I have slightly edited this review because as the days go by, something is bugging me more and more, and I need to reword it slightly.The much anticipated second novel by S J Watson is here at last but did it live up to expectations? I have to say “no, not really”. This is the story of Julia who leads a respectable life with her respectable husband and their teenage son until the brutal murder of her sister Kate changes everything. When it seems as if the police aren’t doing quite enough t [...]

I had no intention of reading this book as most of my friends who are into thrillers, (which I love), dissed it, giving it 1-2 star ratings. But then my friends who are not that into thrillers, but like good fiction, started to read it and they were giving, for the most part, ratings of 4 stars. One friend, who loves both thrillers and nonthrillers gave it 5 stars! At that point I was strongly encouraged by a couple of friends to see for myself what this book is all about. I now thank them for [...]

Psstis is a really good thriller! I know, the ratings look just okay, but I noticed many wanted to like the main character, didn't finish, or wanted action from the opening pages.What this is, is a smart thriller. The beginning gave me a solid background, as Watson takes his time bringing me into the heart of his main character, Julia.Julia has suffered a great loss and grief takes her to indescribable places. From personal experience I can say, grief is all-encompassing, it can change how a per [...]

After a fine debut with "Before I Go to Sleep", this author's second novel was a disappointment to me. Overly long for the story it tells, repetitive, and a protagonist who is twice as dim as she needs to be to get the point across. It would be fair to say that Julia's decision-making skills need work. In my neck of the woods, we would point out that she doesn't have "brain one". I really liked the idea of taking oneself out of the picture, both literally and figuratively. Loved the ending - not [...]

EXCERPT: There's a police car parked a few doors from the house, but its our front door that's open. I begin to run; my mind empties of everything but the need to see my son. I don't stop until I'm in the house, in the kitchen, and I see Hugh standing in front of me, talking to a woman in uniform. I take in Connor's towel and trunks, drying on the radiator, then Hugh and the officer turn to look at me. She's wearing an expression of perfect, studied neutrality, and I know it's the way Hugh looks [...]

The Hook - I loved Watson’s debut Before I Go to SleepThe Line – The epigraph”God guard me from those thoughts men thin In the mind alone. –W.B.Yeats”The Sinker – The blurb:She loves her husband. She’s obsessed by a stranger. She’s a devoted mother. She’s prepared to lose everything. She know what’s she’s doing. She’s out of control. She’s innocent. She’s guilty as sin. She’s living tow lives. She may lose both.”She, Julia, is a lot of some things, exactly what is [...]

To say i had high expectations for this book would be a big understatement. I like many people here fell in love with S.J. Watson debut novel Before I Go To Sleep and was more than happy to recommend it anyone and everyone. Could Second Life even hope to live up to such high standards? I was hoping for a miracle but sadly in the end it would fall well short.The story goes of Julia who is living a happy life with her husband and young son Connor. This contented and respectable life will be turned [...]

This was skim read after page 130. I did read the last 50 pages slowly in entirety.What can I say about this book? It is really just plain awful. No one in the entire book seems like a real person. Julia is dumb as a rock. Most of the words are wasted and the writing so choppy, flow so bad- that it is hard to describe. Most also in triple redundancy. And the ending might be the worst one I've come across this year.Why did not one publisher or editor or honest person tell S. J. Watson anything cl [...]

When Julia was notified of her sister Kate’s death she was devastated. Kate lived in Paris and though they had always been close, there had been a recent rift over Connor. Connor was Kate’s biological son, but had given him to Julia as she was unable to cope with bringing up a child. Only sixteen when she gave birth to her son, Kate had struggled for a while but Julia was very happy to take care of Connor; she and husband Hugh had been unable to have children, so Connor was an amazing gift i [...]

