Memento meets Groundhog Day in this debut thriller from S J Watson.
Christine awakens every morning with no recollection of the last 20 or so years. She still thinks of herself as a young woman and is shocked to see the reflection of a woman nearly 50 years old in the mirror. Add to that the fact that she has no idea who the man sleeping next to her is and you get the idea of the daily events of her life.
On the advice of her Doctor she begins to keep a journal that she must find and read every day to keep herself aware of who she is and her current situation so that she may begin to lead a somewhat normal life.
Through long periods of this book I found myself wishing that I was suffering from memory loss myself so that I wouldn’t be able to recall the many pages spent going over the same morning routine until Christine manages to bring herself up to speed.
Eventually the daily added snippets of information lead her to discover that not all is as it seems and she might finally recall the events that left her with this debilitating condition.
Although at times it was tough to get through, as the book builds to the finale the pace quickens and the tension missing from the first three quarters finally arrives leading to a satisfying if clichéd climax.
This has already been optioned for film by Ridley Scott’s production company but he’ll need to avoid the repetition to make it work on screen.
Ric’s Rating: 59%
Christine awakens every morning with no recollection of the last 20 or so years. She still thinks of herself as a young woman and is shocked to see the reflection of a woman nearly 50 years old in the mirror. Add to that the fact that she has no idea who the man sleeping next to her is and you get the idea of the daily events of her life.
On the advice of her Doctor she begins to keep a journal that she must find and read every day to keep herself aware of who she is and her current situation so that she may begin to lead a somewhat normal life.
Through long periods of this book I found myself wishing that I was suffering from memory loss myself so that I wouldn’t be able to recall the many pages spent going over the same morning routine until Christine manages to bring herself up to speed.
Eventually the daily added snippets of information lead her to discover that not all is as it seems and she might finally recall the events that left her with this debilitating condition.
Although at times it was tough to get through, as the book builds to the finale the pace quickens and the tension missing from the first three quarters finally arrives leading to a satisfying if clichéd climax.
This has already been optioned for film by Ridley Scott’s production company but he’ll need to avoid the repetition to make it work on screen.
Ric’s Rating: 59%
