This got me out of a reading slump!
This book was so fun to read and it felt like it showed how hectic a CEO life can be (nottl that I know what that entails but I can imagine.) The pacing was great and I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

To read: If you’re stuck in a reading slump, The Raise will hook you from the first page. Set in the NYC startup world, it starts off when a mentor and CEO falls 25 feet to her death at Burning Man, leaving Alexis to raise $75 million—or bury the company they built together. A satirical thriller full of grief, betrayal, and impossible choices, it’s the kind of weekend read you won’t be able to put down.

This was so unique as a corporate/tech startup thriller and it was an interesting read with lots of twists. Would recommend to anyone who wants a unique thriller! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

intense, interesting, and taut thriller. our protagonist was a really unique character and interesting to read from, and the twists were great! the final one, too, was fantastic. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

This story follows Alexis, a founder, who has to take on the daunting task of running a company when her best friend and business partner, Darcy, passes away. Alexis soon uncovers fractures within the company and struggles to manage them all while attempting to process Darcy's death.

The story is well paced and gets into the mystery quite quickly. The characters were distinct and written in a way that made me suspicious of everyone and kept me engaged all throughout. I especially liked the use of emails, texts, letters, etc., as a literary device. Within the mystery driven plot, the book subtly delves into the realities women face in the corporate and business world that did not feel stilted or hollow.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that was hard to put down. The writing flowed well, the characters felt believable, and I found the ending to be realistic although it may not have been gratifying.

I never totally saw where Kriegsman's twisty, emotional and fast-paced book was going, and I loved that.

i know literally nothing about tech or running a company but this book captivated me from the first page and had me in a chokehold.

the story is so interesting and the pacing is perfect, giving you time to think about different elements and characters, but still capturing the frenzy of (what i assume) becoming CEO of a tech start up is like. this book also has some great stuff about grief and relationships, and how co-dependence impacts your identity.

i really enjoyed my time with this book! the characters were fun, and the ending was soooo fitting.

thank you to Ali for sending me an early copy! this is a fabulous debut novel and i’m so sat for everything she’s going to write in the future.

I found this book fascinating on so many levels The context of getting additional funding for a female led start up was highly original.Covering off the various elements and people involved was insightful. The tragedy of the death of the founder lent a mystery element to the story, and access to her computer with its revelations was intriguing I thoroughly enjoyed this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

The Raise is marketed as a psychological thriller, but I found it read more like a sharp exploration of female friendship, ambition, and the challenges women face in the startup/tech world.

The story follows Alexis and Darcy, two codependent best friends and co-founders of a fashion-tech company inspired by Cher's closet system in Clueless. When Darcy dies suddenly at Burning Man, Alexis is left trying to keep their company from collapsing while simultaneously unraveling the secrets Darcy left behind. The ending isn’t neat or happy—which felt both frustrating and realistic.

What stood out most to me was the dynamic between Alexis and Darcy. Alexis, in particular, was frustrating at times, but also deeply human—completely lost without her bestie/business partner and unsure of who she is outside of their shared identity. The book does a good job showing the intoxicating and sometimes destructive nature of codependent friendships.

I also appreciated the insider view into the world of startups, investors, and female founders—the pressures, the sexism, the ambition. That felt more like the heart of the book than the mystery itself. The text message exchanges sprinkled throughout added some texture, though I personally found the “valley girl” tone of thirty-something founders a bit unrealistic at times.

Overall, while this wasn’t the twisty psychological thriller I expected, I did enjoy it. The writing is engaging, the characters are layered, and the themes are thought-provoking. If you go in looking for a story about female friendship, ambition, and the messy realities of building a company, rather than a traditional thriller, you’ll likely enjoy it as much as I did.

The Most Dangerous Game meets the all-consuming cyclone of a tech startup in this emotional, witty depiction of being a powerful modern woman (with a conscience).

To me, this book leans more towards literary fiction with sapphic undertones than pure thriller. I really enjoyed the range in Alexis’ admiration of Darcy - effortlessly going from friendly compliments to serial-killer creepy.

The ending unravels really quickly; I wish more time was spent in the third act. That being said I was definitely surprised with a few big reveals… I was kicking myself because the breadcrumbs are definitely there so keep your eyes peeled.

