Just FYI: I'm listening to 'Come As You Are' while writing this review. I'm pretty sure that song is this book's theme song.

Charlie-GIRL YOU PUT ME ON AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER. Of course I felt for you, even if I didn't fully understand your choices. Then I kept thinking 'omg girl so many red flags! Listen to your instincts!' Then 'why didn't you say something!' Then 'thank goodness you didn't!' Then finally, 'YOU GO GIRL! YOU GOT THIS!'

Josh- I keep writing then deleting what I want to say about him. So for those who have read it-do you like him or not?

Robbie-dude's got some serious issues.

This was a locked room mystery and it's also not... the majority of the setting is in a car so I guess in that respect it is, but the end totally opens up. And oh the 90s! Soooooo 90's- the songs, the cars, the references. I forgot when it was set at one point and so I was super confused with one of the current events mentioned...

As for the plot, at some points it really is character driven (see what I did there?!). It's a horrible situation and is super sad.

The resolution was EPIC! Like it's one of those that you can see in your head so clearly. It's made for the silver screen.

Like most thrillers I review, I always think I have a lot to write, but turns out that if I write more, I will give it all away.

This is my new favorite Sager! Thank you Katie for the eARC and for organizing a Zoom convo with Riley. Y'ALL GO READ THIS BOOK!

Riley Sager's newest release was an amazing, twisty thrill ride. Not knowing what was real and what wasn't because of Charlie's mental state was an excellent way to drive the story forward and keeps the reader in the same mentally fraught place as Charlie. The teaser chapters from other characters helped give insight, but were also totally misleading and I loved every minute of it. Of course, the twist ending was classic Sager fashion. It wrapped everything up nicely without being predictable and is one of his best. The closing paragraphs were a little corny, but I'll allow it because the rest of it was so good.

Survive the Night is a jaw dropping, action packed, heart pounding novel that is truly a psychological masterpiece.

The year is 1991, there are no cell phones and no internet yet. The only way to reach someone is to find a pay phone and hope that is works. Charlie is a college student who recently lost her best friend. She was murdered by the campus killer that has been getting away with murder for a while now. Charlie saw him, she thinks or was it the movie in her head that she saw? She needs to leave campus now and go home but she doesn’t have a ride. As she is putting up an ad for a ride share on the bulletin board a gentleman sees the ad and asks her when she wants to go. They decide to leave in the evening after Josh gets off of work. Since Josh is wearing a campus sweatshirt, Charlie assumes he is a graduate student.

Charlie leaves behind a boyfriend that isn’t sure where their relationship stands and heads off into the night with a stranger. It quickly becomes obvious that Josh knows something about her best friend’s murder that only the killer and the police know. As the night progresses Charlie is certain he is the campus killer but is she really sure? Is it possible she is just having another waking dream in her head?

As a mom, I am screaming to Charlie about her stupid choices and pleading with her to get out of the car! This begins a long night of cat and mouse. Who will survive the night? A mysterious man with secrets or a traumatized girl who has a hard time differentiating between reality and delusions.

So many twists and turns that will leave you guessing until the end. This is a shocking and fast paced thriller that has quickly become one of my favorites!

The early 90s were a simpler time. People still used payphones, cassette tapes... and got into cars with strangers.
Charlie, desperate to go home from uni, finds a ride home on the ride share board at her school from a fellow student.
Along the way, as things become more and more claustrophobic in the Nirvana-filled car, she realizes the driver is not the person he claimed.
This was a twisty, suspense-filled novel. Everytime you feel like you have it figured out, the author proves you wrong. Unreliable narrators, dubious motives, and your own incorrect perceptions keep you guessing.
You will root for the struggling, yet strong, Charlie the whole way. It's definitely a ride along worth your time!
Thanks to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the advance digital copy to review!

A traumatized girl struggling to differentiate between reality and delusion getting in a car mysterious man keeping secrets..who will survive the night?