قرأت لإس جى واتسون روايته الأولى Before I go to sleepوكانت ممتعة ومشوقة بمجرد ما تبدأ القراءة تعيش داخل الأحداثحياة ثانية" هي الرواية الثانية للكاتبالمفترض انها رواية فيها تشويق وإثارة, عن جريمة قتل لكن السرد كان بطئ جدا والأحداث فيها تكرار وتطويل

To be published in Feb 2015Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my review copy of the book.‘Before I Go To Sleep’ was a massive success for S.J. Watson and this is the follow up.This is a story of a woman, who is trying to deal with the murder of her sister and find some sort of peace. Julia is a very middle class woman with a past, living in London with her adopted son and married to a surgeon called Hugh. She becomes obsessed with finding the identity of her sister’s killer, which [...]

SWEDISH REVIEWEtt andra liv är en bok som är både intressant och frustrerade att läsa. Varför? För att redan från början så kände jag att denna bok kommer att ta vändningar som är nästan smärtsamt att läsa och jag hade rätt. Inte för att boken var dålig på något sätt. Det är en intressant berättelse om en kvinna vars liv är ställt på ända när hennes syster mördas och hon försöker finna vem som mördade henne. Upptäckten att hennes syster höll på med cybersex led [...]

(1.5) I enjoyed Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, a canny amnesia-themed thriller. Expecting this to be similar / on par with Chris Pavone’s work (e.g. The Accident), I was disappointed. The rudimentary, choppy opening sentences should have been my first tip-off: “I climb the stairs but the door is closed. I hesitate outside it. Now I’m here, I don’t want to go in. I want to turn round, go home. Try again later. But this is my last chance.” I only made it to page 30, but what I did read [...]

Dnf at 150 pages. Can't really make a full review on this given the fact that I didn't finish it but I'll put some of the things that bugged me about this book in the following topics: 1- Julia makes terrible decisions although her thoughts show us that she knows they are bad, she just chooses to ignore it.2- I don't care about any of the characters.3- The story takes 100+ pages to start.4- This book was 50% me being bored and other 50% being irritated.5- I just realized there's not one good rel [...]

4.5 starsFrom the author of Before I Go to Sleep, comes a novel of death and discovery. When Julia hears of her sisters death in Paris, she feels a mixture of relief and loss. Julia had adopted Kates son when it became obvious her sister could not provide the stable environment he needed. But lately Kate had been demanding to return of her teenage son. The bittersweet relief of her sisters death is only momentary, and Julia begins to doubt that the death was an accident. Gaining access to Kates [...]

SJ Watson's debut, Before I Go To Sleep was a smash hit and I imagine the pressure to produce a similarly successful novel has been immense. London wife and mother, Julia, is devastated when she is informed her younger sister, Kate, has been murdered by an unknown assailant in a Parisian alleyway. Half crazed with grief and guilt, Julia becomes obsessed with finding Kate's killer, infiltrating an online 'hook-up' service her sister used in search of suspects. Lukas is one of the first men to res [...]

I have read some others reviews after I had read this book for myself. I have nothing to compare it to as this is the first book I have read by S J Watson although I already have a couple of her others. I just haven't got around to reading them yet and saw this on Net Galley which I requested and thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers who gave me auto approval I was able to get it for reading and reviewing.Its very difficult to write a review without giving too much away, so I will try [...]

Well, there was I thinking that this book was a definite four/five star read, happily gripped and absorbed by this tale of grief, deception and adultery - and then the big plot twist hove into view. In fact, it didn't so much hove into view as signal I AM A BIG, THUNDERINGLY OBVIOUS PLOT TWIST in neon flashing lights. And once that disappointment had happened, it was nothing but downhill from there, I'm afraid. What had been a page-turner became more and more implausibly silly until the final sl [...]

This is a very difficult book for me to review - Watson has created an excellent character in Julia the protagonist, and the twisty story is suitably complicated and intelligent BUT it takes ages to get going AND I thoroughly disliked it as it made me feel so uncomfortable AND Julia is just awful.I can't explain without spoilers so if you are thinking of reading it I would recommend it if you can cope with quite a bit of tedium and horrible characters that will eventually deliver a decent solved [...]

