Survive the Night: A Novel

3.5 stars rounded up ☆“Charlie’s tempted to tell him everything. The darkness, the close quarters, the warmth—all of it sustains her confessional mood.”The lights go down to reveal a night plunged in darkness and nervous, charged expectancy for what is to come. Perhaps a cinematic night is about to unfold with the potent color, music, and nostalgia of the 90s, which Riley Sager captures moodily and richly in all its overwhelmingly neon-tinted, climactic glory. Once the scene is set, Charlie, our protagonist and certified movie aficionado, is looking for a ride back to Ohio where she can escape the suffocation of the past and her guilt that haunts her like a persistent ghost always waiting in the wings to attack. Her best friend, Maddy, has recently been killed by the Campus Killer, and she shoulders a majority of the blame for throwing out words she doesn’t mean in a heated moment of no-return and leaving her in a time of need.So, not being able to wait a second more, she ventures to the ride-share board in hopes of finding someone to take her home to where Nana Norma waits and they can get lost in a movie-induced haze to forget their troubles. Enter in Josh Baxter, with his mega-watt, killer (could this be literal or figurative?!) smile and Olyphant Sweatshirt, which must promise safety if he’s associated with Charlie’s university, right? As luck would have it, he’s headed in the same direction and is willing to drive her to her destination, but, you guessed it, their trip predictably gets madly side-tracked along the way as we’re led to question if Josh is truly who he says he is or in fact the infamous killer on the loose? Will either he or Charlie see the light of day? The darkness holds you captive as spectator, as it houses secrets and encourages confessional outpourings.“That’s the best way to describe daily existence, with its endless parade of drudgeries and disappointments. In real life, people don’t break into song. They don’t battle space monsters. And they certainly don’t unwittingly get into the car with serial killers.”And throw in the fact that Charlie becomes an unreliable narrator who can’t tell the fiction of the movie scenes she creates in her mind, blacking out à la Norman Bates, and reality apart. This part for me got muddled because it felt maddening rather than an added interesting layer to the story because of how wildly it swung in many different directions that felt too self-referential and frustrating to decode as reality completely folded in on itself. I lost truth where I needed it, which perhaps was part of the point, but, at moments, it went a smidge too far. There were also unbelievable tonal shifts in certain scenes that made it hard to understand why certain characters acted in certain ways or made certain decisions in specific moments, specifically Josh and Charlie. However, I didn’t find Charlie nearly as gullible and insufferable as Lora, the narrator of Cover Story, the last novel I read, even if she naively still stumbles into a stranger’s car when the Campus Killer is in their midst. She does question and second guess for longer periods of time, unlike Lora, who just accepted and trusted pretty mindlessly.“And if Charlie’s learned anything from the movies, it’s that few things are more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose.”All in all, it was still a thrilling ride of cat-and-mouse, menacing predator and challenged prey, gaslighter and gaslightee, even if the latter half of the story lost some of the momentum that the exciting beginning had promised. I just wonder who you’ll wind up trusting. When trust can be few and far between in these loaded moments and ongoing swells of emotions that have the ammunition of Josh’s car speeding recklessly through the night, threatening, in reverse fashion of the usual expression, that the devil you do know, contrarily, may be worse than the devil you don’t.

4 1/2 stars.I have been a fan of Riley Sager since I read his first thriller Final Girls so I was very excited to read his latest book Survive the Night, and I am happy to report this book did not disappoint.When Charlie Jordan was sixteen she lost both of her parents in a car accident. It was at their funeral that something snapped in Charlie’s brain and she started seeing movies in her mind. Not movies that have been on the big screen, but the real life situations that are happening, only Charlie’s brain makes it into a movie. Everything is more vivid and the people she sees or the actions that she sees happening are not what is actually going on. These movies come when Charlie is afraid or stressed. Fast forward four years and Charlie is now in college. But a couple months ago her roommate was murdered by a serial killer called “The Campus Killer” and Charlie feels responsible because she left her alone that night. Unable to deal with all that is going on Charlie decides to go home to visit her grandmother. At the campus ride-share board she meets Josh and agrees to ride with him. But it doesn’t take long for Charlie to start doubting Josh and suspects he could be the campus killer. And so begins the game of cat and mouse as Charlie tries to figure out if Josh really is dangerous or is it just her movie filled mind.The story takes place during the 6 hour drive, and I really liked how Sager titled each chapter almost script like, “Ext- Grand Am 10:00pm, Int- Grand Am 11:00pm, Int- Rest stop 12:00 am etc.” And even though the book is only told through a few hours, Sager also does a great job of fleshing out the characters and scenery. We got a lot of backstories on both Charlie and Josh in the short time we know them and I really liked both characters. Okay I kept going back and forth on Josh lol.I loved how Charlie was such an unreliable character. I didn’t know if things were really happening or if they were just movies in her mind. I also had a lot of sympathy for her, she has been through a lot between her parents dying and then her roommate’s murder, so she was a very vulnerable character. But I also loved how when push came to shove she became one badass woman.I cannot say much about what transpired during Charlie and Josh’s drive to make Charlie suspect that Josh was a killer, but I will say I did not see a couple of the twists that took place. I was all over the place on what I thought was going to happen, on whether Josh was a good guy or a bad guy and if what I was reading was true or Charlie’s movies.If you are a fan of Riley Sager or if you like books that keep you guessing, I definitely recommend checking out Survive the Night. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Charlie wants to leave college and go home. She hasn’t been able to focus since her dorm mate was murdered and she just needs to get away. Her boyfriend Robbie wants her to return for spring semester but he understands that she needs a change of perspective. He’s busy and can’t change his schedule to take her home so she gets a ride from Josh, someone offering a ride on the rider board. They head off for the six hour drive and Charlie can’t help but think of all the ways she’s just put herself in danger by riding with a stranger. Josh is heading to Ohio, the same direction as Charlie. At first, it’s an uncomfortable silence and then they play twenty questions and Charlie discovers something she wishes she hadn’t. Now she’s sure she’s in danger. Most of the story is from Charlie’s point of view but there are small snippets from a few other characters. I was riveted as soon as I started reading but then there was a lull when the suspense slowed down. Soon the intensity built back up. This book has unexpected turns and developments and I enjoyed reading it! 4 stars!

