I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Ok, so I don’t think this was my favorite by Riley and I’m sad about that because there was so much in it that I loved. When a book starts off with “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” You know you have a kindred spirit with the author. There were so many old movie references in this story that I just loved! I can also say the premise of the story was good. There are some very good, very uncomfortable moments toward the end that were hard to read but in a GOOD way! The kind that make you know the author knows what they are doing and writing you a quality thriller.
Without giving anything away I’ll say that I really did enjoy the story. There were some parts that felt super repetitive to me and could have been left out. The ending was a little off for me. I think being such a fan of RS that I was just expecting that big revealing WOW moment and didn’t feel satisfied completely. Of course I still recommend this as a solid read and Sager will always be an auto buy author for me.

This entire story has a noir feel to it. It’s very visual, and it reads like an old, 1950’s classic movie, which happens to be the film genre the main character is obsessed with.

The action takes place over about six hours, and I DO think it’s a book you should read on a lazy Saturday or Sunday, so you don’t have to pause and pick it back up later. Sadly, I did NOT do this and wish that I had. Instead, I read it over a week and went long stretches between reading during the midpoint of the book, which killed some of the momentum. This was not Sager’s fault, since he’s such a master at building tension. No, I blame life and having to be an adult. But during the last third of the book, I dropped everything and HAD to finish.

There are only a handful of characters in this, yet somehow the book contains incredibly effective twists, turns and reveals. Only Sager can pull this kind of thing off, I swear.

I sort of figured some things out, but it didn’t matter -- the ending STILL blew me away. In fact, while this may not be my favorite Sager book (a spot still reserved for LOCK EVERY DOOR), it may very well be my favorite climax and ending to a Sager book. And honestly, it may be in the number two slot - which is saying a lot!

You don't want to miss this one! It comes out June 29th! Buy it, read it, love it!

Thank you Dutton for the ARC!

Riley’s baaaack!!! Honestly I was a bit worried after his last two but I have fomo and had to give it a chance. If I wasn’t so busy I would have read it in two days. The pacing was off though and perhaps it was me but it felt a little slow in the first 50% and then warp speed for the second half. After finishing im still not sure what the truth is. 😂 What’s a movie and what’s the truth?!? Loved the movie references and pit stops along the way. A solid summer wild ride.

this was a quick thriller that had me reading on to see how it would end! it wasn't my favorite book setting of his as i felt like the two people trapped in the car limited what could really happen throughout the story but overall it was a suspenseful read. unfortunately i guessed the plot twist before it game but the ending was one of the most realistic of Sager's which i appreciated! i can definitely see this being another summer thriller hit for Sager. job well done!

Thank you Netgalley and Dutton for the ecopy.

Ummmm...so let me start by saying I usually love books by this author. This one - I honestly can't decide what I think. I liked it, for sure. The concept was great, it was definitely creepy and twisty and kept me guessing, especially bout Josh. I liked that it took place in 1991, as that was when I was growing up. I liked that there were no cell phones, etc, and the nods to Nirvana, jukeboxes, payphone, etc.

There were some parts that confused me, like with the whole "movie in her head" thing. I had to go back and reread some sections because I was like, wait, what? I thought the ending was a bit cliche, but I will say although I predicted "whodunnit", there was a part I didn't guess correctly too.

Overall I think this is a solid twisty thriller, but not his best work. 3.5 stars rounded up.

I've had multiple Riley Sager books on my TBR for a while now, but Survive the Night is the first one I've actually read by the author. I must say it did not disappoint. I love a good thriller and this one was a "page turner" for me!

After her best friend is murdered by the notorious Campus Killer, Charlie decides to leave college and head home, ostensibly for good. She says goodbye to her boyfriend Robbie and then hitches a ride from Josh a stranger whom she just met on campus at the communal ride board. The majority of the book takes place during the night that Josh and Charlie drive home together. Things start to feel a little off to Charlie and she begins to wonder if the stranger in the car with her is dangerous.....perhaps even the Campus Killer. What follows next is a tension filled game of cat-and-mouse.