Well, that book was quite the ride. I had to take some time to figure out my thoughts/rating and write a review. I'm still struggling a bit. But this book definitely wasn't what I expected though. mostly it was a good thing.

The story starts off a bit slow and then build and builds like a classic film noir. It was a really cool way to read this story and watch it unfold. The premise isn't new (a girl gets in a car with a stranger and things going wrong) but what sets it apart besides the more movie script style format, it's Sager's ability to make not only is (the readers) but the main character wonder is real and what isn't. Unreliable characters (intentional or not) are often my favorite.

Some things were too predictable. Some things were too over the top, but the ending makes you realize why it all was sort of necessary and worked in a way.

No, this didn't wow me but I couldn't stop turning the page. Overall the ending was satisfying I think more than it wasn't. You'll have to read the book to understand as I don't want to spoil much. But keep your eyes and imagination open. Every character and setting and conversation serves a purpose. Lots of breadcrumbs, so pay attention. If only the characters and some things had been more compelling

Definitely was very entertaining even despite some slow and ridiculous parts. Really was like a hollywood movie. So I'm quite torn on a star rating. I think 3.5🌟 and I recommend it especially if you're big on dark movies as well as books.

Thank you netgalley and duttonbooks.

Review to be posted on instagram @fortheloveofcrime

Welp, I was looking for a breakneck read to get me out of a reading slump and I chose well! This is now up there with my favorite Riley Sager books--the page-turning suspense is intense, especially in act 2 (a feat) with some nice twists I didn't see coming. I did worry at first that the "movie in her mind" conceit might not work, but Sager doesn't spin it out too cheaply (as other authors might) and ultimately I landed on it working well-ie: it didn't wander into uncomfy mental illness territory and was used a a "cheap plot device" relatively sparingly.

Overall, this one will appeal in subject matter/vibe/tone most to fans of Final Girls, and in terms of tension/creepiness/pacing to fans of Lock Every Door (and it's now my second fave behind The Last Time I Lied). It's least like Home Before Dark in terms of lens/tone/pacing, but as that one was my least favorite, that's all good for me, ha. I LOVED how tight the pacing was in Survive the Night, with the book moving quickly past pretty obvious twists instead of drawing them out, ie: we know the guy in the car is creepy, and Charlie figures it out fast, too. It keeps you on your toes, too. She's a sharp horror heroine, thank god (though one or two things she does are hella cringe haha).

I do have some small quibbles and I hesitate to discuss them without spoilers--the plot is so tight and contained with a small cast (and it works) that even the tiniest comment might spoil the book for some. So much of the fun was trying to stay ahead of the plot/guess things/figure out motivations, and I wouldn't want to steal that from anyone. That said, still going to keep it vague enough behind the spoiler tag. So I have that under a spoiler tag in my GR review.

I'm kind of "welllllllll" on the final frame device--I liked bits of it, but one part of it I'm like hmmmmmmmm but I almost would want to do a reread knowing all the twists to see how I feel about the ending. It was definitely interesting! And I'm certainly left with a bit of nostalgia for thriller stories before the age of cell phones in the Internet. Most of the tension in this book and why it works pacing/thrill wise is b/c it's set in the early 90s.

Basically if you like "locked room" mysteries (where two characters are in an isolated location without reasonable means of escape) and want that but in a car for 50% of the book, with some great turns for the second half in terms of setting/stakes... highly recommend. Definitely a book that should be a movie, so much so it's literally baked into the meta lol.

This gets a whole extra star for improbable comedy. The first 3/4 of the book is so frustrating because this girl is just...umm...not really made of final girl material. But then! The back quarter reads like that horrible movie Wild Things without the drugs and sexy heterosexual lesbians.

“She’s no longer the scared, self-loathing girl she was when she left campus. She’s something else.
A fucking femme fatale.”
— Survive the Night, Riley Sager

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️/5

After the death of her best friend, Charlie’s depression drives her to leave her university, the place where she shared all of her memories with Mandy, behind. She meets Josh, an essential stranger, at the ride board on campus and agrees to let him drive her back to Ohio. But the road trip quickly turns frightening when Charlie realizes she’s in the car with a killer, and only one of them will survive the night.

