This was my first book my Megan Goldin & it did NOT disappoint. Liv Reese wakes up & completely forgets the last two years of her life & now she’s suspected of murder. This was was super suspenseful as the reader tries to put together everything along with Liv. I enjoyed the double POV’s between Liv and Detective Halliday. The pacing and the short chapters were perfect! Overall, a 4 star because I felt the ending was a bit rushed & felt it was a little repetitive toward the end. But still very enjoyable!

Huge thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Stay Awake.

WOW. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this book was. From the very beginning I was completely captured and did not want to put it down. There were so many twists and turns, with well developed characters and storylines. This story had everything I want in a thriller, and is definitely in my top 5.

This is definitely a must read.

STAY AWAKE by Megan Goldin
rating: 4 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
genre: suspense, thriller

Let me just start this by saying that Megan Goldin is an AUTO-BUY author for me. I have read both The Night Swim and The Escape Room and enjoyed them both IMMENSELY. Stay Awake was no different!

Goldin has a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat and refusing to put the book down until you've reached the conclusion. I did this book as a buddy read with two others, and we kept saying that we were going to stop & discuss but COULD NOT STOP. Each chapter feeds you a little bit more information to try to solve the case or changes everything that you think you know!

Who is Liv Reese?
Why can't she remember anything?
Who is leaving her mysterious messages & items?
Why does everyone seem to be on eggshells around her?

You find out each piece of the mystery slowly and through different perspectives (both from Liv and from the detectives investigating a murder AND her disappearance). It's just...so satisfying.

The only thing I will say is that this novel is missing the Villian's Monologue. At the end, the reader is left with very little explanation as to the WHY of the conclusion. So the ending is good, but it could be better (in my humble opinion).

Still, 10 OUT OF 10, would recommend to others!

I really enjoyed the previous books by Megan Goldin that I've read, and this one was no exception. In a world that seems to be full of the next big psychological thriller this one really delivers. Liv wakes up in a taxi with no recollection of what she's been doing, but with writing all over her hands with messages to herself. I had to finish this in one sitting because I was so engrossed with what was happening. I highly recommend!

What would it be like to wake up each morning and forget everything that happened in the last two years? Maybe for some this would be appealing but it almost depends on what was happening in your life 2 years ago! For Liv, life was pretty good. It was summer, she had a great job, great apartment, great friends, and a great relationship. The reality she faces now every time she wakes up is definitely not the same. She is on the run but not sure who or what she is running from.

This one kept me on my toes and was def a quick read.

Stay Awake is a gripping story that keeps the reader guessing until the final chapters. I finished the book in three days. It follows two timelines: one part takes place two years ago, one takes place in the present day. Two years ago Liv Reese was a writer at a magazine with a new boyfriend. She lived with her best friend in a nice apartment. In the present day, however, her friend and boyfriend are gone and she has no idea what happened. Every time she goes to sleep she forgets everything that happened in her life in the last two years. She has words written on her hands, including the phrase ‘Stay Awake’. What happened to her two years ago? Why is she suddenly a suspect in a murder she doesn’t remember anything about? Megan Goldin does a great job weaving the two timelines together into a climax that is exciting and surprising. I’ve read three of her books and look forward to another one. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Intriguing, fast-paced, and clever, Stay Awake is perfect for those thriller fans who like a bit of police procedural. The short chapters and jump of timelines/point of views throughout the book make it impossible to put down. It's a very binge able read, which I actually suggest because of the timeline jumps. Looking back, I wish I would've kept a better track of the different time frames from each chapter to make it easier to connect the dots, but the ending does a great job at wrapping everything up for you so you're not left with a million questions. Your point of views are the main character (present day and two years ago) and the detectives on the case, which is always fun to get a "behind the scenes" look in thrillers like this one. Highly recommend everyone grabbing Stay Awake when it comes out August 9th!

A new psychological thriller that left me thinking crap maybe she did do it.
When i think about a "cant put down book"...this is a prime example. What a crazy rollercoaster ride we were on with Liv.
Live suffers from a rare form of amnesia, likely caused by her chronic insomnia. She forgets everything when she falls asleep back to the day she was attacked and almost killed. Now she is back in NYC and cant remember anything but is in incredible danger.

4.5/5

This book is not for me. I’ve decided to DNF at 20 percent. I’m not interested in the characters, and it’s too focused on the magazine and all the details about the office that I don’t care about.

I appreciate being approved to read the arc. I do believe this book has an audience but that it’s not for me.

If you like unreliable narrators, alternating timelines, following a detectives POV, then you will love this book.

This book wasn’t perfect, but I’m giving it five stars because I could not put it down. I read it in two days. It is such an interesting storyline, about a woman w a rare amnesia who forgets everything from the past two years when she falls asleep. So every time she wakes up she thinks it’s the same morning two years prior but her entire life has drastically changed in that time. But is she a murderer? It gets to a point where even she doesn’t know anymore..

After reading a lot of thrillers, this was a take on the unreliable narrator trope that I hadn’t seen before. As compared with the Night Swim, something with the pacing seemed off here—it felt like a lot of repetition for a plot that was supposed to take place over such a tight timeline. I did enjoy the book, but definitely not as much as her previous book and felt it could have been a little bit shorter. Overall, this was a solid thriller, mixed with some police procedural elements.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-arc for this book!

Stay awake was one of my most anticipated releases coming into 2022. As a lover of psychological thrillers, I could not wait to sink my teeth into this story. Unfortunately, everything I wanted from this book did not come to fruition. Here’s why.

