** spoiler alert ** I loved the first 70-80% of this book, legit thought it would be one of my favorite books of the year. A few little things that bugged me of seemed obvious, but the rest was SO GOOD I just didn’t care.

I was drawn right in and along for a wild ride, to include being totally convinced Charlie would doubt herself and her decisions over and over, thinking she was being paranoid. I turned page after page because I JUST HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.

And then 80% hit and... well, it felt like an entirely different book. As a reader, I felt like I’d been setup for one book and it became another, but not in an amazing plot twist kind of way. The very ending felt like the only possible conclusion with only one other male in the whole book, and since Jake/Josh seemed like the killer for the majority of the book, it clearly couldn’t have been him.

I also cannot BELIEVE someone could feel romantically inclined towards someone who treated her the way Jake/Josh did for the majority of the book, making her think he was the killer... for honestly, no good reason at all. The last few lines of the book alone almost made me drop it to 3 stars. He had her in the car. He could have easily just taken her to the diner no questions asked. It made no sense to me.

I still enjoyed this read. Would still recommend it. Heart pounding and exciting and OMG 😱 ... just wish it had come through on the early promises made.

Thank you NetGalley/Dutton for my early copy in exchange for an honest review. (less)

I have read all of Sager’s books and am very excited to have had early access to this title. I thought very early on I knew where this was going and couldn’t have been more wrong. Full of twists and turns, this is one not to be missed. Add this to your 2021 beach reads!

Another solid thriller from Sager. I look forward to recommending it this summer when it's released! Already have a copy ordered.

I've read all of Riley Sager's books and was so excited to have received this egalley. I loved this book and read it in 2 days. It is suspenseful and creepy and the ending was shocking and completely unexpected. I will be recommending this book once it's available.

This excellent suspenseful thriller takes place all in one night. Charlie, traumatized by the murder of her college roomie/best friend, decides to return home to Ohio from her New Jersey college so abruptly that she accepts a ride from a stranger. So begins her night from hell. One facet of Charlie's personality is quite unusual. When stress overcomes her, she goes into a type of trance, where she sees her actions unfold as if she were in a movie. These trances cause Charlie a lot of problems during this event-filled night. The book is structured as if it is a movie script, with pre and post descriptions and chapter titles reflecting scene locations. Numerous movies are also referenced throughout the story. There are some obvious plot manipulations that must be overlooked when reading, but if you can do that, you will enjoy a fast-paced, focused, well-written and surprising novel. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing an ARC.

I have always enjoyed Riley Sager's work and Survive the Night was no exception!

Charlie, a university student with a strong passion for movies, loses her best friend and roommate to the campus serial killer. Wanting to desperately escape the campus, she accepts a ride from a total stranger, enter Josh. Josh claims to be an former janitor at the university who happens to be passing Charlie's destination. Once Charlie is in the car and on the road, she starts to doubt her decisions. She catches him in small lies and changes in the information he originally stated causing her to question who he really is. Being a movie buff, her mind turns to a stereotypical horror movie plot. She is paranoid and on edge believing that she is stuck in car with a serial killer. Charlie slowly looses her grip on reality as her overactive movie imagination and reality merge into one. She questions every decision except one - she knowns she has to survive the night.

Sager does a beautiful job of telling the classic cat and mouse chase. Charlie wants to catch a serial killer and Josh wants to catch Charlie. As they toy with one another throughout the night, Sager throws in some twists that shake up both characters. Survive the Night is a fun and twisty ride that I enjoyed from start to finish! I cannot wait for what Sager writes next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Survive The Night - Riley Sager

Thank you SO MUCH @netgalley , @duttonbooks & @penguincanada for the advanced copy of my most anticipated book of 2021!

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Two months after the murder of her roommate, Charlie succumbs to the guilt she’s feeling and decides she needs a break from college life. Josh also needs to go home to care for his father after a stroke, and they decide to ride together. However, once their journey begins, Charlie begins to have doubts about whether Josh is who he says he is, and starts to wonder if it wasn’t a coincidence he was heading the same direction after all...

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Survive The Night is Riley Sager’s fifth thriller, and it did not disappoint! I have been a hardcore Sager fan since I read The Last Time I Lied a couple years ago, which is easily one of my top thrillers of all time, and Survive The Night has skyrocketed to the top as well! Having the thriller be set in the 90s with a Film Noir theme REALLY worked for me.