This latest addition to Sager’s already impression resume was fantastic. You couldn’t help but feel deeply for Charlie, whose grief and guilt is a heavy blanket over the entire novel. I also thoroughly enjoyed that the bulk of this novel, all of the truly spectacular and revealing moments, took place in the front seat of a car. It was a fun spin that I feel like only Sager could pull off.

This story is written like a movie script, which is probably why I can so easily see this book being adapted into a kickass film. This is the story of a road trip gone bad. Charlie is leaving college after enduring a horrific tragedy where her roommate is killed by a campus serial killer. Josh, a stranger, who she meets on the campus "ride board" is happy to take her home in exchange for gas money.

Along the way, we learn why Charlie is so desperate to leave school, more about Josh and his background. The title is pretty key here....will both or either of these two survive the night?

The first third of this book did not really impress me, to be honest, but at a key point in the story that I will not reveal, Sager shows off his why he is writing chops and I was on pins and needles for the remainder of the book. This book has the most satisfying ending of any of Sager's titles and I completely adored it! It did put my stomach in knots, you have been warned. Publication Date: 6/29/21 Thank you so to Netgalley and Dutton Publishing for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I’m torn on how to rate this book. I would give it 5 stars for entertainment value - it sucked me right in and I stayed up waaaaay too late reading it and then picked it up again immediately upon waking up so I could finish it.

Loved the 90s references - remembering that the ride board was a real thing when I was in college makes me surprised we’re not all dead by serial killer - yikes.

Lots of twists and turns and more twists and characters making inexplicably bad choices - and the confusion is amplified x 1000 by Charlie’s hallucinations/movies in her head - so that was fun and weird and enjoyable.

But like 1 star for where it ended up and the final twist was entirely predictable and meh. There’s such a fine line in thrillers between obvious predictability and going too far out of the realm of possibility - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

That said, I will *always* read and recommend a Riley Sager book even though I’ve found them a little hit or miss - the premises are always SO good and the stories are always entertaining, even if they go off the rails.

(Review will be posted on IG @leavemetomybooks closer to publication date)

I have a new favorite @riley.sager book and I wasn’t sure that was possible! I read Survive The Night in one sitting (something I haven’t done in months) if that tells you how good this one is.

The book is set in the 90s, which already sets it aside from many recently published thrillers (read: no cell phones, laptops, etc.), and is told through the lens of Charlie, a movie obsessed college student who is looking for a ride home after a traumatic experience a few months before. She meets Josh at a ride-sharing board (hi 90s) and they agree to head to Ohio together the next day. Her roommate was murdered by The Campus Killer, so she is a bit weary of people, especially as the road trip continues through the night. She finds herself doubting the reliability of who she’s actually in the car with.

Let me just start with our main gal, Charlie. I loved her. She’s been through it in life. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was a teenager and she has since had hallucinations (she calls them movies) that make it hard to differentiate fact from fiction in her reality. Because she’s the world’s biggest movie buff, her knowledge of the classic thrilling / horror movies gives her the ability to think about a dangerous perspective from another view point (like say, a modern day murderino?). I loved the 90s setting so much, especially that the characters couldn’t just text or call when a crisis arose and had to instead use payphones. The twists. OH THE TWISTS. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say read this one with care as it includes hallucinations that make the twists even harder to spot. The ending was quite possibly my favorite of all of Sager’s mind blowing endings, which says a lot!

This throwback thriller takes place in the early 90’s and in true Sager fashion is twisty, suspenseful, and a compulsive read. It reminds me of a campy 80’s horror movie, but I think that’s what he was going for. The movie references were great, but I didn’t really care for Charlie’s movie hallucinations. I liked the ending. Would recommend!

