DNF at 21%

I tried to read this, I really did! After loving The Last Time I Lied, I was beyond excited to get an ARC for this, but sadly I'm just not enjoying it.

Boring, with an annoying main character, Survive the Night is putting me in another slump, and I just haven't wanted to pick it up. It may get better, but I can't muster up the motivation to read more than a couple of pages at a time before rolling my eyes, yawning and closing the book.

The reviews are mixed but many have enjoyed it, unfortunately I am just not one of them.

Many thanks to Netgalley UK and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgaelly, Hodder & Stoughton, Hodder Paperbacks and Riley Sager for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

I read a lot of thrillers and I am not easy to surprise. I can usually predict what's lay ahead. I was wrong about this one - Survive The Night is totally unpredictable. The plot weaves and twist all the time and when you think you got it - you got it wrong. You want something surprising, totally unpredictable, something that keeps you second guess yourself - this book might be for me.

However, even with the full of astonishing twists and turns, I wasn't really engaged. I was tired of the main protagonist, Charlie Jordan from the very first page. Her peculiarity about movies and how she created some images in her head instead of reality was interesting at first but annoying by the middle of the novel. Many references to old movies have been lost on me as I am not familiar with them. At first I tried to google, and it tuned out to be a tedious task as too many references - too many distractions.

It was an ok thriller and it did not blow my mind away.

This book was a nice read. I hope to get to read more books like this.
I would like to suggest this book to others, for the nice plot and it sure is an interesting read.

It’s 1991, and Charlie is leaving college, maybe temporarily, but probably for good. The main problem is, she can’t get over the death of her friend Maddy, who was a victim of the Campus Killer - Charlie blames herself for Maddy’s death.

She’s just posting a flyer on the campus ride board, to see if anyone wants to share a ride back to Ohio, when she meets Josh, who is looking for a passenger to share his gas costs to roughly the same area, and so it’s agreed that they’ll travel together.
Charlie immediately starts to have her doubts, she’s never actually seen Josh around college, knows nothing about him, could even be the Campus Killer for all she knows!

Gosh this was a slow start, I almost gave up on it, but persevering, I discovered that it picked up considerably later on, and there were a few twists, one of which I wasn’t expecting. Was this one of my favourite reads? Definitely not, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

Sigh. I picked this book not only because of all the hype on Instagram and Twitter (and look at that cover!) but also because I worship Riley Sager (see my bio if you don't believe me). But, but, but... I had high expectations from this book and I fell flat on my face.

Okay, let me go over the plot first.

Charlie Jordan has decided to go home. After the tragic death of her best friend Maddy by the serial killer nicknamed the Campus Killer, she doesn't want to wait for the end of term. She wants to make a clean break with her boyfriend, Robbie, and just leave.

While posting a notice on her college's ride share board, she comes across Josh Baxter. He is travelling to where she wants to go. And sure, he will drop her.

True to his word, he picks her up at 9 pm. It will take at least 6 hours to reach home. But they have a long night ahead together and Charlie begins to suspect Josh might not be who she thought he was. Is he the Campus Killer? Is he out to kill her?

Not helping the fact are her hallucinations. Charlie is a movie buff and she literally sees movies in her head. After a while, she cannot decide if what she saw was even true or not. A simple car ride becomes a game of wits between two strangers.

WHAT I LIKED:
🤩 The writing - Simple and accessible, as always.
🤩 Minimal characters - At least something to look forward to.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
😕 Charlie Jordan - I mean, I spent almost the whole book shouting, "Why, Charlie? WHY???" I think I can safely say that I haven't come across such a dumb lead character in a long time. She is such a tough competition to Bridget Jones that I will not be surprised if Charlie Jordan bests Bridget Jones in the "nothing-up-there" competition.
😕 Weak plot - WHY would a woman leave in a car with an unknown man at night? WHY would she not run at the first chance available (and she has many, believe me?) Weren't there any modes of public transport available? I mean, I would have preferred a couple of bus changes in the morning and afternoon than a car ride with a stranger at night.
😕 Too many American movies - I am not an American and I hardly knew a handful of the movie and song names they were throwing about. Please now, Riley, you have readers across the globe too.

