Liv Reese has no memory of the past two years when she wakes up in the back of a taxi. Someone else lives in her apartment, her phone is gone, she has a bloodstained knife, and messages all over her hands. New York City is now unfamiliar to her, and local news reports include a crime scene where the victim's blood was used to scrawl messages. Liv is now on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing. Someone out there knows what she did, and will make sure she never remembers.

From the start, we're dropped into first-person narration from Liv's POV. She's written on her hands, and in retracing her steps for the night meets a bartender who knows her, and that she apparently told him that she forgets everything when she goes to sleep. At the same time, Detective Halliday is called to the murder of a man, post-it notes and a bloody message saying "Stay Awake" in the apartment. It's a heady and rapid start to the book, immediately hooking us into the mystery of what happened.

There are essentially two timelines, the present with Liv in her fugue amnesia states and Detective Halliday looking for the killer, and two years ago which Liv can remember. Liv is easily confused and goes along with what she's told as she tries to figure things out, only to forget when she falls asleep. It's a tense situation, especially as we find out more about her past and what was going on before she woke up. Soon enough we know more than she does, especially with the murder investigation. Detective Halliday is an honest and idealistic officer despite her military background, chasing the truth and not taking the easy way out. When it all falls together, it's a satisfying ending and makes perfect sense.

Liv Reese wakes up with no memory of the past two years. There are strangers living in her apartment, and notes written all over her arms reminding her to stay awake and trust no one. This gripping beginning provides a real page turner as the story unfolds between alternating storylines in the past and present. This book was hard to put down as I tried to figure out what was happening and who was after Liv. I enjoyed the storyline and was guessing up until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Megan Goldin for an advance copy of this book. You won’t want to miss this one.

4.5/5 stars

Stay Awake is a riveting thriller that will keep you guessing right until the very end.

The story is told from two amazing female POVs. Liv (1st person POV) present and 2 years ago. And detective Darcy Halliday (3rd person POV). Liv wakes up in the back of a NYC cab with no memory of how she got there. Darcy is a homicide detective who arrives at the scene of a murder.

I was fascinated by Liv's story. And I loved the dual timeline. I was also mesmerized by Darcy trying to solve the case. I was definitely on the edge of my seat trying to figure out this mystery. This was a real page-turner that fans of thrillers will enjoy!

Fastest I’ve torn through a book this summer to get to the ending. Wow! Fantastic writing that leaves you wanting more after the end of each chapter. Explosive action trying to beat Liv to her own memories. No slow moving plot here. You become the detective in this book. Another win from a go to author!

Thank you St. Martin's Press ​and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.
Woah! This was quite the page-turner. I liked the switch between present day and years prior. The storyline was unique and kept me interested until the final chapter. I'd really like to see this represented on film at some point. This will be a great fall/Halloween read this year.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of cab that’s dropping her off at her apartment - only she finds out someone else is living there. In her confusion, Liv finds a bloodied knife in her pocket and words written all over her hands. Next thing she knows, Liv sees a news update of a man who’s been murdered, and a phrase on her hand showing up inconspicuously at the crime scene. Liv doesn’t know how, but she’s connected to the murder that took place last night. She is now on the run, and can’t remember what’s happened. To make it worse, someone has been taunting her, letting her know that they know the truth.

The writing style changes from first person when we read from Liv’s POV, to third person when it’s the detectives’ POVs. It was different to see two points of views interlaced within a chapter - for example, the detective chapters are mainly told to focus on Halliday, but in that same chapter, we briefly get insight into what’s going on with Lavelle.

The timeline goes back and forth from the present day to two years ago, when Liv’s life changed. Most of the present day takes place on a single day - and wow, Liv has a LONG day.

The title grabbed my attention, and the synopsis seemed up my alley. I should have known to stay away from it when the Goodreads synopsis compared it to Memento and Before I Go To Sleep. I have GOT to stay away from plots that have characters with memory loss/short term memory.

In short - I did not like this book. A big part of that was the memory loss component, but the major reason is due to the writing. The copy I read was unedited, so I’m thinking a good chunk of my issues with the book would have been fixed prior to publishing. There were idiosyncrasies that bothered me and made me feel that Goldin didn’t take notes, or keep up with her story. Essentially, this book felt like the product of a rushed job.

I don’t recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A gripping page turner! I loved it! I really enjoyed the dual timeline and building mystery and suspense through the novel which made it very difficult to put down. The author did an excellent job making the reader truly experience the amnesia that the main character was experiencing. That being said, I did think the twist was a bit predictable and the villain character was a bit obvious, but the fast action definitely made up for this!