Riley Sager has done it again with this locked room, or rather "locked car" thriller. Ever since Final Girls, Sager has taken horror and thriller conventions and subverted them in interesting and often feminist ways to explore women's friendships, grief, relationships, and more. Survive the Night is as propulsive and exciting as an all night ride with a stranger.

Holy heck, what a ride. I absolutely loved it. From the start, it's DARK. We've got Charlie, a movie-loving college gal in 1991. Her roommate Maddy was just murdered by a serial killer known as the Campus Killer. Charlie handling it... NOT WELL. She decides it's time to go. So, she kisses her dreamy boyfriend Robbie goodbye and crowdsources (via bulletin board lol '90s) a ride home. A fellow student offers her a ride and she takes it, of course suspicious of him considering there's a killer on the loose. Her suspicious grow as they drive.

The first half of this book was so perfectly built up and the second half had me shooketh at every twist and turn. For repeat Sager readers, this one was most similar to Lock Every Door and maybe also The Last Time I Lied. I also LOVED how much music of the time and classic movies were interwoven into the story. READ IT.

I don't read a lot of thrillers but Riley Sager lives near me and used to work at my local newspaper and I was a college student in 1991 so I wanted to read this one.

This one started slow for me, but once it picked up, I could not put it down!! Charlie is a college student, her parents are dead and now her roommate is dead, she loves movies and sometimes sees them in her head as a coping mechanism for stress. She accepts a ride on a ride share board at school and soon begins to think she may be in the car with the serial killer that killed her roommate. The events that unfold next kept me riveted. So many twists and turns that I did not see coming. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I’m a huge Sager fan, and let me just say this is by FAR his best book. I could tell from the synopsis that this would be amazing, and it did not disappoint. From a quirky and unreliable protagonist, to a charming villain that you love to hate, this book is what thriller dreams are made of! I was on the edge of my seat and read it in less than 24 hours. This has a different vibe than Sager’s other books, but in the best way possible. This one gets 5 stars from me, and all my other reads from him have been 4 stars. Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

Survive the Night was great. In fashion true to the author's previous books, it was twisty and turn-y and kept me so engrossed that I didn't want to put the book down. Also liked the references to classic movies.

This one was a hard departure from its predecessors but just as well crafted & possibly even more compelling!

This book is very different from Sager’s previous books for two main reasons. First, it is written primarily in screen play format rather than first person. That did take some getting used it since it wasn’t what I expected, but it worked out well! This book also is a completely linear time line, which took more getting used to because the flash-black format of Sager’s previous books are so well done and the beautifully crafted stories told in alternating time lines are a favorite of mine. That being said, the story is compelling and the book was difficult to put down. If I didn’t have a full time job and an infant this would have been a one day read like the others.

There were one or two things I didn’t care for. For example the college name (Olyphant) was pretty terrible. Every time it was mentioned my brain read “Elephant” and it messed up the suspenseful mood a little.

Toward the middle of the book it became easy to figure out who the real killer was and I started to wonder if I was going to be massively disappointed since a surprise ending is Riley Sager’s signature. I kept flying through it anyway because it’s so well written. About 2/3 of the way through things started to get a little too unbelievable and I wondered if he was selling out to an action mini series or something.... until I hit the last 15 or 20 pages. Then I just sat there, eyes wide mouth open while I realized that, once again, Riley Sager manages a good shock!!

A love letter to final girls and badass cinematic heroines, Sager’s new tale ripples with taunt pacing, nail-biting tension, and a series of twists that will leave you whiplashed. I devoured this book.

Not what I expected, but in a good way! Charlie’s best friend was killed by a serial killer. She needs to leave, as there are too many memories and too much guilt at college. She gets a ride after looking on a ride share board. As she leaves with Josh, she gives her boyfriend Robbie a code in case the ride with a stranger goes south. As the trip begins, Charlie is sure she is in the car with the actual killer. But can she trust herself? Or anyone?