Stay Awake by Megan Goldin in a solid psychological thriller. Liv Reese is a thirty-something professional in New York when she wakes up from a nap in a taxi to find the world is not as she left it. The last thing she remembers is answering the phone at her desk in her Manhattan office. Now the seasons have changed, there are other people living in her apartment, and she cannot get in touch with her best friend or boyfriend over the phone. Things keep getting stranger, and she realizes that she may be in danger -- or she may be the danger.

Clear your schedule before you start to read Stay Awake because you are not going to be able to put this heart pounding thriller down!

Liv Reese is an arts and food writer for a stylish magazine. Her best friend is Amy, her new boyfriend is Marco. Life is good. It is until she wakes up in a New York taxi, without phone or identification. Amy and Marco seem to have disappeared and her magazine has all new employees. Her only clues are the words written on her hands: “Wake up! Stay awake!” Then to her horror, on a news bulletin, she sees that Wake up! has been written on the window of the apartment of a dead man, a man she’s never seen before. What can’t she remember? And what will happen to her when she does?

As two detectives investigate the murder, they link Liv to the killing and possibly to earlier crimes. Liv is confused and can only believe what she wrote as advice: ”Don’t trust anyone!” As she wanders through New York looking for her past, she’s followed by those who want to help her and those who…don’t.

Megan Goldin builds tension carefully in this compelling psychological thriller, full of so many twists and turns. The nail biting conclusion is a total surprise. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Megan Goldin for this ARC.

This book got my heart racing. Also, I couldn’t sleep I needed to read and finish the book so the title of the book was very fitting. This book was really well done, it was everything you’d want in a thriller. Heart pumping, whodunnit, what happened, what’s real, what is sleep and adulting type of book. Bravo, Megan Goldin this one is definitely one to keep an eye out for this late summer! You won’t sleep, you wont stop until you know and you wont guess who.

Starting out 2022 with a pulse pounding thrill that has the edge of your seat excitement everyone should experience!! Liv is the perfect character scripted for this plot. I didn't see the ending until late in the book it didn't give much away. Liv seems to have dead bodies and murder follow her..... but she can't really remember to tell you why or what happened. She leaves clues for herself written on post its and herself, but they don't really make sense when she can't remember what they really add up to! Detective Darcy Halliday is a fierce character digging for the truth not just what the evidence says on the surface. This storyline was immensely immersing from start to finish...I had a hard time putting it down to do anything else once I started it!!! Each chapter, each page was engaging pulling back layer to layer of the mystery surrounding Liv needing to "stay awake" and not fall asleep since all her memories would trickle away from the day making it harder to find out why she had a body count attached to her name!!! Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this 5 star psychological thriller!!!

Having read Megan Goldin books in the past, I was excited for this one. However, I will say it was not my favourite of her books. I was confused in the beginning, which I guess mirrored the main character's confusion, but I found it annoying to be so lost when I was trying to get a handle on the character of Liv. I figured out who the villain was early on and it didn't fit for me in terms of motive towards Liv. It felt contrived. There were also a couple of plot points I didn't understand or weren't resolved. It just seemed a bit far fetched. On the plus side, I very much enjoyed the police characters of Darcy and Jack and would have loved to see more of them. Thank you St. Martin's Press for this advanced copy, I look forward to seeing what Megan Goldin comes out with next!

This book intrigues you from the beginning. Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi and has no memory of how she got there. The last thing she remembers is being at work answering the phone on a warm summer day. She gets out at her brownstone and hopes that Amy is there to let her in as she realizes she has no keys, purse or cell phone. She gets an answer from the apartment only to discover that someone else is living there. She leaves the brownstone only to discover in her pocket is a t-shirt wrapped around knife she puts this in garbage can. She notices she has wrote messages on her hands:STAY AWAKE.

She sees on the news that someone is murdered and wonders if this can somehow be related to her? Why can't she remember anything from the past two years? She keeps trying to get ahold of Amy hoping she will be able to explain what's happened. She becomes a person of interest in the murder and is trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together to unlock her past and move forward. This is a fast paced thriller that was hard to put down.

Thank you NetGalley for ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Halliday and Lavelle reminded me so much of Benson and Stabler that I had to simultaneously read Stay Awake while watching episodes of SVU. I loved this book. It was like reading a movie…or…reading an episode of SVU lol. I really hope Goldin writes more with this pair of detectives, because I am hooked. This was such an awesome and unique thriller.

Having read two of the author's previous books, I was eagerly looking forward to this one, and she did not disappoint. Liv Reeves wakes up in the back of a cab having no idea where she is, she is carrying a bloodied knife wrapped in a sweater and notices writing on her hands, Stay Awake, Trust No One. She eventually ends up at her apartment she shares with Amy, a doctor, only to find out a couple are living there and have no idea who she is. Liv also notices that it's fall, she remembers taking a call at work in bright sunshine and thought it had been around early summer. We learn through alternative points of view that Liv had been dating Marco, an entrepreneur. Liv also receives calls from someone asking where she is and wanting the knife back. There is a news article that describes the killing of a man where the words Stay Awake were written in blood on a window in the apartment. Liv starts to think she might have had something to do with it but has no memory of it. Two detectives investigate the murder and quickly determine their main suspect is Liv. There is a lot of back and forth between the timelines, but I did not find it hard to keep track of the story lines. Liv is a very resourceful person and although I had an inkling of who the bad person was, the ending was very satisfying. I would highly recommend. Thank you to #Netgalley and #St Martin's for the ARC.

This was a FUN ride!

I've read all of Goldin's works and while I really liked Night Swim, I didn't love it the way most people did. It was good, a solid read and enjoyable, but I preferred The Escape Room and really held out hope Stay Awake would be another home run. It was.

