Trying to escape her campus life after her best friend was murdered, Charlie gets on a road trip with a stranger that, along the way, seems to know way too much about her life.

There are so many unbelievable twists in here but I was hooked because that’s what I was in the mood for, an escape from the reality with so many old movies quotes and some of my favourite music songs from the 90s .

Unpredictable twists? Not so much, but that never stopped my enjoyment.

It was my first book by the author and I can see why his books are so loved/hated. I got one enjoyed it a lot and I’m looking forward to read more in the future.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy.

Well I did it!! I finally got round to a Riley Sager book (ridiculous, I know…) but I can tell you right now, it won’t be my last.

Loved it. I hurtled through this one in the space of a day and a half. Starting off with a tantalising beginning, the story slowly and teasingly unwrapped itself to produce a satisfying and deviously twisted ending. The unreliable narrator was masterfully executed - Sager plays with the reader like a cat plays with a mouse… toying shrewdly until the final swoop.

Charlie did get my goat a few times and I wanted to grab her and give her a good shake, but I love it when characters evoke emotions in me.

If you haven’t read this one, then get a wiggle on. I certainly will be for more Sager books!

Charlie Jordan really needs a ride home. She's desperate enough to take a ride with a stranger, even though there is a killer loose on her campus. When Charlie meets Josh by the ride board she decides he seems nice enough, and has as good a reason as she does to be leaving campus mid-term. As they start their roadtrip they share their stories, but as they get further from campus Charlie starts to notice discrepancies in Josh's story, and before long she is convinced that he is the Campus Killer. Worse yet she could be his next victim.

I've only read one Riley Sager book before so don't have a lot of experience with his writing. I did enjoy that one so was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one the same way.

The biggest issue that I had with this whole book is Charlie. I just couldn't get to grips with the decisions she was making, and so couldn't relate to her at all. In fact she's quite infuriating and not remotely sympathetic because of this. On top of that she's a highly unreliable narrator, but the method used to show that here did't appeal to me at all. Charlie has a thing she calls 'movies in her mind' where she sees events playing out differently to how they really are when she is stressed. I didn't really like the way the author used this as often as he did to keep replaying the same scenes with slight differences. I also thought it was playing on mental health issues to benefit the story, and didn't seem overly sincere.

The plot has some good aspects to it, but did get really out there towards the end. A few of the twists were a bit too far fetched to be believable, and things started to seem rather contrived to get it all wrapped up in a nice neat bow for the end of the book.

I did like the idea of the main story actually being a movie script, with the intro/outro detailing Charlie's thoughts on the movie of her life. This was an interesting idea, and maybe something that could have been played up more.

All in all this missed the mark for me, I didn't feel the thriller vibe and didn't connect with the characters. I've seen some cracker reviews of it though so maybe have a look at some of those too before you make a call on reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I read the blurb of this story, I knew it was right up my street!
Although the story was gripping at times, I feel it lacked a little something. The thing that keeps you up at night reading until 3am!
Thank you to Riley Sager, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Survive the night by Riley Sager.
Behind the wheel is Josh Baxter, a stranger Charlie met by the college ride share board, who also has a good reason for leaving university in the middle of term. On the road they share their stories, carefully avoiding the subject dominating the news - the Campus Killer, who's tied up and stabbed three students in the span of a year, has just struck again.
A very good read. Great story and characters. 4*.

This was entertaining and fast paced but compared to the author's other works I found this very lacking.

Charlie is a very polarising main character and some of her actions were highly questionable and stupid. The story also came across as predictable and in general failed to create a sense of danger and urgency. However, the thing which really bothered me was Charlie's mental health representation, which wasn't executed well and left a lot of loopholes in the story.

Overall, great setting but the execution was not done well. I just expected more.

