A Book Report

I love it when my show finally opens, because this usually means I can read something other than my script. I've had The Night Before by Lisa Jackson since March when I went on a book buying spree at Costco as an early birthday present. I've been wanting to read this book ever since it appeared as a monthly selection for Literary Guild, 4 years ago. I finally finished it today. I wish I could tell you that it was worth the wait. It wasn't.

The prologue was promising. The murder of Josh Bandeaux was cold-blooded and chilling. I read on to Chapter One and became aggravated. I absolutely hate dumb heroines. And the central character, Caitlyn, was as dumb as a brick. Caitlyn wakes up in her bedroom covered in blood. Large amounts of blood are all over her bedroom - on the carpet, on the walls, bloody handprint trails to the bathroom, etc. She, of course, doesn't remember a thing about the previous night and has no idea how the blood got in her bedroom. Since she is not wounded, she simply chalks it up to, wait for it, a bloody nose. Yep. The funny thing is, she even admits that there's more blood all over her room than a bloody nose could possibly produce. Fiddle de de, no matter, she decides to clean up all the blood.

Within the next few chapters, Caitlyn goes on and on about lost time, not being able to recall events and/or experiencing bits of memory of Josh's murder. I'm no psychologist, but it's obvious Caitlyn suffers multiple personality disorder. Well, not plural personalities, just one, and it didn't take long to figure it out. Thirty more chapters to go.

There was a "twist" to the story, but by that time I didn't care. I almost threw the book out, but my personal policy is to finish whatever book I start. I accomplished the task, and what a task it was. Four hundred friggin' pages. It was awful.

Don't waste you time with this one. Or, visit Edwin McKay's in a few weeks. I'll have been the one to have traded it in.