MY THOUGHTS:
I HATED this book with a VEHEMENCE!!! I cannot believe this came from the pen of the same writer who wrote <i>Lock Every Door</i>.

MY RATING: 1 star (and hoping I will love Riley's next book)

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC.

Riley Sager continues to be a master of this genre, I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I wish the red flags were either more subtle of the MC's were smarter when they spotted them.

I was hoping for great things but I did not get them. The characters were not likeable and really annoying. Some spooky aspects but the bad decisions hide of took from any enjoyment.

Wow what a ride. I have spent the whole book screaming at the protagonist. When she gets in the rideshare knowing NOTHING about this random man, who is HIGHLY suspicious only a couple of months after her roommate and best friend is murdered by a serial killer who is still at large, well I just found it way way too unbelievable and that for me ruined the book. It was however a well written tense thriller and probably deserves the good reviews it has been getting. For me, it just didn't hit the mark unfortunately.

Love Riley Sager’s books so I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed with this one! I saw most of the twists coming (except the last one) but that didn’t take away from the overall enjoyment! This one reminds me of No Exit by Taylor Adams which I also loved!!! Yes some of the main characters actions were questionable but it’s A FICTION BOOK! Of course it’s going to be abit unrealistic. I loved it and will definitely be buying a finished copy!

"Sometimes your only choice is to drive like hell"

This absolutely dynamite page turner grasped me with sharp talons and held me captive until the last page. The pace is dynamic, and the twists and turns completely audacious.
Set in the 90's Charlie is the Nirvana song playing, film noir obsessed protagonist. Her best friend was murdered by the Campus Killer and the surviver guilt she feels, coupled with the urge to find some answers leads her to make what could be the worst mistake of her life. What unfolds is a cinematic mash up of 80's teen horror film / AHS Camp Redwood through the lens of Hitchcock.

Some might say it's over the top, but I bloody (excuse the pun) loved it.

My thanks go to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

This one made me feel like being in the movies!
We have Charlie Jordan who shares a car with Josh Baxter. He is a stranger to Charlie she met by the college ride share board.
While driving over the country they share their stories. The big news, the Campus Killer, who killed three students in the span of a year, has just come into action again.
During their trip Charlie becomes suspicious about Josh. As she is planning to get away from him, because she suspects the Campus Killer in him she has the feeling, that Josh is looking into her mind. Will Charlie be his next victim? A game of cat and mouse is about to begin.
So Charlie is desperate to . . . survive the night.
Thanks #NetGalley #Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC of this book

Charlie is being driven across the country by a stranger- and as time goes on, she's more and more convinced that he could be the Campus Killer stalking America and killing students. Could Charlie be the next victim or will she make it out alive?
I didnt really take to the writing style if Im honest, though looking at other reviews I think that Im unusual in it - it was a bit too brittle and jumpy for me to get a grip on the story telling. And some of the decisions that Charlie made were just ridiculous - though it was set in 1991 so maybe we're just more aware of things now? Who knows

So all in all, not one for me, but thanks for the chance to read it!

Definitely a page turner, I didn't want to put the book down. However the main female protagonist comes across as extremely stupid, full of poor decisions and unbelievable moments. The plot twists were sometimes unrealistic in the motivations. The book takes place in 24 hours and is written a bit like a film script. A good book to read where you can't put it down but some big flaws in the story and it's telling. I would read another Riley Sager book though!

Ever since I read Final Girls, Riley Sager has become one of my absolute must read authors. His thrillers bend established genres and offer pages packed with twists and turns, they perfectly encapsulate the word ‘unputdownable’. His latest tome Survive The Night is no exception and is one of my favourites to date. This book would make an absolute killer of a movie (forgive the pun). It gives a genuinely clever take on the ‘campus killer’ genre and has more red herrings than you can beat with a stick. It’s fast paced, tension filled and knee tremblingly good. If Hitchcock were still alive and making movies, this is the movie he’d make.
Edge of your seat thriller that will keep you guessing right until the very end. 5 out of 5 stars

Charlie meets Josh at her university ride share board, and after they pack up and leave the campus., she believes he is lying to her about his true identity, and she believes he may or may not be the 'campus killer'.

