Between the Pages

Christine Lucas suffers from a rare form of amnesia.  While she is sleeping, she forgets everything from the day before.  She is shocked to find out that she is in her 40s, not in her 20s; she doesn’t recognise the man lying beside her who tells her he is her husband; she is unable to recognise the house she apparently lives in…and she can’t remember how she came to be like this.  As she tries to discover what caused her condition, she makes unsettling discoveries and realises that she does not know who she can trust.  Is her husband Ben being honest with her?  And is Doctor Nash really interested in helping her?  And even if she finds out the truth, what happens when she wakes the next morning and can’t remember it…?

I thought this book was absolutely fantastic; from the very beginning I knew I was going to love it.  The main character Christine was totally believable, and I felt that throughout the story I really got to know her.  As she forgot things from day to day, she was never really sure what was real and what was imagined, who to believe and who to distrust – and I went through all of these emotions with her.  As the story is told from Christine’s perspective, the reader only ever knows as much as she does.  Despite her unusual condition, she was easy to believe in and a totally realistic character.

The story itself was (and I hate to use such a cliche, but in this case it’s deserved) a real page-turner.  I had to stop myself constantly peeking a few pages ahead to see what happened, and didn’t want to put the book down.  There is a sense of menace which pervades the narrative, and I always felt that danger was just around the corner.  It was never possible to know whether Christine’s husband or indeed her doctor could be trusted.  The ending was also terrific – I genuinely would not have been able to guess what would happen (although that did not stop me trying), but the story ended on a perfect note.

This is S.J. Watson’s debut novel – it is a fantastic read, and I urge fans of all genres to pick it up.  I will certainly be looking out for the author’s future works.

(Author’s website can be found here.)