Between Charlie's movie like delusions making her an unreliable narrator and the extreme gaslighting by Josh I was constantly left wondering what is real!?! The are numerous references to movies and the chapters are even titled like a movie screenplay with scene descriptions/locations (i.e. Int. Grand Am-Night). There were times when Charlie would do and/or make rationalizations for things and I just wanted to shake her and be like "girl, no!"......but if you can suspend believe and just go with it like you would when watching a movie then your reading experience will be all the better for it! And if you find yourself thinking well why doesn't she just use her cell or google X thing, remember this is set in 1991 before those convenient modern day technologies came along.

My review for this book is based on an ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley; all the following opinions I express are wholly my own.

Beset by guilt and sadness, Charlie was desperate to leave college. It is 1991 and her best friend was murdered. She goes to the campus ride board to find someone who will drive heer home. Josh Baxter is the man that will drive her. He is also leaving the college to go to his ailing father. At least that is what he tells Charlie.

It doesn't take long for Charlie to feel overcome with feelings of dread while riding with Josh. Charlie lives with movies in her head, in fact, her dream state is much like dissociation. What is fact and what is in Charlie's head during that long ride? While reading this thrilling book one thought kept me a bit distracted - why would a woman get in a car with a complete stranger?

Perhaps it was Charlie's grief. Maybe it was her constant disconnection with reality. Whatever her reasons, Charlie was in for the ride of her life. Did she in fact get in the car with the "Campus Killer', someone that has claimed the life of three victims including Charlie's best friend? Will Charlie be the fourth victim? What leads Charlie to that terrifying thought that Josh could indeed be the killer? With incredibly shocking twists and a surprising conclusion, this riveting book by Riley Sager answered those questions and much more.

Many thanks to Dutton Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I’m a pretty picky thriller fan, but man oh man did I enjoy this one! I would’ve read it entirely in one sitting if it hadn’t been for my husband urging me to turn out the lights. And then of course I had nightmares about the book, woke up and promptly finished it. As one does. Because I had to! I thought the suspense and intrigue here was brilliant, and that the plot was wholly unique - something that’s hard for thrillers to be these days! If you like books with shock value, I think you’ll absolutely love SURVIVE THE NIGHT!

SURVIVE THE NIGHT By Riley Sager
Thriller fiction
336 pages

In the king of thriller fictions newest book we have Charlie Jordan.  A young college student whose best friend was recently murdered by the Campus Killer. Charlie is having a really hard time dealing with it and has made the decision to take a break from school and go home. She doesn't have a car so she finds a ride with a stranger named Josh Baxter. Charlie notices strange things about Josh right away but in her grief chooses to ignore them. Now it is Charlie and Josh on a 8 hr drive . Who knows what will happen or who will make it home or not.

This was definitely one that kept you reading until the last page. The twists and turns will thrill any thriller fans. I recommend this book.

Riley Sager remains the best author I've ever read in the horror/thriller genre. If you are a slasher fanatic, Riley Sager is THE author for you. All of his books should be made into limited series or movies.

Sager's writing is outstanding with a gripping plot and the perfect buildup of suspense. The tension is a true star of Survive the Night. Set in 91, two strangers meet at a campus ride board to find someone to share the long drive back to Ohio with. Movie-obsessed Charlie is desperate to get away after her best friend is murdered by the Campus Killer. She shares a ride with Josh who doesn't seem to be telling the whole truth. Is he actually the Campus Killer? Will Charlie make it out alive?

The novel is atmospheric and filled to the brim with tension. If you're looking for something on the spooky side that will have you scared to even take an uber later, this is for sure the novel for you! The characters are engaging and the writing is perfection. Highly recommended!! Be sure to check out Survive the Night today!

Unfortunately, Survive the Night was a disappointment for me. I'm a Riley Sager fan and was looking forward to this for a while. I found the whole plot device of Charlie having "movies in her mind" to be quite weak. The back and forth of her internal monologue while driving with Josh was also exhausting. I guessed most of the twists which was also disappointing. I'm hoping for better from Sager's next book.

I can see this being a very polarizing book.

The first time I read it, I thought the first 75% of it was completed trash (but like literally 75% (at least according to my kindle)) and it wasn’t until the last 25% I found myself actually enjoying the book.

I was prepared to accept that this book wasn’t for me, then for whatever reason I decided to reread it and i don’t know if its because i knew the plot twist or if it’s because my reading mood changed but I liked it SO MUCH MORE the 2nd time around.

