Survive the Night is a masterpiece. Full of twists, turns and red herrings, proving that Sager has mastered the art of misdirection. You’re left constantly second guessing what you think you know and whether it’s actually real or not. I did eventually figure out who the Campus Killer was (around the 75% mark) but even then, I wasn’t absolutely certain until events started to unfold.

Charlie was a fantastic main character. Her character development was flawless. She rose to every new challenge presented to her and towards the end, she emerged a femme fatale more than worthy of leading lady status. There were times when her mental illness made her seem like an unreliable narrator. This isn’t a trope that I’m particularly warm towards as I feel that it stigmatises mental illness but I liked that Sager used this as an opportunity to address trauma and the many different types of coping mechanisms that can kick in as a response to trauma.

Initially, I wasn’t sure that I would like the way that the book was styled like a movie with noted directions for each setting. However, it worked incredibly well and managed to get across the classic Hitchcockian thriller movie vibes that I think Sager was going for.

Overall, Survive the Night was easily one of my favourite thrillers, if not books, of the year so far. It’s a book that I’ll be thinking about for a LONG time and one that I’ll be recommending to anyone and everyone who will listen to me rave about how good this is.

Imagine if there was a serial killer stalking your campus, and your best friend was one of their victims. You decide you need to leave the university and get home, so you take a lift from someone you barely know. As the journey gets going, you start to believe the man sitting next to you is the killer, and that you're his next victim.

That's the scenario our protagonist, Charlie finds herself in in Survive the Night. We are on this adrenaline ride with her. Will she escape the car in one piece? Who is the man driving? Is Charlie being paranoid?

I read Final Girls, which I enjoyed, and Sager's latest thriller didn't disappoint. It is dark, a little surreal at times, and very twisty. I read it in two sittings, but could have easily read it in one.

I recommend to fans of twisty, fast-paced thrillers.

Thanks to Riley Sager, NetGalley, and Hodder & Stoughton for this advanced copy.

I have read a few of Riley Sager's books and they have never failed to disappoint!

Survive the night lived up to my expectations, Imagine possibly being stuck in a car with a serial killer? Yikes! It's any woman's fear, This book was very engaging, addictive, It gave me goose bumps and kept me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend it will not disappoint you.

A big thank you to netgalley for my copy of this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.

I was highly anticipating this book, as there is so much love for Riley Sager online, it's the June book for two online bookclubs I take part in, and I loved Home Before Dark which I preordered last year. There was so much to love about this - the early 90s setting and the classic movie references made for such a nostalgic read. The way that the 'movies' inside Charlie's head were described were fantastic - I could see them unfolding like a movie in my own head, with the sound and lighting changing as she loses touch with reality. I loved the first 50% of the novel, with the tension building and Charlie questioning what's real and what isn't.


*Mild spoilers below*


I really wish we hadn't switched perspectives. I understand why we got chapters from different characters, but it totally broke the tension for me as what I'd been loving up to that point was being in Charlie's head second-guessing herself, but as soon as we hear from other characters it helps us realise what's really happening. At first I was hoping that these other perspectives would also turn out to be Charlie's imagination, but that didn't happen. I also felt like some of the twists just fell flat for me - even though I didn't predict them, I wasn't shocked by them, because by the second half of the book I'd lost the intrigue the beginning had held, and all the character's motivations were way too over-explained. I always dislike a "here's why I'm doing what I'm doing!" speech.

Overall, there was a lot to like about this book, but I was just left a bit disappointed by the end. I would, however, recommend this book to those who enjoy thrillers, particularly those who enjoy thriller/slasher movies and are looking to try reading one! I'll definitely still be checking out more from Riley Sager in future, including more of his backlist.

I love this book. It is an atmospheric chiller and it made me visualise all the scenes. It was so wonderfully detailed that I felt like I personally knew every character. The twist was predictable but I enjoyed reading it nonetheless. This author never fails to impress me!

The premise of 'Survive the Night' is interesting and it's what prompted me into wanting to read it. Charlie, a student at Olyphant University in New Jersey, is dropping out. She is heading home to Ohio to be with her grandma, mainly initiated by the murder of her roommate, Maddy, and the fall out from this horrific event. She meets Josh at the ride board and, and before long, she has 'signed up' for him to drive her ahead of Thanksgiving.