I cannot call myself a real movie buff, but I've seen most of the movies main character Charlie mentions in this story. Seen them more than once actually so I could really relate to her thoughts on them - and on what you can learn from them.
What (young) women are supposed to learn from movies, is never enter a dark room without turning on the light immediately, or accept a drink from a stranger - or get into a car with one. And Charlie does this willingly. Well, Charlie has every reason to do so, and why not? Not every stranger is out there to harm you, just as not every friend is a real friend. The real lesson here for Charlie is this: as in the movies, sometimes things are not as they seem.
Of course you cannot begin reading a book like this without suspecting the story will go a whole other way and luckily it does. There are some small surprises and some big ones, and the biggest ones turned up just I was starting to lose interest. The largest part of the book is rather slow with way too much internal dialogue from Charlie, dialogue that sometimes went nowhere at all.
For this unbalance in the story, I gave it three stars where it could have been four. But all in all, I'm happy I've finally read it, because it was on my Kindle a long time already.
Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder for this review copy.

It's going to be a bit hard to review this without spoilers as I really can't say too much. Bottom line though is that whatever you think about the main character, who she is journeying with, where they are going and why, just stick with it... you might just find yourself a bit surprised at the end.
So Charlie Jordan is quitting school after the death of her room mate at the hands of the Campus Killer. Wracked with guilt she just wants to go home. Can't even wait a couple of days for her boyfriend to drive her so she checks out the ride share notice board. Ride share... what could possibly go wrong on a long drive with a stranger when there's a killer still at large...? But that aside, she does accept a ride from Josh who works at the college and is going home to look after his ailing father. Or so he says...
And that's all I'm saying about the story apart from the fact the Charlie also sees the big red flags all the way through but kinda justifies why she doesn't just stop. I say justifies, bit flaky to say the least but it'd be a short boring story if she just said "you know what, I will wait for my bf to drive me, but thank you". So... pinch that salt, suck it up, buckle up and just enjoy the wacky ride, and if you must, side-eye and eye-roll as you go...
And the end, when it eventually all gets exposed, is well worth all the pain you might go through getting there... I just fear that many will not survive the whole journey and give up...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Totally gripping, unexpectedly twisty, absolutely brilliant. Survive the Night is a page-turning treat for thriller fans, set across the course of one night as Charlie tries to escape her guilt after her best friend is murdered. Highly recommend!

My first taste of Riley Sager, and I’m already hungry for more. What an exciting read this was — a slow burn to start with but building to a crash, bang, wallop of a finale that left my nerve-ends fizzing. .

The premise is one to set your heart racing before you even open the book.

Absconding from college midway through term, troubled student Charlie accepts a lift across country from friendly stranger Josh. A short time into the journey, she becomes convinced that she’s sharing a car with the notorious Campus Killer, who has claimed three victims in the past year, including her roomie, Maddie.

I love that this story is crammed into a few short hours and takes place mostly (until the thrilling ending) within the confines of a metal box moving through the night in hostile weather. The atmosphere and tension are electric, and grow ever more so as Charlie’s fevered suspicions take hold.

Sager is a master of obfuscation and misdirection, and it’s a skill he displays here with a brilliant twist on the unreliable narrator trope.

The story is told mostly from Charlie’s point of view, but it’s a view warped by her emotional instability. Since the trauma of losing both parents in a tragic car crash, she has been plagued by fugue-like episodes, where she experiences an alternate present. So, the reader can never be sure about her narration of events.

This emotional state lends huge credibility to what might otherwise be seen as dumb decision making, when Charlie repeatedly rejects opportunities to escape her “captor.” I totally bought into her flawed but entirely plausible and forgivable reasoning.

I’m not the kind of reader who tries to second guess the plot of a thriller; I prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride. So when the pace picked up and exploded towards the end, I reveled in every single, action-packed twist.

