Before I Wake

April 21, 2014
At the outset of British author Taylor’s gripping first novel, 15-year-old Charlotte Jackson has been lying in a coma in a hospital after being hit by a London bus in an apparent suicide attempt six weeks earlier. Charlotte’s 43-year-old mother, Sue, looks for clues in her daughter’s secret diary to the girl’s rash actions. Charlotte’s father, Brian, is sure that the bus driver’s claim that she deliberately stepped in front of the bus is a lie. When the suspicious Sue catches her husband lying—about his whereabouts on a morning when he should have been at his office, for instance—he questions her sanity. Sue soon realizes that she can trust no one. Flashbacks from two decades earlier chart the course of her abusive relationship with ex-boyfriend James—whose reappearance in the present ratchets up the suspense. This psychological thriller will resonate long after the final page.

June 1, 2014

Suzy is obsessed with finding out the reason her daughter Charlotte, now lying in a coma, stepped in front of a bus. Certain that it was not an accident, she tracks down the secret that Charlotte was hiding, finding clues in her diary, phone, and computer. But are they hints or just coincidences? The reader soon finds out that Suzy suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has had "episodes." Her harrowing past is revealed in flashbacks at the end of every chapter, taking the reader to a time in her early twenties when she was trapped in an abusive relationship with a sometimes charming but mainly controlling, explosively angry lover who eventually locked her in his house and wouldn't let her out. These scenes are dramatic and read quickly--and give the reader doubts about Suzy's fragile psyche. The present-day scenes are not as intense, yet first-time author Taylor keeps the plot moving and knows how to layer on tension and bring it to a climax. VERDICT This psychological suspense is for those who read for plot and do not mind seedier elements.--Sonia Reppe, Stickney-Forest View P.L., IL

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