Read this book in a few hours. Perfect length, interesting and unique story line and several twists. Pretty much perfect to me!

I’ve been sat on this review for 24 hours.Riley Sager is a “don’t think about it just buy it” book for me.I owned my copy and a book club I’m in picked this one to read, so I jumped in too. It’s always nice to be able to chat about a book, right?This thriller has a good good premise and a good plot but I had some issues with the young female in this story.Red flags! How many red flags can someone ignore when they know they are in danger but just calmly weighs up (very sensibly) not to flee for your life?Just sometimes it pushed things a little too far past belief.I never thought I’d give this author anything below 4* as I love the style, the stories and the thrills this author throws my way whilst reading. This one, one minute I’m enjoying it, making excuses for certain things I think is daft, then I’m “oh c’mon! Run……>” but no.The last section in the book, the bit written in italics I loved that but.The tying up? Ok. You can get away with that one.Exciting 5/10Thrilling 5/10Plot 7/10Overall 3.5 rounded down 3*I might be unpopular with my thoughts, you might think it’s better than bread and butter with a cherry on top. And that’s good! For me, it was kind of lacking.I’ll still be buying the next book that comes out though!

A killer stalks the university campus & has just killed their third victim. Currently on campus is Charlie Jordan, who ever since the deaths of her parents in a car accident, has allowed her life to be consumed by movies, to the extent that she 'sees' movies playing in her head whenever things become too stressful or sad. Now, following the murder of her best friend, Maddy, at the hands of the Campus Killer, all Charlie wants to do is go home, so she decides to use the college ride share board to get a lift home to Ohio. She meets Josh Baxter there, a stranger who works on campus, but is going home for a family emergency. As their car journey begins, they start talking & it isn't long before Charlie realises there are things about Josh that don't add up. Is it just her imagination, is it her guilt at leaving her best friend alone that fateful night, is she really seeing what she thinks she is seeing, or is Josh the Campus Killer?I do so look forward to a new Riley Sager book & this one is a belter of a read. It starts off quite slowly, but as things pick up, the tension mounts, & I found myself flying through the final 40% of the book. It is written mainly from Charlie's point of view, but there are short chapters from other characters, & it all adds to the build-up. Yes, you do have so suspend your disbelief that Charlie would get in a car with a stranger mere weeks after the murder of her best friend, & with a killer on campus, but if you can do that, the twists keep on coming, & you won't be disappointed.My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.

I think this book deserves five stars,I couldn't stop reading it and the action was insane from the get go. I loved how Sager built the tension and kept it coming, in fact there were moments when I sorted of wanted a break. I loved how the book celebrated the movies, I want guided on the nineties seeing,out doesn't seem far away enough too be so set then,though I had personal reasons for loving the constant Come as you are reference from Nirvana. I thought the main character, Charlie was really cool, but not perfect. I'm not sure if ppl can go off into dream states,I'll have to look it up. The killer was so,so obvious that it slightly spoilt the novel,but not too much. Another great book by one of my favourite new authors. I have to wait for his next one now. Oh, one thing. What does this guy have against the sound of music, he's slated it in two novels now? I certainly think Charlie would've loved it as a character. She had good taste.

While writing this, a third of existing reviews rate it five stars, a third give four, and the rest give it three or below.And I can’t disagree with any of them as the reader’s experience is personal.For me, the plot was too removed from anything believable to invoke any real emotion. To me, a thriller should have your heart racing, your lip bitten, your mouth dry. I was just smiling at the ridiculousness of some of it. And I’d guessed “whodunnit” far too early.The first two hundred pages at least predominantly focus on two characters. And one’s thoughts about the other get too mundane and repetitive, notwithstanding different semantics! This book didn’t need padding out.The last 60 pages or so have 80% of the action, yet the book failed to build pace as others written that way do.It’s all just a bit too convenient for me and the enveloping concept was twee, without adding any intensity.It wouldn’t stop me trying another, possibly earlier attempt. While many writers get better, this feels like the author may have exhausted the more believable plots.

Charlie Jordan is being driven across the country by a serial killer. Maybe. Yeah, or maybe not. I mean, she’s being driven to the next state and she spends so long faffing about, panicking and convincing herself of conspiracy theories and then talking herself out of them that it feels like she’s been driven a LOT further, but she’s not.This is the second Sager book I’ve read and the second time I’ve been duped by cover quotes and I have to say it won’t happen again. When the story was moving forward (which wasn’t often), it was well-written and entertaining. When it was delving (repeatedly) into backstory - some incidents of which were recounted more than once - it was tedious. And while we were in the car with Charlie and Josh-who-might-not-be-Josh-but-might-be, I found myself skimming huge chunks where Charlie kept pondering the same thing. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed and would not recommend.