A hugely enjoyable, satisfying read.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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It’s 1991. Nirvana's in the tape deck, George H. W. Bush is in the white house, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan embarks on a long drive home from college when there is a killer at large. The only thing is she might be in the car with the serial killer! (Sounds like a perfect 90s horror cheesefest right? I LOVE IT!)
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It certainly isn’t my favourite @riley.sager book that I’ve read, unfortunately, I felt some parts of this book were overly predictable and a lot of the book was character inner monologues which I honestly wasn’t a massive fan of.
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Despite this, there is something about Riley’s writing that makes it basically impossible for me to put it down. This book was fun, it’s filled with pop culture references - especially movies. Speaking of movies, the chapters were written very similar to a screenplay/script including having chapters named after screenplay locations which was different to anything I’ve ever read.

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.

Set in the US in 1991, the story introduces us to Charlie. Charlie is a college student looking to get home to Ohio. She ends up taking a lift from a stranger, Josh, she meets at the campus ride board (note: something I’d never heard of before..)

Both have reasons for wanting to leave. Charlie’s best friend was recently murdered by the ‘Campus Killer’ and she can’t escape the memories living in their old dorm room alone. Josh has an ailing father he needs to get back to. Things seem fine as they start their journey together, until suddenly they don’t.. Who is Josh really? And can Charlie really trust someone she’s just met?

I was really intrigued by the premise for this one. And it starts off great – Sager builds the tension really well as the car drives along dark highways with Charlie becoming more and more suspicious about Josh and if he is in fact who he says he is.

Adding to the tension, we learn that Charlie sometimes goes into a sort of trance or daydream which means you as the reader are not always sure what’s real and what’s not real. I’ve read other reviews that said they found this confusing but I actually really liked it. It adds to the tension.

For me, and it’s often my issue with these kind of novels, is that about two thirds of the way through the story, it just goes completely off the rails. I can’t describe it too much here without giving it away but the story becomes like something out of a Veronica Mars episode (and not in a good way). The psychological thriller aspect that works so well at the start disappears and it just becomes kind of ridiculous?

It’s very readable and by the end I can see what Sager was trying to do with the novel but I feel like there was just a better story in there that got lost just after the diner scene (if you’ve read it, you know).

If you’ve read it, I’d love to know what you thought? Am I taking it all too seriously? Should I just go along for the ride and enjoy it?

* Survive the Night by Riley Sager will be released here on 23 Dec 2021. Thanks to the author, Hodder Books & NetGalley for an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review *

WOW WOW WOW!!! I'm exhausted from reading this book because I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down. One twist after another, each one more unlikely than the last. I did guess the killer off and on through the book though each time I thought I knew, I discarded that thought as preposterous. Until it wasn't. Even then the twists weren't over. One of the best mysteries I've read in a long time.

I feel I did myself a disservice with this book by checking out reviews before I read it because I went into not expecting much at all, if anything, I thought I was going to be disappointed. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.
That's not to say there weren't aspects I didn't like, but it did have some twists and turns in there that I didn't expect/see coming and the one I did I only really figured it out just before it was revealed, so for a thriller, it's, as Mary Poppins would say, practically perfect.

Brilliantly written, I didn't want to put it down. I was invested from the beginning even though I didn't like the main character, Charlie. She was annoying and came across as pretentious, but I did warm up to her.
The next bit will sound odd, but it's hard to say much without adding spoilers. The way it reads and the ending link together in a brilliantly clever way. I loved it!

The main reason I knocked a whole star off was because of the constant movie references. I understand Charlie's whole life involves movies in one way or another, but it's one of those things that annoys me the most. It is a personal preference and hard to explain, but I would have preferred subtle references rather than constantly dropping in film titles.
I don't know if this was intended, but "an ice-blue Slurpee, a pack of Marlboro Lights and a bag of Corn Nuts" instantly makes me think of the film, Heathers ... that's the kind of references I like. Again, it is hard to explain why.

Awesome thriller. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you so much, NetGalley for the ARC ebook in return for an honest review.

Rating: 3,5 stars

First of all, thank you #netgalley and @hodderbooks for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my third Riley Sager and I can’t deny that his books are highly entertaining. I loved the premise of the story taking place in one night with only two main characters throughout most of the book.
As you can imagine it’s very much character-driven and very cinematic.

