Survive the Night, Riley Sager’s newest thriller, reads like a screenplay. Life at Olyphant University has become unbearable to Charlie Jordan. She’s a loner and her best friend Maddy is dead, murdered by the “Campus Killer”.

Desperate to get home, she checks the ride board and accepts a ride with Josh Baxter. He’s not a complete stranger. Charlie thinks they may have met earlier, also in front of the ride board. Now the fun begins! Without spoilers, several things convince Charlie that Josh is not who he says he is. Could he be the Campus Killer? Meanwhile Josh has discovered Charlie’s many weaknesses and takes advantage of them.

Survive the Night is deftly plotted and character driven. Riley Sager excels at building suspense. I just could not understand why, when the Campus Killer has murdered four, Charlie would get in a car with a random stranger. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder and Stoughton and Riley Sager for this ARC.

Survive the Night is my first book by Riley Sager but it will not be my last. It was a fast paced, page turner that had me hooked immediately. It kept me guessing throughout and there were plenty of twists, turns and red herrings to keep me on my toes. I cannot wait to pick up another book by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my ARC.

This book really didn't work for me for numerous reasons but the main one was the writing style, specifically the bad writing of a female character, it was very evident that she was written by a man and it wasn't very flattering. She was also made incredibly unlikeable even though we were clearly supposed to root for her and be on her side after her terrible traumas. This was a slow burn thriller which i'm sure some people will love but that is not my personal favourite style and so this book did drag for me, and it all came to an ending I didn't particularly care for.

A story you keep screaming at.
Charlie decides to leave Uni after her friend is murdered by a serial killer and is offered a lift home by a stranger she met after advertising for a lift home.
You keep asking why would she do something so stupid and it kept you in suspense till with lots of twists and the end which was unexpected.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

‘Survive the night’ is an ode to the classic Hollywood suspense movie.
Charlie Jordan uses films as a form of escapism from stress and sadness in her life and after the murder of her college roommate, she is ready to escape from campus. The only problem is that she needs to rideshare in order to make it home; cue Josh Baxter who meets Charlie by the campus ride-share board.
Admittedly this is the most frustrating premise for a novel but I have enjoyed Sager’s other novels so needed to see where this story would go. The two main characters trapped in the car dominates most of the story and although it felt a little slow at times I enjoyed the way tension and doubt built gradually. The whole claustrophobic atmosphere reminded me of a Hitchcock film, where you feel the drawn out apprehension but it is created in the minor details.
I did like the cat and mouse feel to the story and was so happy to find a few twists along the way before the big pay off scene. Word of warning: you will find Charlie one of the most frustrating characters and will constantly want to ask ‘why would you do that?!’ However, that definitely adds to the story for me personally just like when someone goes against all the horror film rules and asks ‘is there anybody there?’
I do feel like the story didn’t need the final chapter and the story could have concluded beforehand but that’s my personal preference. (I would love to see this in a film adaptation.)

I got to about a third of the way through this and thought 'this is either going to be brilliant or I'm going to DNF'. I was so close to not finishing it. Riley Sager is a must read for me but this left me feeling flat. I feel like I was done with the 'I woke up and it was all a bad dream' story line but hey here we go again! It turned into a farce rather than the usual horror bloodbath and spooky atmosphere that we could have had. It was just plain odd which is a shame. The main thing I enjoyed about it was the throwback to it being set in the 90s.

Thank you @netgalley for the eARC in return for an honest review. Survive the Night is out on 23rd December 2021.

I had not read a Riley Sager book and the blurb sounding really interesting, the book started off really well but then got really complicated and if I'm honest a bit silly and the female character needed a shake, terrible writing, I wont be looking for any more from this Author

This book pulled me in right from the start. The tension, the anticipation, the suspense and terror kept me hooked and I couldn't put it down. An absolutely incredibly gripping and unputdownable thriller and a definite must read! I loved all the movie references and found the writing style unique and refreshing and I especially loved the twist.

Having read and loved Riley Sager before I was interested in the blurb for Survive The Night. I did enjoy the book it just took a while to get going, I was not prepared for the twists and turns that awaited me. I did guess what was happening at 80% but this didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story.

