What Watson has carved here in this debut novel is a suspense-filled thriller with a psychological twist. I was gripped from the first page, the first paragraph, the first image. What a powerful and moving, not to mention chilling, look at how our minds work and the value of our memories in defining who we are – or think we are!
I was thrilled by Watson’s ability to so carefully craft such diverse characters with such intense integrity… in fact, this whole book speaks of textual integrity, of the value of a tightly balanced and contained plot which unfolds with perfect precision.
I won’t say anything more about what happens in this book than this: A woman wakes up in a strange bed with a strange man beside her. She notes his wedding band and is surprised that she drank so much at the party the night before that she has come home with a married man. Beside the bed she sees what she assumes are his wife’s slippers and she groans. She makes her way to the bathroom, all the while chastising herself for her silly actions. There, in the mirror, she meets herself as though for the first time. She is twenty years older than she remembers, lines on a face that doesn’t seem to be her own, a face that she nonetheless knows and recognises. Taped to the mirror she finds a myriad of photographs of her and the strange man still asleep in the bed. Her confusion and panic is just the beginning of what is a fantastic story.
This book is a must read for anyone who likes great writing, thrillers or suspense novels. What a pleasure!! I will be watching for more from this author.
Watson’s website can be found here.
Read the Guardian Review.
Justine
