Every day's a chance for a fresh start. Sounds great. But for Christine, every day is literally a fresh start. Injured in a mysterious accident, Chrissy suffers from a trauma-induced amnesia that leaves her with no memory of who she is, where she lives, or anyone she knows. Whatever she learns during the day -- and whatever threads of memory she recovers -- are lost completely when she falls asleep every night.Chrissy is cared for by her husband Ben; he patiently explains to her who he is and who she is every morning, filling in her life story and gently helping her cope with the reality that she has no context and no personal narrative on which she can rely. Ben is kind, patient, compassionate, and clearly loves Chrissy. And she loves him. At least that's what Ben tells her and it feels right. But are things what they seem to be? As Chrissy struggles to find ways to hold on to whatever threads of her past she is able to remember during the day, she can't shake the feeling that Ben's explanation of her accident and their life together is incomplete or, worse, a fraud.Then Chrissy is contacted by a doctor specializing in trauma-induced amnesia. Though she has no memory of him, he clearly knows who she is and tells her they have been working together to recover her memories, which she keeps in a journal hidden in a box in her closet. Aided by her own narrative, Chrissy fights to find the truth about herself, Ben, and the world around her.In less gifted hands, "Before I Go to Sleep" might have been a clever gimmick, but S.J. Watson's debut novel is astonishingly powerful and beautifully written. Watson expertly captures Chrissy's frustration and horror at waking up every day without any sense of herself as an individual, utterly dependent on a husband she does not recognize for a personal narrative to make sense of her life. Even as she begins to doubt the accuracy of some of Ben's explanations, she is tormented by the possibility that he is in fact telling her the truth and her memories -- such as they are -- are simply wrong, making her question the person who has devoted his life to caring for her.Perfectly paced, elegiac in tone, "Before I Go to Sleep" is a brilliant debut, and one of the best novels I have read this year.