This is one hell of a twisted tale, never know what is true and what is make believe, only thing we do know that is true is that somebody is a killer but who.
A struggle at the begging to get into the ways of the mind telling the story but really well worth the effort once it gets going you are totally entrapped. Is it the Stockholm syndrome or is it the opposite?

Be warned, this book is addictive! I intended to read this over a few evenings at a leisurely pace, but ended up devouring it in two sittings. I just needed to know how it would end. It is crammed with tension which is racked up at just the right pace throughout. Lots of twists and turns make this an enjoyable read.

Completely inhaled this book in one go, it definitely keeps you hooked throughout. This is one I've been building up to for a while because I thought it might be terrifying but it stays firmly in a good suspense driven territory. There are a ton of twists and turns that I didn't see coming but then had a real 'of course' moment when they happened. All in all I was gripped.

But wow, was I also frustrated. Charlie? Rarely has a protagonist made quite so many completely ridiculous decisions, I was close to screaming at the screen more than once. The reasoning for the killings? Truly wild, so wild that I actually laughed. And wow, the ending? That choice was really a kicker for bad decision making.

Basically what I'm saying is this book is completely off the wall ridiculous. So many irredeemable choices but I'm still making up my mind about whether it's in a fun way or not. If nothing else, it's certainly a rollercoaster of a time.

The first book I have read by Riley Sager, certainly won't be my last.

Easy to read - check.
Thrilling - check.
Not too many characters/a plot that can be followed - check.

But above all, it was a unique mix between a long car journey and a serial killer.

With that in mind, why didn't it get five stars? If truth be told, whilst I couldn't put the book down, the ending left me unsatisfied; it felt rushed and not as original as the preceding chapters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book which was certainly a non stop "ride'> There were definitely parts that felt like the author was throwing every possible plot twist in but overall there were a couple of twists that caught me by surprise. The premise of a girl taking a ride from a stranger and then wondering if the stranger is in fact the campus killer. The signs do not look good!
I gave this book a 4 star rating because I felt it was overloaded in many ways with too many plot lines that made it feel to the reader that just too much washing on. This may not have been the book for me but there will be many readers who will love it

Nevermind Survive the Night I was worried I wouldn't survive this ridiculous book. 🙄

I was warned ahead of time that I'd need to suspend disbelief but this was a stretch too far for my liking.

First of all Charlie is dumb, dumb, dumb. She's also a little off her rocker with her *mind* movies where she blanks out and hallucinates. Did I tell you that she's stopped taking her meds? *Gasp*

So Charlie's friend is murdered viciously, the killer is still on the loose, so she decides to ditch college to go home to her grandmother. Totally understandable. What I couldn't understand is why she would sign up for a ride share and accept a ride with a complete stranger. A man none-the-less. Oh wait! I know why, it's so this book exists. Got it!

So a good majority of the book is her and Josh riding together to Ohio. What a snooze. Basically the entire time it's just Charlie thinking to herself that he's the killer, he's going to kill and rape me, only to then say no, I'm crazy why would I think like this, which would then circle back to he's a killer, what am I going to do?

Not sure what you should do, Charlie, but if I were Josh I'd be dropping you off at the next exit.

Things only get more convoluted from here. Like, you REALLY can't expect me to buy into this. I can't discuss what I found so effing annoying because it would be a spoiler but I assure you I wasn't pleased with the route Sager took.

To top it all off I figured out the killer in like the first five minutes of reading this. I said to myself I bet you any money that this *person* did it and I was spot on correct. With such a small cast of characters it wasn't to hard to figure out.

So, yeah, as you can see this one was not a winner for me. In fact, I think I am parting ways with Sager because I find that his books annoy me rather than entertain me. 2 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my complimentary copy.

