Before I Go to Sleep

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and err… made me forget to go to sleep. This book to me is the epitome of books that make you go wait, what??

I want to highlight the menacing ambiance and constant edge in the tone of the story by giving the character such vulnerability that made me squirm. I loved the pacing of this story as the main character is hurled from the one bad situation into another.

Yet again, this book taught me to re-think assumptions, because it proved all of them wrong. I… show more.

I read this brilliant psychological thriller years ago and it has stayed with me.

I was fascinated by the concept of losing your memory every night and having to start all over again the next day. How do you know what is real, who to trust? Memory is so important, it links us to our past and helps form our future.

Christine wakes up from an accident and can’t remember anything, who she is, the man who says he’s her husband, anything from her past. When her doctor encourages her to write a diary before she goes to sleep every… show more.

What could be worse than losing your memory every time you went to sleep, and waking up each morning not knowing who you are?

That’s the premise explored in this 2011 thriller by SJ Watson and one which keeps you turning page after page. Once again, the setting is an ordinary domestic one. The key characters are a husband and wife, but wow, that twist really comes like a sucker punch to the chest. 

I couldn’t complete my list without mentioning this book. When the book was first released I took it on holiday and stayed up all night reading.

The plot is intriguing, menacing, and a true page-turner.

The story is told from Christine’s point of view. She has amnesia and each night her memory is wiped clean. She relies on her husband to fill in the blanks. With the help of a doctor she starts to piece together her life and keeps a journal to retain information. She soon discovers that she can’t trust anyone, but can she trust herself?

Amnesia is the psychological thriller author’s friend and SJ Watson uses an extreme case to great effect in this darkly compelling and claustrophobic tale. Christine lives her life one day at a time, literally. Every night she loses her memories – her name, her identity, her past. Every morning the stranger in her bed patiently explains he is her loving husband, Ben.  All she has is a handful of pictures, a whiteboard – and a hidden journal, which her neurologist helps her keep without Ben’s knowledge. Inside its pages lie the inconsistencies that help Christine realise all is not as… show more.

This book is now a film, but the book is much better! Imagine waking up every day without any memories. Imagine not knowing who your husband is. Imagine your husband having to explain you had an accident two decades earlier and you can’t form new memories. Well, this is that book… The problems start when the narrator begins to reconstruct her past bit by bit, though she keeps getting curtailed by her memory loss, which is both riveting and frustrating for the reader! As she gets closer to the truth, she realises her memories might not be the only things… show more.

For a book I simply couldn’t put down, this was the winner. The author wakes in a world where she has no memory beyond the next 24 hours and must painstakingly piece together who she can trust and how she got where she was right before it’s all wiped again. Following this thrilling journey made me question the power of memory, perception, and reality all at once.