Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi in the middle of the night with no recollection of how she got there. Arriving at her apartment, she finds someone other than her roommate living there. Her hands are covered in writing with messages including “STAY AWAKE” and she’s in possession of a bloody knife.

She has no idea why she has the knife and no idea how she got it. She starts looking for answers by trying to connect with her best friend and her boyfriend. Liv sees a news broadcast about a crime the night before and realizes that the person the police are looking for is her. She’s not sure what happened the night before, nor is she sure that she wasn’t involved. Upon seeing the date, she realizes that her last memory is two years before when she recalls answering the phone at her desk.

She needs to do whatever she can to find out the truth before it’s too late.

I enjoyed this novel and trying to piece together what had happened. It reminded me of SJ Watson’s “Before I Go to Sleep” which I also enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this eGalley. #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #StayAwake

This is my first Megan Goldin novel, and after reading this one I am super pumped to have her other books in my TBR pile.

We follow Liv who is trying to navigate her current life, but there’s a slight problem… she has a rare form of amnesia. Every time she falls asleep she forgets everything in the current. And when she awakes she doesn’t know where she is, she believes she is living her life from two years ago. She doesn’t remember coming back to NYC or why she is in a cab holding a bloody knife running from something/someone she can’t identify.

Liv’s mental state was so intriguing. I really liked the flipping between Liv and Detective Halliday’s POV, I definitely think it helped build the suspense. The ending was very suspenseful and action-packed. This book is a super quick read. I read it in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down!

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a gripping thriller that will pull you in from the beginning and keep you staying awake in the early mornings to finish. I highly recommend running & grabbing this one once it is available on August 9, 2022!

Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Goldin, & St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book definitely kept me guessing, however I did figure out who the bad guy was very quickly in this book. I thought the overall premise was interesting, however the flips backward and forward in time left me reeling a bit. It made it hard for me to follow whether something occurred in the past, or in the present and how this fit into the narrative. The disconnect with the timelines really kept me from investing completely in the story since I felt like I was flipping channels and joining in the middle of a program and I was just confused as the girl with the memory issues. This was definitely not my favorite book by this author, but I did find it to be a great premise. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

Wowza! That was a rollercoaster ride I was not expecting to go on! I’ll start by saying that the narrators Imogen Church and January LaVoy were phenomenal! They kept it very intriguing and fast paced and it was easy to identify which character was talking. The story itself had me on the edge of my seat! There were some nights where I was listening right before bed and got a little paranoid so I was running around my house making sure everything was locked! I loved the plot as memory is such a fascinating topic and the twists the main character continually dealt with. I would definitely recommend to anyone that enjoys psychological thrillers with an extremely unreliable narrator half of the time!

Great book. Filled with mystery and suspense. Right when you think Liv is getting somewhere she forgets and starts over again. That made me frustrated but also made me want to keep going to see what happens next.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin will make you literally stay awake into the late hours reading! This was a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller with great characters and an even greater storyline. Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi with no recollection of the last couple of years of her life and holding a bloody knife. The only clues she has: notes written all over her hands and arms, the most prominent one being STAY AWAKE. Exceptionally well written, I could not put this down and finished it in one day!! Highly recommend!!

This is an exciting fast-paced thriller. However, the conclusion of the story is kind of underwhelming. The killer could only be who it turns out to be, and the reason is immediately obvious. It is all too predictable so if you are looking for a surprising ending don't look for one here.

I will preface this review by stating that I'm not a fan of unreliable narrators as a thriller plot tool and almost didn't want to read this one! In my mind, a protagonist who has no idea where she is or how she got there seemed pretty unreliable.

However, I also enjoyed The Night Swim enough to give this a try and I am SO glad I did! Megan Goldin gives you *just enough* to keep you guessing how this story will play out and masterfully weaves a book that is both immediately engaging and leaves you some breadcrumbs, between the present-day storyline and snippets of Liv's past.

The story also mixes in the police perspective, which I really liked. You don't know you're getting that from the synopsis, but I would totally love to read Detective Halliday take on more cases for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is one of the most unique books I have ever read.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab with no memory of how she got there. She doesn't have her purse or her phone, but she does have a bloody knife. There are people who live in her apartment that she doesn't know and she's incredibly confused, and then she notices there is ink on her hands telling her to stay awake.

