I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hodder & Stoughton, in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy. Every so often a thriller will come along which just blows all other thrillers out of the water, and Survive the Night is just one in a long line by Riley Sager to do so.

Survive the Night is the story of Charlie, a college girl whose roommate has recently been murdered by the notorious 'Campus Killer'. Riddled with guilt and suffering periods of dissociation, she makes the rash decision one night to hitch a long ride home with a guy she meets on campus who happens to be driving her way. Faced with a long roadtrip and a potentially bad decision, they start talking and Charlie starts to wonder if maybe she has gotten into the car with precisely the person who might have killed her roommate.

This book is intense. I was worried at first that it was playing its cards too early, but of course I should have known better. Rather than being full of dramatic twists, this book gently shifts and shifts back like a rope ladder, never quite letting you feel secure. The writing is a beautiful lesson in how to create tension and a sense of dread. I read it on a journey home and it made the trip seem so quick, that's how absorbed I was.

As a protagonist, Charlie is a super interesting character. People who are tired of the whole 'mentally ill' heroine trope in thrillers might be disappointed here, but I found her an intriguing and (perhaps most importantly) sympathetic protagonist. Even as she makes stupid decisions, you can always understand her rationale, even if you don't agree with it. That's quite a hard task for a thriller author to accomplish, and it never felt like Charlie was being forced into making stupid decisions for the sake of the plot.

I can't say a whole lot more without giving stuff away, but if you're a fan of either closed space or cat and mouse thrillers, then this book is for you. It's a fast-paced, tightly woven read with plenty to keep you engaged for the ride. Definitely worth checking out this author if you haven't already!

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This was a DNF for me. I just could not get into the story, the protagonist just did not do it for me unfortunately

Review hadn’t saved. Really enjoyed this one- writing what fantastic and drew me in, didn’t want it to end! Always love his books- can’t wait for next

The writing was easy to follow, the pacing was good. But..

The campus killer twist got me gasping and then I felt let down because it was literally revealed out of thin air with no indication/hints throughout the book?

And I found the ending between the two characters after everything just ... weird!?

Not a fan sadly and I don't even have much more to say about it.

I have such mixed feelings about this book.

The positives for me were: I liked the very basic storyline and was intrigued to see how it played out. I thought I had the book figured out and worked out one of the twists fairly early on however the main twist at the end I didn't see coming.

The negatives: the main character had me wanting to scream at her at times. She made incredibly stupid decisions and put herself into danger knowingly. It felt so unrealistic as I can't imagine any woman making those sorts of decisions, especially at a time where there is a killer on the loose.

All in all I did enjoy the book, though I think the author made some obvious mistakes.

I’m starting to really like Riley Sager as an author. I was drawn to this one instantly, the title made it sound like a game which I really liked and Riley is becoming a complete master of thriller books I feel! I loved how atmospheric it was and how I couldn’t stop turning the pages and reading one more chapter. Really enjoyable read!

After 50% I’m calling it quits. This Riley Sager just doesn’t feel like the same person wrote it compared to his earlier works. Maybe he’s just decided to go in a different direction for a change but this felt so gimmicky and cheap. Definitely not my cup of tea. I’m very interested to see what others think of this.

this book was a good mind boggling thriller! i loved it. it is fresh and new with unexpected plot twists. this book captivated me and i could not put it down for a single moment! i fell in love with the story, the plot, the characters, the writing style, all of it to be quite honest with you!

Thank you Netgalley, Hodder & Stoughton and Riley Sager for the arc of this book.

Charlie just wants to get away for a while. She is full of guilt over the death of her best friend, blaming herself for not being able to stop it.
Making the decision to leave university and her boyfriend for a while. Charlie posts a flyer on a rideshare bulletin board and as luck would have it, she meets Josh. Assuming he is a graduate student, she takes him up on his offer to share a ride. He is sad, she is sad, they can be sad together!
What follows is a game of cat and mouse so full of twists you won't see coming. It's intense, atmospheric and incredibly unsettling in parts, watching someone slowly lose their hold on reality.

Riley Sager has done it again! Another amazing read. The only reason for the four stars is I felt it was a bit slow in parts and there was some repetitiveness. But I will read anything by this author and still enjoy it.

Title: Survive the night
Author : Riley Sager
Publication : 06/21
Page count : 324
Overall thoughts: Another excellent psychological thriller by Sager!

It’s 1991 and Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer….

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the shocking murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father—or so he says.

The longer she sits in the passenger seat, the more Charlie notices there’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t want her to see inside the trunk. As they travel an empty, twisty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly anxious Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s jittery mistrust merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?

One thing is certain—Charlie has nowhere to run and no way to call for help. Trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse played out on pitch-black roads and in neon-lit parking lots, Charlie knows the only way to win is to survive the night.

This was such a good thriller!! Very highly anticipated, I enjoy all of Riley Sager’s books and this did not disappoint!

I'm really happy that for the most part when I'm reading a mystery or thriller my head is empty, no thoughts, so i just enjoy them because everything is shocking to me. Like I know they are tricking me and that this is a red herring but I don't put any more effort into thinking further.

Despite the scathing reviews for this book, i had a fun time. I love an insular, possibly trapped with my killer, in a car setting and was really engaged with the book the entire time. i also think that because I've been reading so much romance prior to this book, reading a thriller was a nice change that i forgot i enjoyed so much.