On the long list of Riley Sage brooks, this is where it ranks
LOCK EVERY DOOR
FINAL GIRLS
THE LAST TIME I LIED
SURVIVE THE NIGHT
HOME BEFORE DARK

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted eARC

I typically really enjoy Riley Sager's books, and Survive the Night was just fine. It's not the most plausible set up (Charlie's best friend has just been murdered yet she accepts long distance ride from stranger) and the story unfolds in a way I found frustrating at times. Some of the twists were tiresome or implausible and Charlie's whole *thing* is annoying. However! Sager is a really good thriller writer, and makes up for any weak plot points with a fun writing style. I would recommend this book for a fast-paced beach read for someone who wants to take a trip down memory lane with all the 90s references.

Survive the Night is the newest release from author Riley Sager, this time set in the backdrop of a car ride one night in 1991.

If you’ve read books by Sager before, I’d start by providing a quick warning that this book is a thriller much moreso than a mystery. There’s a mystery element, but this is definitely thriller territory, albeit with a whole host of plot twists. I liked Lock Every Door and Home Before Dark quite a bit, but this book feels a little different given its thriller-esque premise.

The setup of the story is based off a standard horror-slash-thriller movie trope — a woman riding in a car with a man who may or may not be a serial killer. In Survive the Night, Charlie is a female college student, who accepts a car ride from a stranger, Josh. The prologue of the book lets you know that the majority of the story takes place in the context of this car ride.

There’s a certain elegance to a simple premise — two people in a car — but it also means that things like dialogue, dramatic tension and the personalities of those two characters need to pull extra weight in keeping the story engaging.

Unfortunately, Charlie makes for a kind of an uneven protagonist. She likes old movies and that’s basically her entire personality. While it plays an important part in the book (and it plays into her character arc), it also makes her kind of an annoying protagonist and she feels a little flat as a character for most of the book. There’s plenty of good thrillers with not-quite-fully-formed characters, but given the pared-down premise, the lack of a compelling main character feels glaringly obvious.

Another issue for me was that a major part of the plot is that Charlie gets strange hallucinations where she zones out and sees movie-like scenes play in her mind (not a spoiler, this is discussed in the first few chapters), usually as a response to an emotionally heightened situations. It’s explained as a kind of escapism-type response mixed in with her love of movies. But if this sounds like a cheap tactic to create problems for her in the book, that’s exactly what it felt like when reading it. So much of the plot hinges on these mind movies that the story feels a little too nonsensical.

To the book’s credit, towards the end especially, there are a ton of fun plot twists and plenty of surprises lurking in pages. If you like twisty stories, this one fits the bill, though the first half may feel less interesting to you.

I should add that I thought the final epilogue was clever. I also liked the way Riley Sager brings various elements of the book neatly together at the end (all his books are great about this!), and the character of Charlie is given a bit more depth as her story arc concludes. I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by a few of the plot turns, too — but ultimately it wasn’t enough to make up for the shortcomings of the book for me.

Survive the Night is a quick and very easy read. If you really enjoy lots of plot twists, you might consider reading this, though the book doesn’t really get good until the last quarter.

For fans of Riley Sager, perhaps you might like it, but be forewarned that this book definitely feels uneven, with some high points and some very questionable low points.

Another great thriller by Riley Sager! I loved the way the book was written as though it was a movie script. Some great twists in the plot and definitely a must-read for 2021.

This was the first book I'd ever read by Riley Sage and probably the first mystery/thriller I've read in at least a year. I was quite taken with it! I loved how unreliable a narrator Charlie was, it definitely added to the suspense and confusion. I found it also added a level of foreshadowing because in parts we could tell what was real when Charlie couldn't. Some very interesting plot twists that I didn't predict but others more versed in this genre might have picked up on. Overall a great read and I look forward to trying another Riley Sager book in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Thank you so much @DuttonBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 29 June 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Charlie's college best friend & roommate has been murdered by the "Campus Killer" & Charlie feels largely responsible for that so she decides to drop out of college. As its 1991, she places a flyer on the college rideshare board requesting a lift back to Ohio & a stranger (Josh) offers her a ride.

WHAT I LIKED:
- that the story takes place over a 12h period
- an engaging cat & mouse story

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the fact that Charlie had multiple chances to escape, but chose not too
- the zoned out moments just didn't work for me at all (it felt like a lazy plot point to add suspense)
- the ending. It just fell really flat & the actual motive just didn't make sense to me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kindergarten 101: Never, ever, ever, ever talk to strangers.