I received a free advanced readers copy (ARC) in exchange for this review.

Wow. I read this book in less than 12 hours and I'm feeling... everything.

This book was incredibly well written, with in depth, raw characters. The writing itself felt fresh and modern. The stakes were always high, the energy urgent, and I empathized so greatly with not only one, but multiple fictional characters. To the bitter end, I stood with Alexis, the woman who has just been thrown into her company's CEO position after her best friend and business partner, dies tragically. The pure anxiety, rich emotion and jarring plot twists had me invested from page 1.

Kriegsman kills it with this one - a job well done.

I loved learning the language of the business world in this area, and equally enjoyed the tense drama and suspense.

★★★★★ Addictive, sharp, and surprisingly emotional

I tore through this book in two sittings. The Raise is part thriller, part workplace drama, and part grief spiral—and somehow it all works. Alexis is such a compelling character: smart, ambitious, and totally thrown off balance after her best friend and co-founder dies suddenly. Watching her try to hold it together while everything around her unravels was both stressful and weirdly empowering.

The startup world felt way too real (in a good way), and the writing is fast-paced and sharp. There’s a lot going on—corporate politics, secrets, grief, friendship—and it never feels overwhelming. I especially loved how the book explored the pressure women face to be “strong” and “likable” while quietly falling apart.

It’s messy, smart, and full of tension. Highly recommend if you like thrillers with emotional depth and characters who feel like real people trying to survive impossible situations.

I wasn't make sure what to make of "The Raise" when I started reading it - by starting the book with Darcy'a death, I was unsure if the author was trying to make this a thriller or a book about corporate malaise. But now that I've finished it, I can say for sure that Ali Kreigsman wrote a beautiful book about grief and finding your place in the world.

While I've never grieved the way Alexis has, I can relate to her was a woman in her late twenties trying to find her place in the world, and how trepidacious that can feel while balancing the variety of work and professional relationships in one's life. I particularly related to how unfinished Alexis felt, not in the sense that she was poorly written, but in that she was trying to find her voice and learn to be okay.

Kreigsman's side characters were also beautifully complex, from Darcy as a role model and someome capable of bottling her feelings, to Ethan, who whole trying to do the right thing, was too afraid to let his ambitions take flight. These characters demonstrated the complex world Alexis was mired in, and demonstrated that no one's problems exist in a vacuum.

While I thought that the Victoria plot twist was well done (I didn't expect that she would be trying to destroy Savvy from the inside out or would go as far as to catfish Dr. Wes), the insertion of the plot point about her potentially murdering Darcy felt like a strange inclusion, especially because it wasnt borne out later in the text.

This is not only a book I would easily buy for friends, but I would actively seek out any of Ali Kreigsman's future books.

this was a strong psychological thriller novel, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. I was invested in Alexis trying to save their company and how the murder of her business partner was used in this book. The characters were everything that I wanted in this and had that element that worked. It was a strong psychological element that I wanted and was engaged with the suspenseful atmosphere that I was hoping for. Ali Kriegsman wrote this well and was glad I got to read this.

Wow! This book was real juicy with a fast paced plot and a lot of “do the right thing” contemplations. Alexis was a great main character and I was impressed by how she handled grief, leading a company, and making really difficult big decisions. There were definitely funny parts to this book as well as suspense and shocking plot twists. It’s also a relatable story for the times we live in now with a chaotic corporate environment.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review will be posted on Instagram and Amazon on pub day and links added to NetGalley.

DNF at 24% due to the following:

-I hate characters vaping a Juul
-starts off extremely dark
-doing Xanax at a funeral? I hate these characters already

Writing style was decent. I’d read other books by this author but this one also had texts in the weirdest formatting ever and everything was more abbreviated than my own text messages.

Cover is cool

Premise sound promising

There were also two character names not mentioned in the blurb that are DNF causes for me. I have to avoid books with specific names and for some reason this particular name seems to be in every book. It’s the name of a partner too, rather than a small side character so it’s not something I could look past and keep reading.

I was also bummed this wasn’t formatted for an ereader. I think pdf versus epub file was uploaded so I had to read it in my tablet in the net galley app to even access the story.

Please know I’m picky with thrillers. I would read another book by this author and just because I didn’t love this one doesn’t mean you won’t.

Thank you for this ARC. I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.