Having read ‘Home Before Dark’ recently, also by Riley Sager, I knew he could set a scene well and tell a gripping tale. ‘Survive the Night’ is all that, and any story that references movies like Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity within the first page is off to a good start with me. It helps set the noir thriller atmosphere of this dark and twisty, cat and mouse road trip. Although I rushed through the book and recommend it as good reading for a dark winter’s night - I do have reservations…

Set in 1991, college student Charlie needs to get home now to escape the trauma of her best friend’s murder by the Campus Killer. After advertising on the college message board, she accepts the offer of a night-long lift from a stranger called Josh.
This is the main premise of the story and just the first of many times that the reader has to suspend their disbelief. When Harry Met Sally or slasher road movie?

Charlie knows the dangers but goes for it anyway, despite having doubts from the start. The author works hard to justify Charlie’s decisions. Her film obsession acts as motivation, reasoning and emotional escape for her, to the extent that she has interludes of dropping out of reality while a hallucinatory ‘movie’ in her brain takes over from real life. Newly off her meds, this helpful device means that Charlie and the reader always have reason to doubt what she thinks is happening to her. “She’s the girl who sees movies in her mind, and Josh is the guy who fills his trunk in a weird way. End of story.” But I found myself at many points saying “Whaat? No!” A woman in real life would not make these choices. Similarly, there are some really dubious character motivations and actions throughout. I guess this is all part of the reader’s participatory experience, just as in a scary movie when the characters choose to go into the haunted house. Just be prepared to go with it and suspend your disbelief a LOT, or risk chucking your book/reading device at the wall.

The 1991 setting is fun and necessary (pay phones only) - but did we really say “my bad” back then?

Overall there’s plenty to be gripped by and plenty to be annoyed at in this novel, but it is an entertaining read. Wonder if it’ll be made into a movie?

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are entirely my own.

This was my first Riley Sager and this was beyond disappointing, it was so boring and one dimensional

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The protagonist in this is definitely the person who gets killed first in a horror movie. It is hard to believe that someone would go on a long drive with a man they've never met before, never mind whilst there's a serial killer about. There are a lot of parts where you can't tell if what happened was real or if it was Charlie being in "one of her movies"

This aside, I still found it an interesting concept and the ending was unexpected, which made me enjoy it more.

I finished this book over 24 hours ago and this is the longest I have ever waited to write a review. I normally like to do it when the book is fresh in my mind and go by my initial feelings but I really didn't know how to even start writing this review as I both loved and hated it...which is why after thought the 3 stars.

Firstly;
* I adored the style. I loved it being wrote like a screenplay/movie script...absolutely adored this.
One of my favourite writing styles I have seen in a long time and it just worked so well.
*The atmosphere was so creepy. It worked so well and was so descriptive and I could visualise every scene...which is a credit to the writing
* I really enjoyed the story and the unravelling of who the campus killer was.
* Once I started I could not put it down.
* Really enjoyed the car journey and all exchanges between Charlie and Josh.
* It definitely highlighted gaslighting and how easily this can be done.
*I liked the ending...thought last couple of pages were quite clever.


Now onto the negatives:

*Charlie was possibly one of the stupidest characters in literature. Her best friend murdered by a killer still on the lose...yet everything she does is so unbelievably dumb...I would say NO ONE should put herself in the situations she does let alone someone who has the trauma she has had and yet there she goes. I wanted to shake her! When others don't protect you...please protect yourself at least!
*Charlie blaming herself. Understand guilt (who doesn't) but was such a tenuous link on why she should blame herself for what happened to Maddy. Made me really cross. This goes back to the whole blame the victim thing...Charlie's actions didn't cause anything. The killers did.
At one point I was really happy to see this idea start to be explored but it was never really fleshed out which was a shame as it needed to be
* The last 25% of the book. HATED HATED HATED it. It went from being a taut interesting and original thriller to completely jumping the shark. It became ridiculous and I was really disappointed....I actually laughed out loud a couple of times because no, I couldn't suspend belief ...and it really didn't need all the extra bits.

It was a taut well written book up until it decided to try to surprise us a few times. I especially hated every scene with Marge.

Overall though I loved the writing style and it did grip me. Will definitely be reading other books by this author.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I could just see this as a streaming movie and I think it would work a lot better. I did read it in one session but I got so annoyed with some of the characters that I wanted to shake them. I am glad that I read it but it really was more of a hate read if that makes sense.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.