Bookies do a house meeting… we have FOOD. 

 

Desserts!

 

Fish tacos with homemade salsa!

 

Beef Marselona

Check out Angie’s review of this book at By Book Or By Crook… Angie is in our book club and had a fantastic time with the book and wrote an amazing review!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for allowing me

to read this book before I went to sleep 😀