What unfolds from there is a delightfully twisty story of a woman who can't remember the past two years and two detectives trying to solve a murder. Liv is such an interesting character who we get to follow as she tries to piece together her life. The multiple timelines are so well done and add this incredible depth to the overall story. In addition to Liv's first-person perspective, we get third-person perspective on the detectives investigating a recent murder. The juxtaposition works so well for this story.

There are a few parts that feel just a bit predictable, but the overall twist was surprising and I didn't see it coming. The multiples perspectives really help the story move quickly without faltering for a moment. This is the type of thriller that pulls you in and keeps moving quickly. I never felt bored or like anything was dragging.

I enjoyed both The Night Swim and The Escape Room, and it's safe to say I will read anything Megan Goldin writes.

This was one wild ride as we follow Liv Reese as she tries to make sense of her life after waking up on a bench. She has a rare form of amnesia that erases her memory from the previous day so she is stuck in the past... two years in the past. The story progresses as we discover there have been multiple murders and the police are looking for her.

Multiple characters emerge and the reader is left questioning who can she trust? What really happened? I enjoyed this pageturner, although with any book dealing with memory loss, there is a bit of repetition I thought the author handled it well and still kept my interest. If you like a mystery/thriller that sends you on a loop this may be for you!

I think Megan Goldin has hit her stride with STAY AWAKE! I devoured this book in just a few days. Short chapters made me read faster, and the plot was so compelling - I had to find out what happened!

This kept me up at night, in a good way! I devoured this. Good story and pacing

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I was very disappointed by this rather inefficient attempt at a thriller. While the blurb and the plot seemed devious enough, the actual writing is about as interesting and refreshing as the back of a milk carton.

For what it's worth, the story kicks off right away with a bang - and just like that, the first person narrative has you on the hook, without revealing anything. Since this is a first person narrative, from the perspective of a central character who - literally - can't seem to remember, one would have thought that would make for some really tight writing and almost ferocious reading!

Nothing of the sort.

There are interspersed chapters from the perspective of the investigating police detectives, who are depicted about as deep and three-dimensional as the aforementioned milk carton - when it's flattened out.

And then, there are chapters that seem to have become de rigueur - jumps in time - trying to lay it out for the gullible readers, to explain what really happened, enticing and teasing you out in the open. It made the storyline even less interesting, and revealed the writing as even less imaginative.

What could actually have been a superb police procedural, or just a single track story from the perspective of the protagonist - ah... but then, that latter idea would have made it a copy of that venerable Nolan masterpiece "Memento". Couldn't let it be that obvious.

Even the dialog all over is as if out of a textbook - everything seem to be going in the right general direction, but the writing and editing left much to be desired.

All said though, the book literally has all the tropes of a thriller - but none of the content. The basic premise is there, but it is executed quite poorly.

Stay Awake
By Megan Goldlin

A Tense and Unsettling Adrenaline Rush

SUMMARY
Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a NYC cab early one Wednesday morning with no recollection of how she got there. Mysterious messages are written all over her hands: Don’t Sleep, Stay Awake, and Trust No One. She is clutching a fifty-dollar bill in her hand but has no keys, no phone, and no purse. When she buzzes her roommate at their shared apartment, strangers answer the door. After spending the night on a park bench, she goes back to her Manhattan office and finds that both the decor and people have changed. When she hears a news report about a murder where the killer wrote “Wake Up!” on the window, she fears this might be connected to the writing on her hands.

Book Epigraph: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” -Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

REVIEW
STAY AWAKE is a tense and unsettling adrenaline rush. It’s a psychological thriller on NoDoz tablets. Author Megan Goldin skillfully weaves a story of Liv’s present day odyssey with flash backs from two years earlier. This tapestry is combined with the perspectives of NYPD homicide police detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle’s unwavering search for Liv. The story will definitely keep you up at night.

Liv’s vulnerable, anxious, but persistent character was expertly developed from the very beginning. Detective Halliday perseverance served as a breath of fresh air and rationale to this discomforting thriller.

Other delightful and not to be missed psychological thrillers by Megan Goldin include The Escape Room (2019) and The Night Swim (2020).