This was such a fun and wild ride. Goldin has a way of getting her hooks deep into you and nothing else matters. Chores? Cleaning? Adulting? Forget it. You're into the book and you're not putting it down until its finished! I read this in ONE DAY! I started it on our flight home and got to 52% in 2.5 hours. I couldn't stop. Then when we got home, I rushed through dinner so I could pick it back up and finished it before bedtime.

While I had a hunch who the bad guy was, I 100% talked myself out of it multiple times and talked myself into someone else. I was convinced I knew who it was and that is always a sign of a great story teller - if you can convince yourself based on their own words who it is then change your mind over and over and become more confused!

The pacing of this book was phenomenal - the story was fresh and I was thoroughly creeped out, in the best way possible.

I think this is my favorite Goldin work to date! I'm just sad I read it so early in the year - but mark your calendars, this gem drops August 9, 2022 and WILL be a buzzed about book!

Liv has a form of amnesia caused by a personal tragedy in which each time she falls asleep, she cannot remember anything since the tragedy happened. Each time she wakes she is confused, but reads clues she writes on her hands to try to discover what happened to her. She soon learns she is wanted for the murder of her boyfriend and roommate, one she cannot remember committing.

There was not a build up of suspense and a wow moment, but simply a well written storyline that keeps you reading well into the night to find out what really happened and who did it.

Megan Goldin has her finger firmly on the pulse-point of suspense. STAY AWAKE delivers her trademark signature of unrelenting tension, intriguing characterizations, and whiplash pacing. Don't expect to sleep if you pick this up at night....

I read STAY AWAKE straight through in one sitting. I had chores, and errands to run, but instead sat with my eyes glued to the page. Living in Liv Reese's world is complicated, at any moment she could fall asleep and have her entire life disappear upon waking. And when you wake up to find you are holding a bloody knife - and have no idea how or why - well, things get complicated. Especially when your note to yourself says "trust no one" and someone else is living in your apartment and you can't find your boyfriend. Although the villain was fairly easy to figure out, the way Goldin presented Liv's dilemma and thoroughly immerses the reader in it was gripping. Great read.

Had me on edge of my seat and kept me guessing throughout book .....great story line and character development. Enjoyed this book and hope to read more by this author!

Wow this thriller had me on the edge of my seat the whole time! Liv wakes up with no memory of the last two years, words scrawled on her hands, and a bloody knife in her pocket; and every time she goes to sleep she starts all over again. Trying to regain her memory, and trying to survive as the killer who tried to murder her two years ago is hunting her down again, it’s a race against time to see if she can figure out whats going on before she falls asleep

Another amazing read by Megan Goldin! She has a way of writing that really keeps the tension growing and growing! You don’t know exactly what is taking place throughout the book, but the desperate need to find out really keeps you flipping pages like crazy! Fast paced, unputdownable, and mind blowing good! One of those twisty, chilling tales that’s sure to give you a hangover from heck! Highly, highly recommend this amazingly written, thrill ride!

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi, having no recollection as to how she arrived there.

The pacing of Stay Awake – the third book by Megan Goldin – is exactly what I’m looking for in a thriller. After the first third of the story, I couldn’t put it down until the end. The style is very approachable, and it’s very easy to become drawn in and immersed.

By way of downsides, I only have a few very minor things to call out. The detectives were (I think) unintentionally hilarious to me at times. While thinking about the complexity of the murder case: “Halliday knew a thing or two about puzzles.” And then it goes on to talk about how she’s done jigsaw puzzles before. If you’ve also done jigsaw puzzles, I’ve got good news about your qualifications to be a homicide detective. There are also some small details that stuck with me for the whole story, like how long has it been since Liv took a shower if she’s still covered in ballpoint?

Overall I quite enjoyed this. I think it will be very popular when it hits the stands in August of 2022. So page-turning and easy to get sucked into, I think sometimes readers need a palate cleanser like that in between the slow burns.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin's for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Liv is confused, she doesn't know where is she or what is going on. When she returns to her apartment she is shocked to find new people living there and clearly have been there for awhile. All she knows is that she leaves messages for herself on her arms and hands. Stay Awake, Wake Up, Don't trust anyone.

Everytime she fall asleep she can't remember anything. But she knows someone is coming for her, if only she can figure it out before he catches her.

Usually I would say a lot more, but I am being vague because there is so much going on and this one is better if you read it and unfold it one layer at a time. I had no clue what I was getting into when I started this. Soon I couldn't even put it down. I had to know what was going with Liv, what had happened to her and what was happening to her now.

There were so many things unveiled piece by piece in this book. It added to the suspense and hooks you with each one!

If you are looking for a face paced thriller that holds its secrets until the end, Stay Awake is for you!

Liv Reese wakes up in a cab in the middle of the night with a bloody knife, no phone or purse, and “STAY AWAKE!” written on her hand with no memory of how she got there. Liv tries to piece together what has happened in the last two years of her life but is constantly fighting against her memory resetting every time she falls asleep.

Stay Awake is an intense thriller told from different timelines and perspectives that help to fill in gaps and pace out the story in a way that kept me engaged and interested the whole time.

This is my fourth Megan Goldin book, and she didn’t disappoint! When Liz remembers waking up next to a dead man, she can’t recall what happened. Whenever she falls asleep, she loses all her memory. She has taken to writing notes all over her arms and hands, especially one that says, “Stay Awake”, and is confused and frightened. She has lost two years of her life and now finds herself being searched for by detectives who think she is a murderer. There are two timelines, the present and two years ago, and you are following along with Liz trying to figure out what the hell is going on! Fast-paced and a quick read. Highly recommend! Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for my copy of “Stay Awake”.