Wednesday, October 10, 2012

This Then That: Gone Girl & Before I Go To Sleep

If you liked...
Gone Girl (2012) by Gillian Flynn

Then try...
Before I Go To Sleep (2011) by S.J. Watson

This past summer's runaway hit Gone Girl is a dark, addictive thriller filled with surprising twists and turns.  The story of an ill-fated couple's crumbling  marriage -- which culminates in the wife's disappearance and possible murder -- topped both the critics' lists and bestseller charts.  Now that you've tore through that dozy of a book, why not pick up S.J. Watson's Before I Go To Sleep

Before I Go To Sleep hooks you early with an intriguing premise.  Every morning, Christine groggily awakens to find herself in an unfamiliar room, in bed with an older man she has never seen before. When she looks in the mirror she is shocked to see a stranger's face stare back at her.  Christine's mystery bed mate turns out to be her husband Ben.  Ben patiently explains that she was in an accident 20 years ago and has sustained inquiries that seriously impair her memory: Christine is unable to retain memories for more than 24 hours.  In the morning the couple are doomed to repeat the same painful process.  Christine keeps a journal at the urging of her doctor; after reading her previous entries she becomes suspicious of Ben and the nature of her accident.

 Equally hypnotic and foreboding, both Before I Go To Sleep and Gone Girl share similarities in tone, pacing, and subject matter.  Both novels also address provocative questions about the nature of love, trust, and betrayal:  How well can you really know your partner?

Predictably both novels have been optioned for future film adaptions, so why not read them before they hit the big screen?  The Library has multiple copies of Gone Girl and Before I Go To Sleep, so stop in today and pick them up.  After all, who couldn't  use a little mystery and intrigue in their life?

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