The novel is creepy from the outset, with the usual tropes. Throughout the book, each chapter is titled with a film director's reference, such as INT. GRAND AM. MIDNIGHT. As the story progresses, so does Charlie and Josh's journey.

For sure, there are many plot twists here. Without plot-spoiling, I was left pretty surprised throughout. Some parts are implausible, though, and jarred with me, such as when Charlie rifles through Josh's wallet without Josh [seemingly] realising - they are side-by-side in the car; and when Robbie, Charlie's boyfriend, identifies what Marge has in her hand when he is watching, from afar, in the dead of night. Hmmm... not sure such things would be possible but, like with many mysteries, it is important to suspend one's disbelief.

'Survive the Night' is a good, gripping, chilling mystery, and I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the early copy of this book!

I think what happened here was that I set my expectations way too high - like Home Before Dark high.

I found it easy to predict unfortunately - the plot twists didn't throw me off!

Overall it was a good book (if you're not too used to thrillers), but I wouldn't re-read this one.

It’s 9pm on Tuesday 19th November 1991 and Olyphant University student Charlie is waiting for a ride with Josh to take her back to Ohio. She’s fleeing the university in grief and reluctantly leaving her relationship with Robbie following the murder of her best friend Maddy two months previously by the Campus Killer. Shortly after 9pm the headlights of the Pontiac Grand Am appear and not too long into the journey Charlie realises she has made a shocking error.

I absolutely love this book and it’s by far my favourite Riley Sager to date!! It’s the way it’s written that hooks me in as it has such a cinematic feel, it’s like a Hitchcock movie fading from colour to black and white. This is reinforced by the many movie references and by Charlie as she believes movies are like life, only better. I love how Night keeps being reiterated in various ways through film through suffering, through the journey in the night and by ‘Take back the Night’ after Maddy's murder. It’s so intriguing trying to work out what is real versus the illusion of what Mandy THINKS she sees and experiences and you have no idea who will survive the night. There’s a real intimacy and also creepiness with being in the car with Josh and there are admissions, uncertainties, growing nervousness, insecurity and fear but you also wonder if Charlie is willing something bad to happen because of guilt surrounding Maddy's death. The tension grows, you have no idea what is going to happen and so the atmosphere builds added to by fog, mental fog, snow and ice in veins. You feel what Charlie feels, her sense of isolation, her fear but then you question is she really seeing what she thinks she sees? As she cast herself as a femme fatale in a movie of her own making? What role is Josh playing? As we reach the climax I nearly jump out of my skin!! I so do not see that coming!!! It becomes a high octane thriller where you scarcely dare to breathe! I love the ultimate ending too, so clever, and yes, it feels right!

Overall, this is just my kind of book, really clever, well written, something to puzzle over and for me it’s a five star all the way!!

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Hodder and Stoughton for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

This book is absolutely amazing! I'm a first time Riley Sager reader, but it would definitely won't be the last book I read from him. Survive the Night is beautifully written, with just the perfect pace and thrilling details, where everything is not what it seems. All the twists are on the right place and the story is super addicting. I would say the main character will get on your nerves from time to time, but it is what it is. 5/5 starts!!

*This is an ARC. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this title. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Survive The Night....more like Survive The Disappointment. That’s right, I was devastatingly disappointed by this book, and it seriously hurts to even be writing this not so glowing review. I mean, it’s a RILEY FREAKING SAGER BOOK. He’s like a thriller writing god. His books have a way of drawing me in and frantically flipping through the pages because I just have to know what’s going to happen next, while also making me want to take my time and soak in each and every meticulously written word because the reading experience is so great that I don’t want the stories to ever end. I love all of his books. And then this one came along. And love it I did not. To make matters worse, I thought that this was actually going to become my favorite book of his, because it sounded so amazing and had all of the elements that I love in a thriller. But somehow the ingredients just didn’t blend well together, and in all honesty, while it was still well written with a compelling story line, I found it to be a bit boring and lackluster, especially the first half of the book. It starts to pick up more as the story goes along, but not enough to ever get me completely invested.

This was not just one of my most anticipated books of the year, but my most anticipated. Unfortunately, I was rather underwhelmed by it and place it as my least favorite Riley Sager book.