I would recommend this book to fans of city-set psychological thrillers looking for a fast-paced read.

Told via dual story-lines, this novel was a real page-turner. At first I was underwhelmed due to the fact that the main character Liv Reese seemed to not react strongly enough to the distressing situation she found herself in – time and again. Then, as I came to read the police story-line, I became more invested in the narrative and my enjoyment increased. The relationship between the detectives was a compelling one to follow.

I did think the amnesia experienced by Liv was a tad hard to believe, though the human mind holds myriad secrets and coping mechanisms that I have no idea of. A ‘Groundhog Day’ on steroids (perhaps crossed with elements of the TV show ‘Blindspot’), this novel was packed with suspense but was repetitive as you might expect due to the plot.

This is my second novel by Megan Goldin and I appreciate her writing style. In this instance I was less enamored of how the timeline jumped around repeatedly, but overall this fast-paced thriller delivered. Yes, I would read another novel by this author, but no, it wasn’t my favorite of hers.

Megan Goldin’s latest novel will not disappoint! This darkly intense novel has so many twists and turns in it that my head was spinning!

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab on her way home. She and her roommate Amy, a doctor, live incredibly crazy lives. When she arrives, she realizes she does not have her key. Although she hates to do it, she begins to bang on the door to wake Amy to let her in. But to her shock and confusion, a stranger answers the door and tells her Amy does not live there.

Her confusion deepens when she tries to find her phone to call her boyfriend Marco and she can’t find it. How could Amy not live there? She just saw her. Then she looks down at her hands and sees writing on them. She has written STAY AWAKE and DON’T CALL THE POLICE. She also sees TRUST NOBODY. Panicking she digs into her coat pocket and discovers to her horror a bloody knife wrapped in a t-shirt. What has happened to her? Did she witness a stabbing?

As we flashback to two years prior, which in her confusion Liv believes is now, we discover Liv was an up-and-coming writer for a popular magazine. She and her roommate Amy were very close, and she had just started dating someone new named Marco. The last thing Amy can remember is falling asleep on the subway on her way to work.

So, with that information she goes back to her office hoping someone there will be able to fill her in on the missing hours. But what she finds is they are all shocked to even see her. She can’t understand why. While there she sees a breaking news story on television. Someone has been murdered and a message was left on the window at the murder scene: STAY AWAKE.

She looks down at her hand and realizes she has done something terrible. But she can’t remember what. And to make matters worse she discovers that IF she falls asleep, she awakes with no memory of what has occurred and seems to revert back to her last train ride. With limited memory, Liv must somehow try and piece together her past and present and what happened to her and why she is unable to remember.

Stay Awake is a fast-paced terrifying thriller with ingenious plot turns and shocking discoveries which will keep the reader in suspense. Once you start this incredibly creative story, you won’t be able to put the book down, so just STAY AWAKE and finish it as fast as you can!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #MeganGoldin #Stay Awake for the advanced copy.

4.5 stars

This was a fantastic, suspenseful read and I was on the edge of my seat until the very end!

When Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi, she has no memory of how she got there. In fact, she has no memories from the past two years. All she has are the messages written on her body to piece together the fragments of her life. The local news, however, catches her attention because of a message left on a window in the victim’s blood…a message she knows all too well. Liv is unsure if she is responsible for this heinous crime, but there is someone who knows, and they are determined to silence her.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author did a wonderful job of not giving away too much too soon and keeping the reader in the dark until absolutely necessary. I was quite surprised by the twist at the end, and I’m disappointed in myself for not seeing it coming. Highly recommend!

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of this book to review.*

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the #gifted eARC of STAY AWAKE!

My three word summary for this book: Far-fetched but fun!

STAY AWAKE is very Momento-esque with a protagonist who loses her memory every time she falls asleep. Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab heading to her apartment. Only when she gets there, she discovers other people living there. And then she finds a bloody knife wrapped in her pocket. And writing all over her hands telling her to “stay awake”, “wake up” and “trust no one.”

STAY AWAKE is a wild ride but I had fun suspending my belief and seeing where Megan Goldin would take me! This book is not a devastating social commentary like THE NIGHT SWIM. Instead this book is a thriller for the sake of being a thriller, which sometimes is exactly what I wanted to read at this time in my life.

