Riley Sager is a auto purchase for me. I don’t even read the synopsis anymore. I just pre order and wait.

This book was fantastic. I read it over 2 days and really enjoyed it. It lost me a little in the middle but towards the ending my heart was pounding and my head was on a swivel.

This book follows Charlie and she uses the university ride share board to get back home to her Grandma. Josh offers to split the cost with her and drive. But Josh starts acting suspicious or is that Charlie hallucinating again? This book was great. 10/10 would definitely recommend.

Wow... I'm so mad I guessed that! Interesting concept, lackluster execution but altogether a very entertaining book. I'm happy we got a conclusion because it seemed iffy for a bit there. Good read!

I just really enjoy Riley Sager a lot, he is a perfect go-to author when I need something fun, easy and fast-paced. There is an ease to his writing that doesn’t demand a tonne of me as a reader, yet is smart enough to avoid my judgmental eye-rolls (normally brought forth by cliches and poor language). Importantly, his books always have enough twists and turns to keep me flipping the pages. Survive the Night was no exception. In its homage to the greats of the silver screen, nineties cultural references and notable similarities to every macabre mystery popularised via true crime podcasts in the last decade, Survive the Night was a lot of fun for an occasional dabbler of creepy fictional content like me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Survive the Night is bonkers unbelievable and the ending hardly came as a surprise, but it was nonetheless one hell of a ride AND, just in time for spooky season, put me in a serious mood to watch aaaaaall the teen slashers from the late nineties.

Overall rating: 2.5

The premise of Survive the Night really intrigued me, and I was looking forward to a tense read about a girl and the potential murderer in the car with her. However, I ended up being pretty disappointed with the execution of this book.

Firstly, I felt that there was no subtlety at all. There was way too much telling and not enough showing in the author's writing style, every character's decisions and motivations were explicitly spelled out, which took away a lot of the tension from the scenes. I also found the protagonist's obsession with movies too heavy-handed for my liking, and I think the author should have trusted that readers would be able to pick up on themes and clues in the story without being smacked in the face by them.

Secondly, I found the plot a bit boring. All of the twists were pretty easy to predict, and again, what should have been a really tense read was actually not very thrilling, due to the characters spelling out all of their actions and thoughts.

Overall, due to these factors, I couldn't rate Survive the Night higher than a 3, and the 2.5 is mainly just because I liked the premise of the novel, as well as some of its ideas, even if I was let-down by the execution.

This was absolutely great. I really enjoyed this read. It kept me hooked. I'm definitely going to be reading more from this author for sure.

Having enjoyed two of Riley Sager's previous booms, I had very high expectations for this one. However, it just didn't live up to the hopes I had for it unfortunately. Although I did enjoy the plot to begin with - the tension so strong you could cut it with a knife in the beginning - the story was ruined by the lack of common sense our main character, Charlie has. Sure, your best friend was murdered 2 months ago at the hands of a mysterious serial killer, but sure, get in a car with a stranger so you can go home. In what world would someone do that?? And yes, I understand people make poor decisions from time to time, but Charlie makes bad decision after bad decision and it was so frustrating. I've never normally had an issue with how Sager writes his female characters, unlike others, but this was one of those times where I was unimpressed.

The plot twists were fun, however. Once the story got going, I was hooked, despite my dislike for Charlie. I did like the way it was alluded to that she is a maladaptive day dreamer because of the 'movies in her mind', which is something I can relate to and I appreciate that.

But I disliked the ending and it didn't make sense. It's almost as if Sager is saying that gaslighting someone is okay, the way it was revealed that Charlie married her kidnapper. It doesn't make sense.

Sometimes the writing really shone, other times it was really clunky. This book was a mess. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

If you have read any of Riley Sager's books....like I have....you know that at some point in the story, what you thought was going on, goes sideways. Knowing this, I still did not see all of the twists and turns that were mixed into this thriller. Playing games in the car to make the trip go faster takes on new meaning when you think you just might have taken a ride from a serial killer. With so many doors to look behind, how can you EVER figure out how to stay safe?
When her college dorm mate is a serial killer victim, Charlie decides she needs to go home to clear her head and her heart. She arranges a ride with a stranger who has posted a ride sharing ad. You knew this book was a thriller when you started, but WOW! As the ride progresses, the questions outnumber the answers and the "thrill" comes so fast and hard, you will definitely have several "oh, no" moments, right up to the last page.

An absolutely thrilling, nail biting story with such a unique take. I loved the way Sager writes, he takes the usual thriller trope and gives it a twist that is pure him. I love the throwbacks to old movies and the red herrings had me guessing until the end.

