Stay Awake
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 8/9/22
Author: Megan Goldin
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio
Narrators: Imogen Church and January LaVoy
Goodreads Rating: 4.06

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. A stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold and her phone is missing. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. What did she do last night? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.

My Thoughts: My first thoughts is WOW! I did this mostly on audiobook but was fortunate enough to have an Arc copy of both. The narrators were fantastic and really breathed life into the characters, you felt like you were there. This is one of the best thrillers I have read this year and I have read a few. The premise of this plot, opening with a murder and working your way back in flashes, having no memory of what happened is a brilliant plot! The characters are well developed with depth, mystery, intrigue, and creative. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, twisty, kept me engaged and was brilliantly written! I highly recommend you pick up this book that was released last week, I would recommend the audio because it was brilliantly done.

Megan Goldin has yet to write a book that I didn’t love, and this one may be my favorite of hers so far! Stay Awake follows Liv, a woman who loses the past two years of her memory every time she wakes up. The story is told from two points of view, following Liv and Detective Halliday, who is investigating a murder, and all signs point to Liv.

I absolutely love unreliable narrators, and the addition of a 50 First Dates type amnesiac main character really added a wonderful spin on the classic trope! It’s so frustrating (in the best way) throughout the novel knowing what Liv continues to forget. I found myself wanting to just jump into the pages and yell at her “You know this person!” or “This is what happened!”

Honestly, I can definitely see a reread in my future to go back through and see if I missed anything, because the whodunnit really threw me off! Highly recommend this one for thriller lovers!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this arc of Stay Awake by Megan Goldin!

The premise of this book had me super intrigued and I was anxious to read this after really loving Goldin's other books. The pacing of this book started off quick but slowed for me towards the middle, and then went lightening fast at the end. I think Liv was an interesting unreliable narrator, but she was almost too unreliable for me. I really just felt sad for her most of this book. I was into the memory loss thing until it just got TOO repetitive. The ending did not make any sense to me (like she gets away in that apartment easy peasy?) and I still didn't get a lot of my questions answered.

I would still read another book by this author in the future, this one just wasn't for me.

Memento meets 50 First Dates

Stay Awake is a mind-blowing psychological thriller that takes you on a wild ride.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her apartment, a stranger answers the door. When Liv goes inside, all the furniture has changed and a new couple is now living there. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen with scribbled messages like “STAY AWAKE!”, "DON'T SLEEP" and “TRUST NO ONE”.

This fast pace, suspenseful thriller is definitely a page-turner. It jumps from past to present day but it never got convoluted. It was such a clever and entertaining book. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Megan Goldin for an ARC of "Stay Awake" in exchange of an honest review.

Whoa! What a great read.
This was a Fast paced ride with twists and turns around every corner.
I cant thank you enough netgalley for a copy of this one!!
You will want to stay awake to read this one.

This story is told in first person from the point of view of Liv in dual timelines and in third person from the detectives assigned to the case, Halliday and Lavelle. Even though it jumped back and forth in both perspective and time, I had no trouble following along. Each chapter was labeled with either a day and time or something to the effect of “two years earlier”. There was an interesting performance art exhibit during the book that prompted an interesting discussion with my husband about following rules vs. instinct.

I enjoyed the rapport between the detectives and the way their different perspectives played off each other. The procedural aspect of a murder mystery is usually my favorite part. I was annoyed by the repetitiveness in Liv’s chapters that I understand was due to her “repetitive dissociative fugue” or amnesia issue, but I think that could have been conveyed without that much repetition. Liv also made a series of decisions that I found odd that were very convenient story wise, but just didn’t make sense to me regardless of her mental state. I couldn’t relate to her choices.

I found the mystery intriguing and most of my guesses were not even close with regards to the end which is always a good thing for me. This was my first read by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy provided for an honest review.

This book has the best opening; Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no recollection of where she's been or where she's going. She holds a bloody knife with no recollection of how she came to find it. Her hands are covered with ink where she's written STAY AWAKE and TRUST NO ONE.