STAY AWAKE is out now!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4278589950
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Stay Awake was one of the best thrillers I've read this year. I couldn't put it down and I always found myself wanting to pick it back up. I even snuck a few pages in while at work. Short chapters, great plot and very suspenseful. Will be recommending this to my friends.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

Disappointed in this one…really enjoyed the previous books that I read by this author but this one let me down. Why? Well, I never bought into it or found it believable. I didn’t warm to the main character, didn’t feel I got to know the detectives on the case, and never really understood the motivation for murder, stalking, attempted murder, and simple solution at the end. What should have been a fast paced, thrilling, suspenseful tale – flipping from present to two years ago while also following th detectives, just didn’t provide the intensity and pull me in as I had hoped. In the end I was underwhelmed. That said, I am hopeful the next by this author will be more to my liking as I gave five-star reviews to both Night Swim and The Escape Room.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars

Such an interesting concept. I can't imagine staying awake because when you sleep, you forget everything. Liv Reese wakes up in a cab and doesn't know how she got there. She goes to her apartment only to be told she doesn't live there. She finds a bloody knife in her possession and has no idea where this came from. We find out there has been a murder and he is Liv's ex-fiance (who Liv does not even remember). While the police look for Liv, she tries to figure out what happened. Who killed her ex? Who killed her best friend and her boyfriend? The plot thickens and the ending is exciting and satisfying.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's for a copy of this book for review.

Wow! I was thoroughly invested and incredibly stumped. I love to try and guess the “bad guy” when I’m reading. I’m so glad my original guess was wrong. The fact that liv had amnesia made this book so good because anytime she fell asleep she forget but each time she woke up we got more information. I thought it was very well done and I can’t wait for Megan’s next book!

Overall, this thriller was not for me. I thought the premise was very intriguing and unique, but the execution lacked something. The ending felt lack=luster to me, after all the twists and turns throughout the book. And some of the twists seemed out of place and not fully finished at the end.

However, just because it wasn't for me, doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try. I've seen some great reviews for this one, and think it'd be a good popcorn thriller for others.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the gifted e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

Well this was incredible. It’s one of those books that keeps moving and you’re just gripped by every second as you’re trying to put everything together. And while looking back on it now hindsight says I probably could’ve seen this ending, but man was I taken on a twisted path. I never landed on the ending, never fully guessing it. This was incredibly twisty and a great psychological thriller. One of my favorites of the year!

Another solid thriller from Megan Goldin! Over time, I've come to dislike the "unreliable female narrator" trope, but Goldin offers a unique perspective on this one, and it definitely worked for me. This book literally kept me guessing the entire time, and I liked how it went back and forth in time. Maybe it's because IS likeable; you get the sense early on that she is a good person. You know something bad has happened to her, and you can't help but root for her and hope she ends up okay. The concept of her being an insomniac was interesting, particularly because studies have shown how important sleep is for our overall health, including our mental and emotional health. The fact that she was also an amnesiac was also interesting; imagine forgetting two very crucial years of your life every time you go to sleep. Stay Awake is very fast paced and it was a quick and entertaining read. This might just be one of my favorite thrillers of the year! Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read an early copy of this book.

If you are looking for a thriller you can’t put down, this is the book for you. I read it in 2 days and would have finished quicker if I hadn’t been busy on vacation.

The story is narrated by Liv Reese, who is suffering from amnesia and can’t remember anything once she falls asleep. It is good in both the past and present which made me want to keep reading to see what was happening. It kept me guessing up until the very end!

Definitely a very fast paced and great thriller- I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers.

Thank you netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

REVIEW

Stay Awake ~ Megan Goldin

READ IF:
* You love a good night’s rest.
* You’ve come home from a night out and wondered where your belongings are!
* There’s a bartender somewhere that knows your name.

SUMMARY: Liv Reese wakes up disorientated in the back of a cab with a bloodied knife and writing all over her hands, reading “Stay Awake.” She soon realizes that she has no idea what had transpired over last two years.

When a newscast reports a murder by stabbing accompanied by the message “Stay Awake” written in blood - Liv can’t help but see the connection. She soon finds herself not only running from the police but also trying to piece together the last two years and why she can’t remember any of it.

REVIEW: I have read Megan Goldin’s previous two novels (The Night Swim and The Escape Room) and enjoyed both. This one gave me major “Seven” vibes - it’s felt dark and grimy and had a bit of a frenetic pace with moving timelines and perspectives. The concept alone is a smart one and appreciated the effort from Goldin to write something so different and dark.

One issue for me - it was too long. I felt like the same thing just kept happening over and over and I found myself about halfway through waiting for a break in the plot to move the story along. Then the end kind of came and it was like wham, bam, done. All that mess and then it just tied up real quick. Left a bit to be desired but I enjoyed most the ride. If you haven’t read Goldin’s books yet they are definitely worth taking a look.