Our MC Charlie is grief-stricken after her best friend Maddy becomes the last victim of the famous Campus Serial Killer.
Deciding to quit university for good she accepts a ride back to her hometown by Josh, a young man she meets through the Ride Share Board on campus.

Over the course of a long winter night, they gradually get to know each other, and soon Charlie is convinced that the man behind the wheel must be the campus killer.

So far, it might seem a straightforward thriller, were it not for Charlie’s hallucinations.

After a trauma in her childhood, film buff Charlie suffers from strange hallucinations that occur at the most stressful moments.

These hallucinations play out in her head like a movie, amplifying the facts and leaving Charlie unsure of what is really going on.
Not to mention the reader! 😵‍💫

I have to say that this part of the story grated on my nerves pretty quickly. I also found certain decisions Charlie made completely implausible, if not downright stupid.

On top of that, I was able to predict the big twist which is always a letdown, hence the 3,5-star rating.

But I really appreciated the many references to some great movies. I also loved that the book was set in the ’90s which eliminated the possibility of a cell phone!

It's definitely a page-turner and the tension was quite electrifying at times ... so you might enjoy it if you can get suspend belief regarding Charlie's completely inconsistent choices and the fact that she is an unreliable narrator! I have one last criticism about the ending, but I can't say it without revealing the plot.
Definitely worth a read.

Charlie’s dorm mate and good friend, Maddy, was murdered by a serial killer, called the Campus Killer, who has never been found. She is filled with grief and guilt for not staying to walk home with Maddy from a bar after which she was attacked and killed. Charlie has decided that even though she loves her film making studies she has to return home right away. Her boyfriend, Robbie, has told her that if she will wait just a few days, he will drive her home, but she refuses. So, she goes to the ride share board and happens to meet a guy named Josh who says he’s going the same way and she can ride with him. While she hesitant to accept as everyone is being so cautious of people they don’t know, she also wants to leave soon so she accepts.

Charlie lives with her grandmother having lost her parents when they died in a car crash. Now, she needs her grandmother’s comfort.

When Charlie and Josh set off, it’s late at night. She tries to keep up a conversation, but can’t help but feel very uncomfortable with him and just feels like he is the Campus Killer. Charlie feels like she has made a huge mistake and wishes she could flee. But then, the story takes a twisted turn starts a nightmare.

I’m on the fence with this book. I feel that the beginning was slow, confusing, and rather boring. As I am not a movie hound, I was bored by all the movie dialogue. In addition, I just did not like Charlie and found her to be an uninteresting person. However, the book certainly picks up in the end. All in all, I found the story itself to be gruesome and one that made me cringe.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Got to admit to skim reading this, something I rarely do as if it gets to that stage then its a ‘did not finish’ but I wanted to see if the ending betrayed the rest of the book, sadly it didn’t
I found the plot ridiculous, the writing clunky and the characters beyond unrealistic, tbh the whole thing was irritating
Some disagree and it has some sterling reviews but for me it never really went past non starter at every level which is a shame but there you go, this is my honest opinion on it 😎

2/10
1 Star

3 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2021/12/16/survive-the-night-by-riley-sager/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Conflicted with Likes and Dislikes

Survive the Night is an unusual book. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it, it made me furious at times and I couldn’t stop reading it. Without doubt it went where I didn’t expect but unfortunately I think this is a classic case of too little too late.

The story begins on campus where Charlie Jordan is looking for a shared ride home. Charlie’s best friend has been murdered by a serial killer and she can stay no longer in the place where her memories have become torture. Unexpectedly, given the time of year, it appears that someone is going her way, Josh Baxter is similarly in a rush to return home and offers to take Charlie with him. The thing is, can Charlie trust Josh or is this road trip about to take a nosedive into hell?

Okay, I do like the premise for this. And, I did want to love it. As it happens, although I can’t say this one wowed me, it was strangely addictive and I seemed to read it at breakneck speed BUT – so many frustrating things. Just, so many.