As the book unfolds we follow the two detectives assigned to deal with the murder of a man found in an apartment and their number one suspect is Liv. The whole story takes place in one day, with time jumps back to Liv's life and the missing two years of her memory. While the whole premise sounds good in theory, the execution was lacking. The time jumps were ill timed at certain points and took me out of the story just as suspense was building. Sometimes the story felt repetitive. As a fan of Megan Goldin's previous books, this one just fell a little short for me.

I have always had mixed feelings about amnesia books, and while at one point I did feel like this story started to spin its wheels, overall I really liked it more than most amnesia books I've read. It wasn't entirely surprising, but had a lot of nice twists and turns.
Very Memento-inspired if you've seen the film!

This is by far the best thriller I’ve read this year, I couldn’t put it down and when I did I found myself dreaming about the story and couldn’t wait to pick it up again in the morning. From the very first chapter I was hooked, this book is gripping. The chapters are short and move the story along quickly but keeps you guessing and wondering the whole time. The book is the perfect length for a quick but fulfilling read and I for one can’t wait to read more from this author. I really can’t say enough good things about this book. It is an excellent thriller, the premise is interesting, the characters are likeable, the story is unpredictable, it’s everything you want an expect from a book of this genre. Definitely a must read for all thriller fans.

Megan Goldin is one of the best female thriller writers in the business. Once again she has written an absolute edge of your seat thriller with Stay Awake. This book is super unique and is unlike any other book I have read. This book pulls you in and does not let go. The uncertainly of what comes next keeps you guessing and it makes you want to keep reading deep into the night to reach the final conclusion. Her previous two books were excellent and this one keeps pace, delivering a thrill ride that you will not forget. Megan Goldin is cementing herself among the best in business. Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy of the book for my honest review.

4.5⭐️
Really enjoyed this one and finished it in one afternoon! An amnesia thriller that held my attention and kept me flipping pages to uncover what happened. Multiple timelines and perspectives. I enjoyed the detective side and Liv’s POV.

The only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is I have a couple unanswered questions after reading.

Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi and doesn't know where she is. She goes to the brownstone, where she lives but 2 strangers are there and they have no idea who she is. she reaches for her phone, in her pocket but it's not there , instead there is a bloodied knife. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.
This story goes back and forth from the present to 2 years ago.
She’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years?
This book grabbed me from the beginning and read it all in 1 sitting. As we find out what has happened 2 years ago I had an idea what had happened and maybe who had done what. I felt really bad for Liv as she would forget everything every time she woke up.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the book to review.

3.5 stars - Waking up not remembering where you are might be unsettling but not as much as finding a bloody knife wrapped in a shirt in your pocket.

Lost and confused Liv doesn’t understand why strangers are living in her apartment. Where is her roommate and why is her boyfriend not answering her calls. Why does she have writing all over her hands and arms telling her to stay awake.

Trying to piece together her memories, amidst the chaos, and police looking for as a suspect in a murder is something she can understand.

With Liv’s memory being so unreliable she is trying to figure out why she can’t remember the last two years. However the closer she gets to finding out the more danger she is in.

I struggled with the beginning, it dragged a bit for me with it being repetitive from Liv’s POV and the cops POV. I figured out early on who did it, though the journey there did lead you down many possible leads. It was a solid read, and would keep you guessing.

3.5 stars rounded up!

Stay Awake is the third book I’ve read by the author Megan Goldin. I was intrigued by the description of a woman who loses her memory every time she falls asleep, and while the book was entertaining, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as her previous two books, The Escape Room and The Night Swim.

“Starbursts blink from streetlights like they’re sharing a secret as I wake to find myself slumped in the back of a cab, without any recollection of how I got here, or where I’m going.”

Goldin grabs our attention from the first line, planting the reader right in the middle of the action. She also manages to keep Stay Awake from growing repetitive despite the fact that Liv has to rediscover events from the past two years each time she falls asleep. She spends the novel fighting to stay awake, to figure out exactly how she’s involved in a murder and with a victim she doesn’t remember. The novel jumps between Liv’s point of view in the past and present, as well as the present point of view of detectives investigating the murder, until the two time lines finally converge toward the end of the novel.