I loved the way the book was formatted like a screenplay and how Charlie’s love of movies was intertwined in the story. Her hallucinations were really fascinating and more terrifying to me because of the way they cosplay reality so well. I usually don’t love a thriller with a mentally ill female character because they are traditionally treated badly, I don’t know how I felt about Charlie and her treatment either.

Now for slightly spoilery thoughts.

Okay, look. I am what we call a whore and if there can be smut, i think there should be all the time, except in this book. He made it horny for no reason. Why was there a romance ugghh. I feel it just brought it to a place I didn’t like, just let the girl live her boyfriend just tried to kill her.


The weird part , which I guess is a tired critique, was the waitresses pov and her actions just absolutely not matching up. It feels like a straight trick and lie to the reader which is really disappointing in a thriller where you expect to be shocked from things that are well crafted rather than the author just lying?? Like i've never experienced that before in a book.

I really didn't enjoy the reveal at the end that the whole thing we read was the movie adaptation version of the story, i just wish it had ended at the hospital because the epilogue just made me dislike the book more.

And yes, the entire book could have just ended in the diner but alas…


Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for this review.

This is the second book of Riley Sager’s that I’ve read - I was instantly drawn in by the cover and the synopsis sounded fabulous.

I neither massively enjoyed or intensely disliked this book, I’m somewhere in the middle. The story started off strong and I definitely felt gripped to begin with but I was not a fan of our protagonist Charlie which sort of scuppered my feelings early doors. She ignored literally every red flag, even the ones that were hitting her in the face, and made endless questionable decisions.

However, I can’t deny that this book was entertaining and it was a quick read for me. Riley Sager has a very unique style of writing and I will absolutely continue to read his work but this one wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm very conflicted again.
I loved the way this started, but the things went into a completely different direction from where I expected things to go, and I'm not sure I liked it!
I feel like a lot more could be done with the story, but maybe that's just me.
I did love the ending though, it definitely took me by surprise!

This was my first Riley Sager book, and while it wasn't a bad start per se, I did expect more from this!

I’ve just finished this book & honestly I think the ending saved it for me.
It took me a while to get into because the pace was a little slow & I struggled to follow the ‘movie hallucinations’.
Overall I liked the setting of the book, the premise & the twists!

Full review to follow on my insta blog

Thankyou to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me a e-arc of this book. I love Riley Sagers writing and the stories that get created however this fell a little short for me. i liked Charlie as a character and the way she gets lost in the movies in her head and the plot twist i didnt really expect, it was a quick read and i flew through it in one sitting but i expected more.

SURVIVE THE NIGHT is the fifth psychological thriller from Riley Sager, the pseudonym of an author who lives in New Jersey. I have to admit that this is the first book that I have read from this author, even through I have all the books on my Kindle to read, but life has a way of getting in the way. Now after finishing this novel, I am so impressed and now plan to catch up and read all his other novels before his next novel is published in June 2022.

His Novels Include:
Final Girls (2017)
The Last Time I Lied (2018)
Lock Every Door (2019)
Home Before Dark (2020)
Survive the Night (2021)
The House Across the Lake (June 2022)

Charlie Jordan got into a car with a perfect stranger. She is being driven across the country by a serial killer?

Two people, a young woman, Charlie Jordan, in the passenger seat and the driver, a man, Josh Baxter are travelling the lengthy trip between university and their destination. They had met at the college ride share board, and Charlie accepts a ride from a perfect stranger to go back home in the middle of term, to handle her grief after her best friend, Maddy had been killed by the “Campus Killer”.

They spend the trip sharing stories, but there is no mention or discussion of what was dominating the news-the Campus Killer, who had tied up and stabbed three students in a year, and had just struck again.

Charlie soon notices warning signs with Josh…and discrepancies in Josh's story.

Charlie suffers from Hallucinations, where reality is replaced with a movie in her mind…where she sees movies in her mind. Movies are her life.

She suspects that Josh is the Campus Killer and plans her escape, while in a moving car. Will she be his next victim?

This novel is a game of cat and mouse, and Charlie must find a way to survive the night.

Favorite quote: “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.”

This was a very enjoyable gripping read, with lots of movie quotes, and an ending, I did not see coming. Highly recommend!

Many thanks to the author, Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for granting my wish to receive a digital copy.

Riley Sager packs so much tense drama and terror in these pages it’s difficult to stop yourself from devouring in one go.

The claustrophobic atmosphere and uneasy dynamics between characters is gripping and shows how Sager can really make a reader feel what the characters are feeling.

Another excellent title from Riley Sager, he is a master of suspense, and this book did not disappoint

I could not put this book down at least not for long. I liked the premise that the main character chose to get in a car with a stranger and then realising he is possibly a serial killer. I enjoyed the writing style and the choices that had to be made along the way. I didn't see the twist coming when it arrived but I was gripped to see how it turned out. I liked the way the story played out right to the end. As the first book by this author I have read I am intrigued to try more.

This was my first book by Riley Sager and I was having severe FOMO seeing it everywhere and not having read it. Suffice to say it won't be the last one I read by Riley. It was a fantastic read, perfect for thriller and mystery readers. A little bit slow to get going but that didn't last long and then I couldn't put it down.
I did guess a couple of the twists but mostly I was surprised along the way.
I would definitely recommend this one.