Οφείλω να ομολογήσω ότι το πρώτο βιβλίο του Γουάτσον, την «Αμνησία», τη θεωρώ ένα από τα καλύτερα ψυχολογικά θρίλερ που έχω διαβάσει! Πρόκειται για ένα βιβλίο που σε αρπάζει από τα μούτρα από την πρώτη γραμμή, την πρώτη λέξη, και δε σε αφήνει σε ησυχία μέχρι την τελευταία τελ� [...]

This was a good book, but it was slow. I don't usually finish a book when it is so slow going, but I had some time on my hands to get this one done.

This review was originally posted on Between My LinesI was highly anticipating this book before I started it.  I enjoyed Before I Go To Sleep and I was expecting another twisty page turner.  And maybe lots of people will find this book to be just that but I’m not one of them. First Line of Second Life by S J Watson: “I climb the stairs but the door is closed.”  My Thoughts on Second Life by S J Watson: Let’s start with the ending, I loved that!  It was twisty and ambiguous which is s [...]

3.5 stars.At times 4 stars, at others 3 (including an ending that had me 'turning page' for the final chapter that just wasn't there).Like Before I Go To Sleep, this book really must be read without spoilers and I'll help with that by staying general and not giving anything away.Julia is devastated to hear of her sister's murder in Paris. Though at the same time guiltily relieved - her son Connor is actually her nephew, and her sister Kate was trying to regain custody before her death. Wanting t [...]

The 2nd and much anticipated novel by author S.J.Watson. I was slightly put off by the other reviews I read on regarding this book but I found this book got better as I made my way through it. Well before the end I was impelled to continue reading whenever possible to find out what was going to happen. Maybe in reflection it is not to the same very high standard as his first novel but I found it a very good read.

Ratings for this book have been low; no doubt a shock to many - like me - who enjoyed Before I Go To Sleep and expected something of the same calibre. Early reviews and ratings were enough to make me cancel my pre-order and place a hold at the library instead. I'm glad I did. But before I go into the things I didn't like, it is important to say that there were some good things about this book. It was still a page turner. I flew through it, even with my lack of reading time at the moment. When I [...]

Kate é assassinada em Paris após um suposto encontro marcado pela internet com um desconhecido. Julia, a sua irmã mais velha, não se conforma e decide entrar no mundo dos sites de encontros para encontrar respostas para a morte da irmã. Numa das críticas da contracapa é feita a comparação ao filme Atração Fatal. É bom entretenimento, uma leitura enervante (de pôr a mão na testa e amaldiçoar esta personagem principal), mas absorvente.

Una. Dintre. Cele. Mai. Bune. Dumnezeule mare, am citit cartea asta și, vă jur, sfârșitul acela, ah, sfârșitul acela, Doamne, ce chin, ce tortură, ce neeervi, pur și simplu m-a ucis. Mi-am dat seama: îmi place la nebunie de Watson. Îmi place afinitatea sa pentru personajele feminine - pe care, apropos, le creează foarte bine, le conturează cu o măiestrie aparte și cu predilecția unui pictor (eh, să zicem) puțin cam nebun. Dar, drept să vă spun, la cât de nebună este și acț [...]

After their mother's death, Julia took on the responsibility for her younger sister, Kate, a role she continues to play many years later, having adopted Kate's son Connor when she was unable to cope with him. Julia, a recovering alcoholic, has a few shadows in her past but now lives a happy life, working as a photographer, with the now-teenage Connor and her husband, a surgeon, Hugh. But then Kate is murdered. And, struggling to cope, Julia decides to set up an account on the same sex-site which [...]

It's about the dangers of online (sex-)dating. Very realistic. Extremely well told.

“I realize with sudden clarity that we’re wearing masks, all of us, all the time. We’re presenting a face, a version of ourselves, to the world, to each other. We show a different face depending on who we’re with and what they expect of us. Even when we’re alone, it’s just another mask, the version of ourselves we’d prefer to be.”Second Life is the second novel by the acclaimed author of Before I Go To Sleep, S.J.Watson. When her sister, Kate is murdered in a Paris alleyway, happ [...]