How Mysterious!

Last summer when “everyone” was talking about S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, I checked it out from the library but returned it unread, because I somehow never got around to it. Then, when “everyone” listed it on their favorites for 2011 lists, I decided to give it another go.

Good call.

I read the whole book in one day, leaving my daughter to fend for herself (luckily all those new Christmas toys came into play, pun intended) while I devoured page after page. It really is as good as “everyone” says.

If you haven’t heard about Before I Go to Sleep yet, it’s S.J. Watson’s debut thriller about a woman with an unusual form of amnesia. Christine suffered a terrible accident, and for years now she has woken up each day thinking she’s a child or young woman, only to realize that she’s in her 40s, married to a man she can’t remember, and that all of the intervening years are lost. Her husband, Ben, keeps her at home with him, and patiently explains each morning who she is, who he is, what happened to her, and how she should manage her day.

But Dr. Ed Nash changes all of that. He helps Christine start a journal so that she can record what she learns all day, reread it the next day and build upon her knowledge instead of starting over every morning. He prods her memory with pictures and visits to places she had once known, and reminds her to write down what she remembers so that she can access it the next day. And he calls her every morning to tell her that she keeps a journal in her closet so she can read it to remember who she is. Gradually, she begins to remember more and retain it longer, and this leads her to see that her long-suffering husband Ben may not be all that he appears to be. In fact, he’s lying to her. Soon she’s also wondering if she can trust Dr. Nash, or even herself.

The story is set in England, but honestly it could take place anywhere. Because Christine’s disability leaves her at home all day, it’s mostly about relationships with family and friends. All of the clues are inside Christine’s head, trapped in her memories, which are still there but which she can’t seem to access. The mysteries of what happened to her in the past and what’s happening to her now unwind in her journal, which we get to read as she writes it.

I think what held me back from reading Before I Go to Sleep in the first place was the “Cause and Effect” episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (yeah, I’m that geeky), in which the Enterprise gets caught in a time loop and you have to watch the same day repeat almost exactly, oh, three or four times before the crew figures out what’s happening. It gets old. Watson avoids this problem, however, through the journal, which Christine can read rather than making us sit through the same explanations over and over again. So if boring repetition is your concern about this book, don’t give that a second thought (heh).

I thought I had this one figured out, but the ending was not what I expected. Given that Christine hardly ever goes anywhere or does anything, you know there must be something special about this book to make it so un-put-downable. Sum total: Good mystery, compelling character and situation, good writing. My advice is that you shouldn’t start this during a work week or you’ll never get anything done!