If you’re a fan of Sager, I would still recommend that you give this book a try because it may work for you even if it wasn’t my cup of tea. Prior to reading this one, my least favorite of his books was Lock Every Door and I seem to be in the minority in that regard because it seems to be his most popular book among fans. So hey, you may end up loving this one even though I didn’t!

This may have been a letdown, but i’m still a huge Riley Sager fan and I am still going to devour everything he releases and I am already biting my nails in eager anticipation of his next book release.

While a little more complex than the blurb makes out, this still feels like a bit of a generic thriller and the framing it as a movie inside a book didn't particularly add much. One of those thrillers where at the start I think "I bet it's so-and-so..." and no matter what twists and turns the author uses to throw me off, it was, in the end, exactly as I predicted. The killer's motives once revealed were quite flat; a criminal minds 'unsub' would have more depth. The additional dimension of the MC's hallucinations don't really do much besides trying to distract you from the otherwise totally predictable killer's identity.

Riley Sager is one of the best thriller writers I have read. Picking up a Riley Sager novel you 100% know you had better give up the whole weekend, don't make plans, get snacks and drinks because you are not moving, not going to bed, not talking the another human until you finish the last page, and Survive The Night is exactly that.
It starts with Charlie, a dry humoured, loner university student who just wants to get home to her Nana, her only family, in Ohio. She can't wait for her boyfriend to drive her home so she accepts a lift from a (suspish) well-timed meeting of another student who wants company along his drive home.
And so they set off at 9pm on the long night of driving ahead.
We find out that Charlie is running away from her University life. Her roommate has been murdered by a serial killer and her mental health is failing, she feels she needs to go home and rethink her whole life, but things start to play out along the way that Charlie questions if her imagination really is warped or whether she's the only one who's right.

So this book will definitely give you Hitchcock vibes. If you don't question everyone then we can't be friends. I literally had every character at some point of the book pegged as the baddie.
I couldn't find a fault with this book. The set up was fabulous, the tension was nerve-racking, the way it made me say "it's you" about every single person mentioned on every single page.
My only advise upon picking up this book is put a "do not disturb" sign around your neck because you are not going anywhere until you've turned the last page, read the last word, and closed the back cover!

A perfect thriller and a perfect game of cat and mouse which keeps you guessing! Really enjoyed the book itself and the storyline another fab novel from Riley Sager, would recommend!!

Such a fun romp that you will devour in one sitting. Deliciously plotty, it will keep you guessing until the end. Loved it.

I so enjoyed this romp of a read. It's a fabulous foray into cinema and particularly film noir and the lead character of Charlie (named after a film character) has experienced a number of horrific events in her young life and as such she now experiences blackouts where she sees and hears things that may or may not be true.

I really don't want to say anymore about the plot line as it's so good to just read it. But, for those film buffs amongst the readers, it's wonderfully peppered with film references and you never quite know what's real and what's in Charlie's imagination.

It's a small group of characters so the 'wow / twist' comes in a different way, but, it's non the worse for it. Unique, exciting, fast paced and with a character you're really rooting for - what's not to love?

4* I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the opportunity to preview.

Excellent thriller, very original in style, it is written as a movie. Charlie, the main character is movie obsessed and narrates her life as a movie, the book is written the same way.
I found the writing very gripping and absorbing, and the twists were amazing! No spoilers, Read this excellent twisty thriller for yourself!

I absolutely loved the first half of this novel which is a pitch perfect tribute to the horror movie genre. I felt the pacing and plotting slowed in the second half but it remained a page turning read.

I really enjoyed this book, it was one of those books you just can’t stop reading. It truly felt like going on this journey with Charlie, I loved all the twists and turns and the ‘movies’ added bits of confusion that I really liked!

I liked this book but not as much I wanted to ( Riley Sager is a great author).

The major twist near the end was unexpected but some of the book was predictable. Not to say it was not worth it, the build up definitely kept me awake at night to read on further.

Charlie was portrayed as a little dumb for my liking but I was able to ignore it.

all in all, a great book for a night read to creep you out.

Is he a serial killer, maybe or maybe not.... I could not put this book down once I got into it. It took me awhile to get into it. Certainly a hold your breath type of book. Great read for everyone!