Oh my gosh this was my first Riley Sager book and all I have to say is WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG?! Every single page had me begging to know what happened next! I loved the first person perspective and I loved getting to know all of the characters! And the ENDING! Oh my freaking goodness I absolutely LOVED the ending! Now I’m going back to buy all of his previous books!!!

What a roller coaster of a read. This book instantly draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through! So many twists and turns! The end one I DID NOT see coming at all. My only criticism is that the plot became a little silly at about 75% in. That said, I was still hooked and by then I was so invested that I needed to race through and find out how it all panned out.
Really thoroughly enjoyed this book!

trigger warning
<spoiler> grief, trauma, mental illness, hallucinations, gaslighting, kidnapping, torture, mention of sucide attempt, lethal illness, cancer, being orphaned </spoiler>

A young woman finds a carsharing option to get her home as she quits college. The problem: She doesn't know the guy, and there is a serial killer on the loose.

A lot of people have issues with the protagonist, and while I get that, I was prepared for it because I knew the blurp. I knew I'd need quite a bit of suspension of disbelief:
- she needs a ride but it's in the middle of the week and nobody else is going her way
- it's the 90-ies so no mobile communication
- not only is a serial killer active in the area, her roommate was killed by said person which is driving her away because she can't deal with it any longer
- on top of that, she is mentally ill

I found it weird that she was meeting a psychiatrist, was medicated, but wasn't cautioned not to drive. She casually mentions that since she never uses it for [spoiler] reasons, she didn't bother to renew it as it ran out.
Due to issues mentioned in the trigger warnings, I don't think it's safe for her to drive at all as long as she's unmedicated. Here's the huge but: I am assuming she went to an overworked college psychiatrist, and the acceptance of mental illness and treating of patients has come a huge way since the 90-ies. Even if it were today, I'd say yeah, medical professionals are weird. I think it's more the author not thinking it through enough, but in this case, the depiction doesn't feel wrong.

True to Riley Sager fashion, every character has some plottwists coming, but the final plottwist is kinda predictable and in this case, did not surprise me at all.
I read this in one go, and would not recommend this if you need a longer time. If you know there's nothing else to do, grab a few hours and run with it, and then it's some fun entertainment if you like the genre. And, again, are prepared for the level of suspension of disbelief you need.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

Well, well, well, what a ride! (Quite literally ;))

“Survive the Night” was my third Riley Sager book, after “Lock Every Door” and “Home before Dark”. Was it my favorite Riley Sager? No, I think it was quite a challenge top these last two. From what I could see online, these two books were the favourites of most readers, Was this book bad? No, definitely not! It is quite the page turner and I finished it within 24 hours, It was very entertaining and I quite liked the format and the setting in the 90s.

"Survive the Night" was quite different from the last two books I read form this author as it was not as thrilling or scary. What’s the story about you ask? Charlie, a film obsessed student wants desperately to flee the college she’s in after her best friend gets killed by the serial killer named “The Campus Killer”. She shares the way home with a mysterious stranger, she soon suspects to be the Campus Killer.

While the story was enjoyable, it suffers from the stupidity of its main character. The bad (dare I even say stupid) decisions Charlie kept making made me so aggravated. Seriously, she suspected she was in the car with a killer and finally gets a chance too escape and doesn’t take it! How? Why?

Some plot twists, while surprising made absolutely no sense une therefore seemed unbelievable, On the other hand, I guessed the identity of the killer quite quickly as there aren’t many characters in the story.

To summarise, it was a nice read but sometimes quite forgettable and unnerving.

Thanks a lot the NetGalley for this Arc, in exchange for my honest opinion.

e-Arc provided by Hodder & Stoughton, Hodder Paperbacks via Net Galley for Review. All thoughts are my own. My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton, Hodder Paperbacks for providing me with the arc for review. It is worth noting I also have a physical copy of this book that I had pre-ordered, my e-Arc did not get approved until after I received my physical copy.

Plot
Charlie, a film enthusiast and college student, is determined to get away from her college as soon as possible. She agrees to ride share with Josh, who has to leave campus at 9pm. As the pair drive across the state Charlie begins to question Josh's story and question whether she will survive the night.

Thoughts
This isolated and psychological thriller had me questions everything. Charlie is stuck in the car with no way out, and the forced proximity was so good. I also loved that is took place entirely at night time which gave it an extra layer of tension, especially as I was reading it while flying on a plane by myself at night.

Charlie has a mental health condition which causes her to hallucinate vivid 'movies in her mind'. As the book is largely told for her perspective I was constantly questioning her reliability as a narrator.