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Published August 9, 2022
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

*4+ stars! The premise of this book is very interesting: Liv, the protagonist of the story, is suffering from a form of insomnia-induced mental illness--whenever she falls asleep, she wakes with no memory of her recent past. She has notes written all over her hands as reminders but it's still overwhelmingly disorienting, especially when she discovers a knife wrapped in a bloodied teeshirt stuffed in her pocket.

NYC Homicide Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle begin investigating the murder of a young man found in a short-stay rental apartment, stabbed once through the heart. All clues are pointing to a woman with long dark hair...

The timeline bounces back and forth between what happened to Liv two years before and the current case that the detectives are investigating. That makes for a very compelling, page-turning read.

I received an arc of this new thriller from the author and publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I loved Megan Goldin's last two books, so was very excited to get my hands on her new one early! This was a pretty creepy, twisty story that I flew through because I had to know what was happening. Liv's confusion throughout made every person and situation seem sinister and kept things interesting, but I did find it a little hard to keep track of the timeline, since it jumped back and forth so often. I loved Halliday's perspective though! There were a ton of red herrings, and while I guessed one of the twists, it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book. Ultimately, there were a few unresolved plot holes that are driving me nuts, but I definitely enjoyed this one and can't wait to see what the author comes out with next! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was immediately gripping from the first moments! I did feel like it slowed to a snails pace in the middle before picking back up at the end. I did enjoy it. Goldin writes such unique tales and is quickly becoming and auto buy author for me

Liv wakes up in the back of a taxi, with no recollection of how she got there. When she is dropped off at her apartment, a stranger answers the door. She tries to reach for her phone to call for help, but finds a bloodstained knife instead.

When she looks down at her hands, she notices they are covered in black ink, with scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man and thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now is lost and disorientated in a New York City that she no longer recognizes.

Catching a glimpse at the local news, she is horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window – WAKE UP! What did Liv do last night? Why does she not remember anything from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime is doesn’t remember committing – but there is someone who knows exactly what she did. And they will do anything to make sure Liv forgets – permanently.

_____

sooooo…not really sure what I just read 🤔I went into this book with high expectations because I enjoyed MG’s previous two novels - but this one? Nope, not for me. I didn’t find it suspenseful or thrilling AT ALL.

I really enjoy novels with flashbacks, but each time we got to one; it was so freakin’ repetitive. Nothing truly happened until the last 40%ish percent of the book, but honestly by then I was having a hard time staying awake 😜

And I gotta talk about the ending. Like huh? What? I was left SO confused and VERY underwhelmed 🙄

The plot holes were BEYOND ridiculous - and the fact that I was left with so many unanswered questions made me dislike this book even more.

Stay Awake was a snooze fest for me 😴

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I adored Megan Goldin’s prior book, The Night Swim, so I was guaranteed to pick up anything she wrote next. And Stay Awake is yet another masterfully crafted thriller, although in a somewhat different vein. And what a ride it is.
Amnesia is hard to do well, but Goldin pulls it off, capturing the uncertainty around Liv’s situation and what happened in the two years she was in her fugue state. You feel immensely anxious for Liv as she comes to in this wild situation, realizing she has lost so much time, and the unease continues to build as she continues to attempt to put the pieces back together.
This narrative is balanced well with bits showing her last memories from two years ago, providing hints at what happened. It’s also complemented by chapters from the police detectives investigating the case and unraveling Liv’s involvement, which contributes to the suspense.
While character work often suffers in thrillers, it’s not so here. Liv is compelling and sympathetic, if a bit of a mess, and I like how her personal issues were interwoven with the mystery.
This is another impeccable book by Megan Goldin, and one I’d recommend to anyone who loves psychological thrillers.

This book is hard to rate because while I enjoyed it overall, it honestly wasn't good. Not the standard I know Megan Goldin is capable of anyway, from what I remember about The Night Swim.

The writing and storytelling are both subpar and leave a lot to be desired. I didn't have that eureka moment when the multiple POVs converged. A lot of what happens is very unbelievable and feels too convenient. Liv makes a lot of questionable decisions and I didn't find her particularly sympathetic despite her predicament. Neither is this the most interesting of police procedurals but I liked the detectives, especially Halliday.

The climax and reveal were blah, while the ending was unsatisfying and made me want to laugh...? Stay Awake is interesting read, but not one that will take up space on my mind or shelf.