⏰ 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫: It’s 1991. After the murder of her roommate and as a serial killer stalks the campus, Charlie Jordan desperately needs a ride home to Ohio from her college in New Jersey, so she enlists the help of Josh Baxter whom she meets at a ride-share board. But the further she drives the further she suspects something isn’t quite right with “Josh.”

💡𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬💭: I feel like I spun on a tilt-A-whirl: dazed, thrilled, and maybe a little sick. I read this book lightening fast - the proverbial could-not-put-down book that kept me up flying through the pages, up in the night, clutching my beagles (they were ok with it). Fast-paced, surprises, all the twisty bends mystery fans adore. This book makes tension palpable - the tension was like its own character it was so rigid.

The devolution of this book transpired like this: at about 60%, Charlie irked me (but then won me back). If you follow my reviews, you’ll know a pet peeve of mine is the “stupid-but-supposed-to-be-smart-female-protagonist commits stupid acts a smart person would never do.” I soldiered on with my feminist self and was glad I did, because as Charlie’s mental state became more evident - a true state of depression (and more) her actions were justifiable. So that view switched off. See what I mean? What a ride! I can’t say I was COMPLETELY on board, but I was able to suspend a little disbelief for the sake of one enjoyable thriller.

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆𝗠𝗮𝗴𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

📚𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Mystery (and might I add this would make an interesting premise for a play!!)

😍𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: All the quick-read standard mystery fans.

🙅‍♀️ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: the “weak female lead” could turn off some readers.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Dutton Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my always-honest review and note that I’m sending you money for anxiety therapy.

Riley Sager consistently delivers top-notch horror/thrillers that take readers for a twisty ride ending in a glorious denouement that leaves us breathless and yearning for more. This novel is no different, and may just be his best work yet!

It is the 90's, and film-obsessed Charlie is a 20-year-old college student whose friend and roommate, Maddy, was murdered by the "Campus Killer". Charlie was with Maddy at a bar the night of her murder but stormed off after an argument, leaving Maddy alone. Soon after, Maddy was taken and murdered, her body found nearby, missing a tooth (the signature of the Campus Killer). Guilt consumes Charlie, and she decides it's time for her to leave campus forever and go home. She meets Josh, who says he is a janitor at the University heading home to care for his father, at the campus ride-share board. Soon after they take off, things begin to seem off as Josh's story unravels and Charlie realizes she is now stuck in a car with someone who might be a killer - the Campus Killer. But Charlie also has another problem - she has delusional episodes (that she calls "movies") where her mind wanders and creates alternate realities. Can she trust her mind, use lessons learned from the classic films she loves, and survive the night?

This novel is hard to summarize without giving away its plot twists and devices, but trust me - You HAVE to read this book. It is fun, twisty, and at times purposefully confusing. And just when you think that you have it all figured out and the plot has resolved, there's a fun final twist. If you are a film buff, this novel will be especially gratifying for you!

I always look forward to Riley Sager's books, and I am now eagerly awaiting his next novel!

Oh my goodness. Even though I have read all of Riley Sager's other works, nothing prepared me for Survive the Night. This book is intense. It is action-packed. Every time you think you've figured out what's coming next another big twist proves you wrong. None of the twists, as surprising and as suspenseful as they were could prepare me for the ending. I will be thinking about this ending for weeks. I will think about it with every successive Riley Sager novel that I pick up and know that I should expect the unexpected.

Our story starts with plucky Charlie who is determined to escape from her small university after her roommate falls victim to a brutal serial killer in the aftermath of a fight with Charlie. Maddy's presence and the guilt Charlie feels at "abandoning" her on her last night haunt her. She's decided a clean break from the university and the life she lived with Maddy are the best way for her to move forward. Enter Josh, a handsome twenty-something who is headed back to Akron to care for an ailing father. He offers Charlie a ride back home to her grandmother's. Even with the Take Back the Night posters around campus warning her, and her personal misgivings about taking a ride from a literal stranger, Charlie decides to take a chance (and a ride) with Josh. As the trip stretches out before them Charlie becomes increasingly convinced that the man who is taking her home is not who he claims to be. In fact, she's slowly convincing herself that she might have climbed in the car with the same Campus Killer who is responsible for Maddy's death. As she works against the clock to figure out just who this charming man might be, the one thing she does know is that she's not going down without a fight.