Just Words on a Page

I finished Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson two days ago and I am just now finding the time to sit down and write a review. 

Where do I start? This book was recommended to me because I liked Girl on the Train (thanks Amazon!) and the synopsis sounded interesting- a women with severe  amnesia wakes up everyday not knowing where she is or what time period it is because of an "accident" that caused severe brain damage and put her in a coma for months. Unreliable narrator (for obvious reasons), suspense and mystery made it seem like a good combination. 
It was a good book but at times it felt like it was trying too hard to be something it wasn't. It was trying to add way more suspense or thrills where there shouldn't have been and adding sexual tension where it wasn't necessary. The thing that bugged me the most about this book though was the fact that a majority of it was supposed to be the main characters journal entries- to remind herself of what happens each day to hopefully help her memory return- BUT there was no difference style/voice-wise between the journal and the rest of the novel. I found it very frustrating and difficult to jump between the two when there was no discernible difference between them. The journal entries read like third-person-ominsinciant point-of-view, instead of first person. There were things that Christine mentioned that as a first person narrator, she shouldn't have know about- especially if she had amnesia and couldn't form new memories or remember a majority of her past. The premise of the novel was good, but the execution needed work.

Overall: 3/5


SRP Goal: 2/20