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I know a lot of people didn’t love Home Before Dark the same way they enjoyed his first three books, but I can assure you if you’re a fan of those three, you’re going to LOVE this one!

This is definitely a heart pumping thriller!! With some really epic twists, you’re not going to want to miss this one! I will definitely be adding a physical copy to my collection!

#bookstagrammer #bookish #bookstagram #DuttonBooks #booksta #SurviveTheNight #WhatToReadNext #RileySager #BooksOnBooks #ReadMoreBooks #BookLove #BookReview #ReadersGonnaRead #AvidReader

I am the first to admit that thrillers are not my thing, and not because I don’t like them. Actually, I used to read a LOT of them, to the point where I got way too good at guessing the ending. It didn’t take long for me to figure out the good guys, the nice guys, and the in between guys, and that just made thriller reading…boring.

BUT – I make exceptions for Riley Sager. I’ve read all but one of his books (haven’t read Home Before Dark yet) and have enjoyed them all, including this one.

Here’s 4 things I loved about this book:

1) The character building we experienced with Charlie. I felt like I knew her, I wanted to be her friend, and like I needed to give her a big ole hug.
2) The constant guessing. I had moments where I wasn’t sure if what I was reading was really happening in the story, or if it was a “movie in Charlie’s mind” (basically, hallucinations she has throughout the book). This state of confusion kept me engaged and also kept me from guessing what was happening next.
3) I felt very tense while reading it (especially the second half), and if I don’t feel tense while reading a thriller, something is wrong. This one had me a little creeped out at times, questioning what every noise was in my house as I read it in bed at night.
4) The imagery of the climax was very spooky and well drawn out – I could see the place in my mind, feel the flames from the fire, and felt frantic right along with Charlie.

One thing that I didn’t love about this book:

I guess the killer. While that alone won’t usually make me take off a star, I felt that the motives of this killer were unbelievable and we didn’t get enough of their backstory.
Overall, a solid thriller and another win for Sager, 4 stars from me.

Film studies major Charlie is set to drop out of college following the brutal murder of her roommate and best friend, Maddy. Desperate to get out of town, she accepts a ride from a handsome stranger she assumes is a fellow college student. But movie-obsessed Charlie has a problem: under stress, she experiences hallucinations that make her feel as though she’s in a movie herself. Is she trapped in a car with serial killer, or is it all in her head?

Taking place over the course of one night, this was a fun, fast-paced read. The gore factor is almost zero, with the exception of establishing that we are dealing with a serial killer, so I would be comfortable recommending this for older teens, as well as adults who like a good whodunnit.

There’s something about Riley Sagar. I haven’t particularly liked any of his books but I cannot stop reading them. Sadly this was no an exception to the rule. This book was just as ridiculous with an expected twisty villain reveal that did not feel developed enough in the slightest. The ending was so wrapped up in a bow I had to ask myself if I was watching a Hallmark movie or reading a thriller.

This book was a total head trip! I was unsure what to believe at so many points and found myself doubling back and doubting what I knew I had read.
The dynamic between every single character played so well. Just who is the good guy in this book? Is anyone?? I found myself uncomfortably supporting characters I was unsure I should support while turning my back against ones I thought I should like...just to change my mind two seconds later. And as every good thriller should have, there are twists that make your eyes pop open and reread parts to make sure you really read what you think you did.
If you're up for a solidly terrifying roadtrip (in more than one way), you want this book!
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of Survive the Night by Riley Sager. All opinions are my own.

Riley Sager is an instant read for me. He is a master in the thriller genre, and a constant go-to recommendation within the library. I keep waiting for one of his books to disappoint me, and we're (thankfully) not there yet.

Survive the Night was incredibly creepy and confusing in the best ways. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end.

AMAZING BOOK. I could not stop reading, the characters are well enveloped , the plot is unique, very easy to read, i lover her books.

Riley Sager has become one of my favourite authors, I love his twisty characters and plot lines and always look forward to his new releases. I will be honest though, this wasn't my favourite of his. It had a pretty slow start that wasn't overly well explained and just kind of confusing. I kept at it and was glad I did because the second half was definitely more typical to his usual writing style with lots of psychological twists and surprises. The ending was great and I read it in two days so clearly I must have enjoyed it! I will still be telling people to check it out, because Riley Sager always writes an awesome psychological thriller. Thanks Netgalley!