To be fair to the author he got the period right, this story wouldn’t really fly right at all in the current era but set back in the 90s it definitely has the ‘it could just happen’ factor. Sager also does a good job of making both characters untrustworthy leaving you in a constant state of suspense. Charlie isn’t exactly reliable and to some extents I found her difficult to get along with. She has this whole escaping into her head condition going on where she seems to completely disappear into the land of make believe with almost cinematic movies playing out in her mind rather than what’s really taking place. I really struggled with this concept to be honest and I’m not totally certain that I really understood it – but given some of the other things taking place I decided to just go with the flow. Josh comes across oddly, sometimes evasive, sometimes as though he’s baiting Charlie, he definitely knows too much about her and he seems to waiver between good guy/bad guy. So, both characters are a bit dubious and definitely leave you doubting yourself – which is impressive as this is what Charlie is undoubtedly feeling too.

I also have to hand it to Survive the Night – it’s a book that I simply had to complete, there was never a chance that this was going to be a DNF because I needed to know what the heck was going on. Which leads me to the conclusion which delivers a couple of twists that I really didn’t see coming at all – well more than a couple if I really consider it. And, I have to say that was certainly an unexpected ending. A little bit crazy, a little over the top and a lot twisted – my jaw literally dropped.

So how come this one didn’t knock my socks off? Well, firstly, Charlie drove me mad. I didn’t buy her need to get off campus that very night, especially when her boyfriend had offered to drive her in a couple of days. Then there’s the whole standing outside by yourself in the dark waiting for a stranger to rock up in his car. Of course you would. Then there are the times during the trip where she has the chance to escape the situation but doesn’t take it. Just some of her decisions were so off the chart annoying that even the ending couldn’t redeem it – although the author does make a good go of it. Plus, I wasn’t on board with who had engineered the whole escapade and I think there was a certain point of the story where the author gave away a little too much too soon.

All that being said I can’t deny that this was a story that held me in it’s grip. I think if you’re looking for a quick read that will intrigue you enough to push through any little annoyances and that will in fact give you a couple of real ‘wtf’ moments then give this one a shot.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Sometimes, real life gets distorted in Charlie's brain, and instead of seeing events as they are actually unfolding, she sees them as movies in her mind, embellished to be better than real life. It started as a coping mechanism after she lost her parents in a car accident. But it suddenly becomes a barrier when her condition prevents her from seeing the face of the serial killer who walked away with her best friend, and then killed her. Now Charlie is determined to go back home and leave the campus and her guilt behind. But to do that, she has to share a ride with a stranger.

This book was just one bad decision after another, and I'm starting to question if the author has ever had a serious discussion with a woman about the kind of fears we walk around with 24/7 when it comes to strange men. But apparently he finds it perfectly reasonable that Charlie would choose to get in a car with a stranger she just met, at night, when there's a serial killer in the area.

Yes, that sounds like something a woman might do. Should be totally safe.

It also makes me wonder if the only reason this is set in 1991 instead of 2021, is because maybe the author thought women were more trusting of men back then, so this ridiculous setup might fly.

Unfortunately, the bad decisions don't stop there. Even after Charlie begins to suspect there might be something more sinister to Josh, and despite getting several opportunities to make smart decisions, she CONSISTENTLY goes for the worst option.

I think there was potential to do something interesting here with the whole movies in her mind thing. She's obviously an unreliable narrator from the very start, but while there are moments in the book where this is utilized effectively, the overall story arc was a massive letdown to me. I don't enjoy mysteries when there is no way for me to do some sleuthing along with the protagonist. I guessed how this would end around halfway through, based on a single thing that happens at the very beginning that I found suspicious. The only reason it took me that long is because my first prediction was less predictable and much more interesting than what actually ends up happening, in my opinion.

Having now read two books by this author my conclusion is: he can't write women to save his life, he relies too much on telling rather than showing, and I think this will be the last book I pick up by him.