Right off the bat, Stay Awake drew me in with its premise. The book follows a young woman named Liv who wakes up one day to find that all of her memories are gone. To top it all off, she’s implicated in the murder of a man that she doesn’t even remember. Although the plot that follows is extremely fast-paced and intriguing, the main fault I have with the story is in the execution of the plot twist. By the end, the author had set me up to believe that the story would end with a bang. But, when the book ended I was scratching my head and wondering whether or not I had missed something. Without giving any spoilers, the main villain was predictable and anti-climactic. Their motives didn’t make much sense, and the reveal was very cliche. We find out who the murderer is through a “villain steps out of the shadows to tell the hero their entire evil plan” scene. This not only undermines the entirety of the mystery (because this person was the only logical choice), but it also makes the bits with the detectives useless. This is only made worse by the repetitive nature of many of the scenes. Liv wakes up, doesn’t know where she is, acts confused when others vaguely mention her trauma, runs away from a shadowy figure, and repeats the cycle over a DOZEN times. On top of that, the detectives run themselves in circles and argue over who the murderer is for far too long. The Murderer then confesses and confirms NONE of their suspicions. The ending scene made the entire sequence of events preceding it feels meaningless. Although the story had some interesting aspects and some AMAZING tension, the dead-end nature of the plot takes a negative toll on the story.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed by Stay Awake. Although the story was a fun ride, it lacked the payoff that standout thrillers should have. I do not regret reading it, as it was a pretty light read. However, it does not stand out against any of the other thrillers I’ve read this year, and it had minimal impact. The repetitive writing, anti-climactic ending, and the lack of risks taken all solidify my three-star review.

In the end, I would recommend this book to people who are looking to take on a light thriller read or who are big fans of crime shows like Law and Order SVU.

When Liv Reese wakes up, she has no idea where she is or how she got there. There is someone else living in her apartment. She can't find her roommate or her cat. She doesn't have her phone or purse and she is holding a bloody knife.

Once I suspended disbelief on the chances that this particular brand of amnesia would occur in this situation, I thought this was a really great thriller. There were plenty of twists and turns and the climax had me on the edge of my seat.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

At first I was unsure about this book, the first part was a slow start but once it picked up, wow! I could not put this down, what a great twist with an even better turn at the end. What a unique plot line as well with Liv’s condition. I’m not sure If that’s even a real diagnosis but I actually felt my heart rate pick up and a tightness in my chest reading parts of this book! 4/5 ☺️

I loved this book! So crazy the whole time. You follow Liv and Halliday, a detective, as the two main characters. They were both well written and I enjoyed hearing from the two different sides. There’s also flashbacks from Liv’s past that help piece together the story.

Liv suffers from a rare form of amnesia and can’t remember anything from the past two years. She wakes up with writing all over her hands, not knowing where she is, with a bloody knife in her hands.

This book left me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Another great book from Megan Goldin! Thank you to St Martins Press for the ARC!

For the first few pages of Megan Goldin’s book, I was worried I wouldn’t like it because it seemed too close to the film “Memento” - but I’ll admit I was wrong. While there are a couple similarities like writing on the skin to keep memories, “Stay Awake” has its own story to tell. I finished this book very quickly because I had to know what would happen. The why / who were not surprising, but the winding road to figuring it out was so fun. Thanks, NetGalley, for the advanced copy!

I could not stop reading this book. The pages were turning faster than my brain could keep up. This book is incredibly heartbreaking and thrilling. Imagine waking up and having no memory of the past two years of your life after a traumatic incident nearly takes your own life - that’s the life that Liv is trying to survive through. From the perspectives of Liv and Detective Halliday we go back in time to solve the mystery that led to this unique situation. I wasn’t shocked with the ending but glad that Liv was able to finally find peace.

I was given an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A complex tale of dissociative amnesia, where the main character, Liv Reese, wakes up after each sleep period thinking she is two years in the past. She is puzzled by the notes scrawled on her hands and arms telling her to stay awake, to wake up, that she will forget her present day life each time she goes to sleep and wakes up. How she patches information together in spite of this major amnesia problem, and tries to figure out in just a few days who might be controlling her, is the suspense of the story. The problem is she is suspected for a murder that she does not remember committing.

Kudos to the author for keeping this amnesia story line and her character consistent throughout the book. It must have been a major effort in plotting to coordinate all of Liv's action and keeping her true to form. A thrilling read.

There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.

Finally, after years of struggle, Liv is living the life she longed for - a job at a glamorous magazine, an apartment in a beautiful brownstone, a devoted best friend, and a handsome boyfriend. Suddenly, strange things began to happen, she wakes up in random places she has no idea how she got to, with odd writings on her arms, but one stand out of it all - STAY AWAKE. It all begins to crash down at the same time - her best friend and boyfriend are out of reach, strange people living in her apartment, her favorite coffee shop is closed, and her job... is miles away, across the ocean. The last thing Liv remembers before waking up is answering her office phone, now she desperately needs to find out what accrued between the strange phone call and the moment she woke up.

Megan Goldin has blown my mind AGAIN. I'm afraid to give out the details, all you need to know is - the characters are well written, the plot is fantastic, and the pacing is on point. The four stars are for the ending - in my opinion, the perpetrator's style was completely off when it came to Liv at the end and it threw me off the balance. Nevertheless, it was an addictive and thrilling read. If you're a fan of bewildered thrillers - this book is for you. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press publisher for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

some things really didn't make any sense lol. like why does liv do anything that she does? but it was interesting to read