Goldin kept me guessing as characters and plot points were revealed, but I did feel a bit underwhelmed with the ending. There were a few things that were too coincidental for me, as well, and I often wondered how Liv was managing to avoid being found with the poor decisions she continued to make.

I feel like maybe Stay Awake could have been polished a bit more, but many other reviewers disagree with me, so it could also just be that Thillers are not my typical genre. I do tend to find it difficult to go from reading books where the reader is very connected with their main character to books with an unreliable lead. It’s definitely not what I read most often.

Overall, Stay Awake kept me turning pages, interested, and curious, and that’s what’s really important, right?!

This is a very good psychological thriller - with elements that have been used in other books and movies. But there are elements added that keep it a compelling read. It's told from two points of view - Liv Reese's story is told first person and she's a very unreliable narrator, because she loses all memory of the past two years every time she falls asleep. The other point of view is that of Darcy Halliday, one of the police detectives who's trying to solve a murder, an investigation in which Liv has become an obvious suspect. Liv herself wonders if she could be guilty based on the evidence she sees, yet finds it difficult to believe that she could do such a thing. For Darcy's part, things don't quite add up as neatly as they appear to on the surface, and in connection to the investigation she finds herself also looking into an unsolved murder from two years prior. This book slips back and forth between viewpoints and between time frames, and we gradually learn whether the past and present are connected. It was interesting and kept me guessing.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I don’t often read thrillers but sometimes I just feel like reading one. So when the time came I decided to pick this up after loving night swim. I won’t really say to much since I think it’s best to go into thrillers pretty much blind. But basically liv wakes up and doesn’t remember the last two years of her life and how she got to the place she found herself with a knife.

I somehow don’t really have much to say about this book, even though I liked it.
The characters were likable wich is kind of remarkable, since I often find the characters unlikable in Mystery thrillers. The plot was slow but interesting and the writing kept me engaged.
If you like the memory loss trope for sure read this.

The narrator was good, I liked her voice and it was easy to follow the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! It was fast-paced and suspenseful. I really couldn’t wait to find out what really happened. The unreliable narrator in this story was unique and compelling.

I loved this thriller - it was just the right amount of creepy and the twists and turns kept me guessing throughout. It felt like a fresh take on the unreliable narrator trope, which is hard to do these days! Megan Goldin is becoming a must-read author for me as her last few have been big hits for me. Highly recommend!

Megan Goldin does it again!

In Stay Awake, we follow Liv, who forgets everything when she sleeps. When she wakes up, she’s in New York but everything is different. There are strangers living in her home, her work colleagues are different and her best friend doesn’t pick up her calls. I went into this book without knowing anything about it and I’m glad I did so I’ll leave you with this small description of the plot.

I read two other books by Megan Goldin but I was not expecting this. I’d say it’s more psychological than I was expecting. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Because we follow such a vulnerable character, I was stressed for most of the book. But it was so entertaining! I couldn’t put it down. I read it quickly because I wanted to know what had happened in the past and it was such a consuming book, I thought about it all the time.

I don’t want to spoil anything but I have to say that the characters were really well written and the flashbacks were well executed. We were always bouncing from timeline to timeline and it added a lot of tension. It’s one of those books where the final reveal is not everything. Even if you know what happened and who did it, the book is worth it for the journey Liv goes through to get there.

Megan Goldin is quickly becoming one of my favorite mystery writers. Everytime she releases a book, it impresses me more than the one before. I will continue reading her books and can’t wait to see what mysteries she will bring us next.

I primarily listened to this one (thanks to the ALC!) and thought this book was done really well on audio. It was a little confusing to follow at times because of all the time jumps, but it was still an enjoyable thriller. I would figure out the twist right before they revealed it which made the pacing feel well done too. 3.5 stars.