S. J. Watson's thrilling debut Before I Go To Sleep is gripping from beginning to end; written from the perspective of Christine Lucas, a middle-aged woman with a rare form of amnesia that prevents her from retaining new memories each night when she falls asleep. Therefore, when she wakes up each day, she believes that she is in her early twenties or younger, and has no recollection of the room she has awoken in or who the man lying next to her is. Each morning the man tells her that he is her husband, Ben, that they live together in London and that she had a serious accident which caused her amnesia. However, Christine is seeing Dr Nash, a specialist neurologist, without Ben's knowledge, and starts to keep a diary on his advice. Following on from this, it soon becomes clear that Ben is lying to her, and 'DON'T TRUST BEN' is underlined on the journal's first page, although Christine struggles to establish his motives. Keeping the diary not only helps Christine remember what has happened in her recent past, but also gives her better access to her own past, and as the pieces start to fall into place it becomes more obvious than ever that Ben isn't who he says he is, but who he really is remains a mystery until the very end.
The type of amnesia that Christine suffers from is very rare, as she is able to retain short-term memories for an entire day, rather than just a few minutes, and her long-term memory varies from day to day. Watson was partially inspired by Henry Molaison, a severely epileptic man who had part of his brain removed as a 'cure'. The amnesia that followed the operation provided the basis for Christine's, and the experimental treatments used on him are mirrored in those used by Dr Nash, such as the fact that Molaison retained motor skills that he learned following his operation, despite the fact that he could not recall events. This breakthrough discovery demonstrated that different types of memory are formed and transmitted using different parts of the brain. Watson's deep level of scientific research is hardly surprising given that, before becoming a full-time author, he was an audiologist for the NHS, dedicating his evenings and weekends to writing. Before I Go To Sleep is the product of an idea he had as an audiologist, followed by the six month course Writing a Novel at the Faber Academy.
Yet his unconventional path to authorship is not reflected in his work - Before I Go To Sleep is as accomplished a thriller as many produced by more seasoned authors. Although the reader's suspicions about Ben are aroused early on, the strange small details quickly become minor in comparison to the many other lies that begin piling up, and the suspense becomes almost unbearable. Unfortunately, some momentum is lost towards the end of the novel, and the ending itself is too predictable and 'happy ever after' for what is otherwise such an intense novel. Despite this, the remainder of the novel is skilfully written and it is well deserving of its status as an international bestseller.
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