Charlie uses internal movies (made up in her head) to help her escape reality and I found the is this real, is it not quite disarming. It is an interesting technique as it definitely helps you get into her head, and wonder exactly what is going on!

Riley writes a captivating thriller as always - Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was kindly given a copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book by Riley Sager i have read and i enjoyed it. The plot was interesting and went along at a good pace, i did question the main characters thinking at times especially in light of what we are told has been happening but it carries the story along. I could not have predicted the ending that did hold some surprises for me, it was a fun read. I am looking forward to reading more from this author #SurviveTheNight #NetGalley

I couldn’t have chosen a better book to finish the year. I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a novel by one of my favorite authors and I wasn’t disappointed.

Survive The Night is a chilling, suspenseful novel that kept me glued to the pages and I read in one day. The pace is slow, but everything happens during a long night road trip full of tension and twists.

The year is 1991, right before Thanksgiving. The protagonist is Charlie Jordan, a lover of movies in her second year of college. Charlie needs to go home. She needs to leave college and go home and forget what had happened two months earlier. She can’t wait for the holidays or for her boyfriend to drive her, so she finds a car share with fellow student Josh Baxter. They met at the college ride share board and he seems nice and polite, although as they talk, Charlie starts to notice that some of the things Josh says don’t match. This is 1990s, there are no cell phones to call for help, so Charlie needs to find a way to survive the journey. However, are Charlie suspicions correct or is it all a movie in her head?

I do love unreliable narrators and Charlie is, without a doubt, an unreliable character. Since the death of her parents a few years before, sometimes Charlie finds herself in a movie in her own mind and can’t distinguish reality from fantasy. So are her doubts real or did she imagine Josh’s ID under another name? Is he really a student? No matter if her suspicions are real or not, Charlie intends to survive the night.

The novel has a bit of noir element, helped by the many movie references throughout the story, which I loved and made it easy for me to imagine the scenes and the setting as I kept reading. There are many surprises and twists, one in particular that I suspected (and was proven right) that made me enjoy the novel even more, and the suspense is always high. Riley Sager has always been a must-buy author for me and Survive The Night simply confirmed it. Highly recommended!

This is dark, twisty and melodramatic but I was happy to suspend disbelief and just go with the frenetic pace and unrelenting action.

Survive The Night is a thrillingly fast-paced ride that will devour your night and leave you gripped to the page. This is an excellent lesson in suspense and terror, keeping you on a knife edge the whole way through.

I’ve previously read and enjoyed Sager’s work, so was intrigued enough by the premise and that synopsis to request this title. Luckily Sager pulls through on every aspect and offers so much more. This is the type of book you do not want to go into alone in the depths of the night.

Right from the start, Sager grabs you by the throat and never truly releases you. This is a sharp, unsettling book that keeps you guessing. The opening was so well-executed and enticing, with that epic scale and touch to it. From then on, the pacing is relentlessly fast as you try to uncover the exact truth of this twisted situation. Sager has plenty of tricks waiting in store for you. I really enjoyed the many amazing twists and turns, all of which genuinely upend the story and challenge your expectations.

The entire book has this sleek, dark and classically noir feel to it. For me, this really enriched the atmosphere of the book and turned Charlie into more of a complex protagonist. Her escapism, shown through the ‘movies in her mind’, added that extra layer of untrustworthiness to the narrative and the inclusion of other narrative voices further complicates this. This was a cleverly used plot device, but it also served to explore the power of cinema. Indeed, the entire book is a sort of love letter to the horror and thriller genres of entertainment. This infuses the book with that quintessentially cinematic tone, with all the drama and the gloss of the films.

Survive The Night is a well-rounded thriller that combines elements of the psychological, suspense and a good old-fashioned unreliable narrator to create a chilling new tale.

This was a disappointing first book from this author for me. The premise and some of the plot twists were good. I didn't like how it was executed though. There were some parts of the book that were so boring that I almost gave up on it. The main character was extremely dumb and I got angry many times at her because she just took too many wrong decisions one after the other and missed too many opportunities to get out of her situation. The ending was a big NO from me.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for my copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.