Before I Go to Sleep

A Novel

By: S. J. Watson

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

New York Times Bestseller

“An exceptional thriller. It left my nerves jangling for hours after I finished the last page.” –Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Shutter Island

“Imagine drifting off every night knowing that your memories will be wiped away by morning. That’s the fate of Christine Lucas, whose bewildering internal world is rendered with chilling intimacy in this debut literary thriller. . . . You’ll stay up late reading until you know.” — People (4 stars)

Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love–all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story. Welcome to Christine's life. Every morning, she awakens beside a stranger in an unfamiliar bed. She sees a middle-aged face in the bathroom mirror that she does not recognize. And every morning, the man patiently explains that he is Ben, her husband, that she is forty-seven-years-old, and that an accident long ago damaged her ability to remember.

In place of memories Christine has a handful of pictures, a whiteboard in the kitchen, and a journal, hidden in a closet. She knows about the journal because Dr. Ed Nash, a neurologist who claims to be treating her without Ben’s knowledge, reminds her about it each day. Inside its pages, the damaged woman has begun meticulously recording her daily events—sessions with Dr. Nash, snippets of information that Ben shares, flashes of her former self that briefly, miraculously appear.

But as the pages accumulate, inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions that Christine is determined to find answers to. And the more she pieces together the shards of her broken life, the closer she gets to the truth . . . and the more terrifying and deadly it is.

Mystery and suspense with a twist

Christine is a woman with a past--unfortunately one she can't remember. When she wakes up each morning she has to be told where she is, what's happened in the past twenty years, and who the people are in her life now. She starts remembering things and then the pattern changes. It's a mystery with a little suspense. Different than I thought it would be but I was hooked very quickly by the plot. Truly a page-turner and a fascinating story. I wish I didn't know what happened so I could read it again!

Surprisingly good

I wasn't sure I could listen to this groundhog day scenario for 11 hours but after she starts writing in her journal about what she remembers from day to day it really picks up. The twist was pretty obvious but that didn't make it any less harrowing or exciting. I ended up really liking this book.

WOW!

This was a great book! I thought I had guessed the ending then ended up second guessing myself until I just wasn’t sure. It was very easy to listen to

Like nails grating on a chalkboard

The story is just ok so far (less than halfway through). I find it drags a little. But hardest for me is the narrator’s voice. Don’t know why but I find it quite annoying, especially when she reads voices other than the main characters. If I quit this book before finishing, this will be the reason!

Not a bad little thriller

I enjoyed this little tale. Unfortunately, I had seen the Nicole Kidman movie first (and didn't really realize it was the same story until a little way in), so I never really experienced much suspense, and that probably affected my take on things.

The setup is very good, very interesting, and the heroine is sympathetic, smart and engaging. The plot does bog down in the middle though, and the ending is cheesy -- somehow more cheesy than the movie, I think, maybe because the movie had good actors to pull it off. There's also a little bit of an unpleasant moralistic undertone to what happens to the heroine that bugs me some.

But overall, an enjoyable listen. The performance is good; nothing special.