For the first half of this book I thought I had finally found my perfect thriller, and I was well on the way to it becoming a five star. However, it lost me in the second half. The second half became very predictable and I was guessing all the reveals.

The issue with having a small cast of characters in thrillers is when you know something is going to be revealed you're limited to who can be blamed. Which, unfortunately made this book very easy to guess.

Overall, I really enjoyed it but just thought it get too predictable. I was on the edge of my seat reading it, and read it in one sitting so would recommend if you're looking for an easy, gripping thriller to read during the spooky season.

This book was not for me. I really disliked it.

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest thriller reader, but I do enjoy them on occasion. This was my first Riley Sager book, and given all of the amazing reviews of his backlist, I think I chose the wrong place to start.

This book was very obviously a man writing a female MC, and it wasn’t good. Charlie read like what a man might expect, or even want, a woman to read like and maybe that was intentional given the ending, but it was painful to read. She made some shockingly bad decisions, which I don’t really fault her for considering she was experiencing delusions and grief, but given all that she’d gone through, it should have been SO easy to root for her. Instead, the author made her an unlikeable caricature and I just couldn’t have cared less about what happened to her. I also can’t understand why Charlie had literally been hallucinating for years and everyone she told seemed to just be like, “Oh wow, so quirky!”

The actual mystery element was pretty predictable, but it wasn’t badly paced, and the car ride itself was pretty creepy. The constant pop culture references, while in keeping with the theme, were a bit much and the whole thing was a bit cringy. I also really disliked the ending.

I may still pick up some of Riley Sager’s backlist, as I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things, but Survive the Night just wasn’t the thriller for me.

Content warnings: Sexism, murder, suicide, car accident, blood, shooting, drowning, drugging, cancer, kidnapping.

I received this book from the publishers via Netgalley for a review. A very good thriller with good characters. Well plotted highly recommended.

I’ve heard really conflicting things about this book but I really enjoyed it. I didn’t see any of the twists coming and LOVED the unreliable narrator. I loved not knowing why was actually happening half of the tome and not knowing who to trust. The ending was also really sweet. Thrillers don’t normally get such a sweet conclusion but that made the book so much better for me. Would definitely recommend

I needed a little time after finishing this book to decide if it was brilliant or if I had missed the point and was very frustrated. After sitting with that final part for half an hour I realised how thoroughly Riley Sager had spun me around in circles until I couldn't tell up from down! That was the most brilliant twist I could have never imagined. I was a little gutted that I guessed who the Campus Killer was but only about 20 pages before the reveal.

I loved the character of Maddy, and I did keep thinking she seemed too much like a movie character and wondered how much was the movie in her mind - so that end twist made so much sense. I could definitely see this book being made into a movie.

The unreliable narrator trope is one of my favourites and it didn't disappoint with finding a new angle for it in this book.

2/5 stars

I'm an avid mystery/thriller reader and enjoyer, though somehow I haven't picked up a Riley Sagar before even though I've heard good things. I liked the premise of this book and so I requested this to finally read from this author, but I was quite underwhelmed. I've heard that Sagar often writes very surprising and cool twists, so that was another pull to this book.

I didn't enjoy this book (hence my rating), but it's down to the way the book pans out from about the 65% mark. Up to this point, it's fine, it's got an interesting isolated and forced proximity kind of feel to it. I'm sure a thriller like this could work really well, but unfortunately this missed the mark. The twists were ridiculous, and not the "ridiculously good" sort of twist that I was hoping for. They weren't surprising and one of the reveals didn't feel realistic as the character didn't have a plausible enough motive for me to believe them. I was drawn to Riley Sagar for the twists and reveals that I thought I would find surprising, but I just didn't. They went too far from reality for me to actually think they were plausible,

I'd probably read another Riley Sagar in the future as I liked the writing enough and I've seen that quite a lot of people who have enjoyed Sagar's writing in the past didn't enjoy this one. I've also seen reviews complaining about the main character, but honestly I didn't find that myself. In my opinion, she was okay. She made some questionable decisions, though nothing I was annoyed by.

Overall, I'm quite disappointed, but I don't know, you might like this????

Survive the Night continues the “Final Girl” trope with aplomb as Riley Sager builds the tension and claustrophobia with one of the worst car journeys I can imagine, with the constant mental manipulation and near misses really keeping me on the edge of my seat! With plenty of “Gone Girl” -esque twists and nothing being as first seen or expected, this is another excellent thriller by Sager, and it’s been tricky to explain it when recommending, which to me is a sign of a complex and interesting book. I have to say – I LOVED the ending!

I enjoyed this book and thought would make a good movie, I loved the twist at the end and would definitely recommend