This book takes the reader on a wild ride full of suspense, action, and suspicion. The story's chapters are so uniquely told like sections of a screenplay and it fits the story so well. I was enthralled with this book and I loved how when you thought you were certain of one thing, then the next moment you are thrown back into uncertainty and doubt. The author's use of making the reader doubt reality and even having the reader question the reliability of the character's experiences made me want to devour the book to find out what was really happening. I was driven to determine whether Charlie would in fact survive the night or not. Charlie's experiences with grief were very relatable, and the story gave a great recounting of the emotional and physical devastation of grief. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and will be thrilled to add this to our library's collection.

Survive the Night? More like, can you survive Riley Sager’s latest pulse pounding thriller guaranteed to leave you breathless!

This is, in my humble opinion, Riley Sager’s best book yet. I would not miss this journey of madness for love nor money.. but if you choose to pass it up ... I hope you’re able to Survive the Night .. and day and your monochrome vision existence while the rest of us pound full speed ahead on the ride share of terror!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Riley Sager, and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Full review to be posted before release date.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I am a massive Riley Sager fan, and I must say, I think this is, without question, Riley's best book yet.

Taking place over the course of one night/day, the tension from page one is sky high, and it never lets up for a single second. I don't think I would have believe you, had you told me., that I would be utterly addicted and fascinating by a plot that takes place 90% within a car on one terrifying night - but here we are.

This plot reminds me in the BEST WAY of the teen slasher films from the 90's that we all loved so much. If you took the best parts of movies like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend and Disturbing Behavior and created a book around a completely unique and perfectly messy lead character (Charlie) - you would end up with Survive the Night. This book feels totally nostalgic and totally horrifying in equal measure, and I DEVOURED it one sitting.

Not even a HINT of a spoiler here, but I will say that this is the exact kind of book you can (and should) settle in with for an evening, with full intentions to finish, because I don't know how you would ever pause reading this one. Fast paced, deliciously devious, and insanely tense - my only hope is that SOMEONE SOMEWHERE hears my pleas, and makes this one into a series/movie, because the teenager inside me is dying to see this adapted to the big screen.

An absolute MUST for 2021!

I love Riley Sager and this book did not disappoint! This was such a suspenseful story and I couldn't put the book down!

Another Pulse racing, nail biting, wild
Ride (quite literally) by Riley Sager and it does not disappoint. A five ✰ thriller that left me questioning at every turn of the page giving me whiplash.
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It’s 1991 Nirvana is on the radio and movie obsessed Charlie needs to get home from college. She meets Josh at the ride share board and he offers to drive her home. Charlie is devastated after the murder of her best friend and she needs to get out of their dorm room ASAP even if it means taking a ride home with a stranger.
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A cross country trip at the dead of night on an empty road is terrifying. When Charlie begins to question if the man behind the wheel could be the campus killer the ride becomes downright horrifying. In an ultimate cat and mouse game set in a film noir filter I could not devour this book fast enough.
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I have been reading so many thrillers they become somewhat the same. This is fresh take on an old thriller and I loved it. Sager does not disappoint in creating a setting of fear in life before cell phones at your disposable. What it truly means to be on your own just trying to survive the night.
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A huge thank you to #NetGalley and #Dutton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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Get this on your calendar for June 29th!

Riley Sager is an immensely talented writer. He knows how to create these dark characters that screw with your mind and leave you thinking. Each one of his books his writing only continues to improve and the stories get stronger.

I'll be honest that I think Home Before Dark remains my favorite book of his, but Survive the Night is truly a great piece of literature, it's just kinda different from what he's written before.

This novel begins with a young woman who is recovering from the murder of her best friend and embarks on a road trip to her Nana's house with a stranger....and will she survive the night? That's the premise....

But this book is so much deeper than that. For a book that 65-70% of it is written set in a moving Grand Am car on the road it never feels stale or boring, it's a gripping page turner and psychoanalysis of a woman's struggles with grief and overcoming loss.

I could have done without the epilogue. I don't really like what it does to the arc of the overall book. I'm being vague purposefully ofcourse to not spoil for anyone. But it kinda bugged me.

But, fans of Sager will for sure still enjoy this as different as it is, it still has the creepy vibe of his backlist, and anyone that likes a psychological thriller should pick it up.

4.5 ⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the advanced reading copy.