Two years ago, Liv Reese was brutally attacked and left for dead, leaving her with a form of amnesia that makes her forget everything that happens every time she falls asleep. Framed for murder, she's constantly hiding from the police because they didn't listen when she told them she had a stalker. I can only imagine the terror of not knowing where you wake up or how you got there. This definitely left you rooting for her as she let's go of her past and learns who to trust. This was definitely an edge of your seat read and I really enjoyed it.

3.5 rounded up!

You wake up in the back of a taxi with no idea how you got there. You try to enter your apartment but a stranger answers the door and you discover that you no longer live there. You reach for your phone only to discover that its has been replaced by a blood-stained knife. What do you do?

This is the premise of Megan Goldin's newest, "Stay Awake", and it completely drew me to it. Up until the moment, I began reading this book I couldn't stop thinking about how excited I was to get into it. This was a really solid thriller that took some tropes I've read before (jilted ex, memory loss, framed for your best friend's murder, POV of a detective fresh on the beat) and took them in some interesting directions.

My one qualm with this story is the repetitiveness. While I understand that this is an inherent issue in a plot where our main character is constantly waking up and reliving the experience of losing her memory, it got pretty boring to keep reading about and constantly hear the same thoughts expressed over and over. I think the way that the big reveal at the end was laid out was really smart. I'm not someone who goes into mysteries and thrillers trying to guess the whole time what's going to happen, so things being predictable don't really bother me too much ... this is one that I think some people might find predictable, but for me it wasn't a big issue!

While I definitely prefer Goldin's "The Night Swim" (5 starts from me!!) this is definitely a strong addition to her works.

This is thriller about a woman, Liv Reese, who suffers from a severe and rare type of amnesia which occurs everytime she falls asleep. Once awake, she remembers nothing from the recent past., This becomes a huge problem when she wakes up in the back of a cab holding a bloody knife with messages like “stay awake” scribbled on her hands. There were parts of this novel that felt disjointed to me and a little hard to follow. It was a fast paced read with a pretty good twist at the end. However, it fell a little flat for me. I gave this novel 3.25 stars.









https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724748

Book Review: Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
Published by St. Martin's Press, August 9, 2022

★★★★☆ (4.25 Stars)
Positive!

Versatile thriller writer Megan Goldin enthralled readers with her sophisticated "The Escape Room" (2019), a financial thriller loaded corporate drama and high-tech gimmickry, followed by murder-mystery "The Night Swim" (2021), with the author's personal twist on the rising popularity of true crime podcasts - "one that puts you in the jury box".

Both novels remarkable with fresh ideas, original plots, creative, imaginative, even as the author fearlessly straddles the very edge of implausibility.

// "Stay Awake" by Megan Goldin (2022) //

A shattering Aeschylus moment wrecks havoc on the life of cultural events writer, Liv Reese. Triggered post-trauma, Liv loses her memory every time she falls asleep, in between two murder cases, years apart, where she finds herself between a rock and a hard place as both the prime suspect - and the helpless prey who doesn't know whom to trust...

3-D Fischer Random Chess comes to mind as I read this quasi-medical suspense thriller. Megan Goldin crafts a complex story, this time largely based on borrowed popular movie themes. Set intermittently in multiple graduated timelines from alternative first and third person perspectives, once again she pushes the envelope to the cliff edge of the suspension of disbelief.

Think Liv Reese as a composite of Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day" (sans the comedy), Guy Pearce in "Memento", Naomi Watts in "Mulholland Drive", and finally Johnny Depp in "Secret Windows" with skeletons deeply buried in a closet of blank memories.

Replete with loose ends, but compensated by compelling dramatizations and commendable prose.

Complex, gripping, entertaining.

Review based on an advanced reading copy courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

This was a really fast-paced intriguing thriller. Told in alternating timelines from today when a man was discovered murdered to two years ago. Our MC, LIv, has a rare case of amnesia where she cannot remember anything from the past two years once she falls asleep. So each day, she wakes up confused, distrustful of most people and with no memory of anything that happened the last two year of her life. All she knows are the messages written on her hand like "Stay Awake!" or "Don't Sleep". In attempt to not feel out of control, she takes pills and drinks excessive amounts of caffeine in order to not fall asleep. Instead of solving her problem, this is is just leading to erractic behavior and her falling asleep anywhere.

Will Liv recover her memory in time to discover what really happened two years ago? Or will she be arrested in this murder based on being present at a murder scene two years ago where it's unclear if she was the murderer or another victim?

This was my first novel by the author, but it won't be my last.

Stay Awake is a different kind of thriller from Megan Goldin. What happens when someone forgets everything from the last two years every time they fall asleep?

"Liv wakes up in a cab with no idea about how she got there. At her apartment, there are strangers there. Instead of her phone, there's a bloody knife in her purse. And then she sees her arms are covered with writing that says STAY AWAKE. She catches a glimpse of local news and finds out that she's a suspect in a murder. How did she get here? Did she kill someone? She doesn't remember"

I like when an author tries something different. Lots of previous books have had characters with memory issues. even those caused by trauma. But Goldin puts Liv in an almost impossible situation. You're listening and thinking that this poor character is lost and can't recover. But Goldin keeps writing and shows you what happened. The killer is one that's hiding in plain sight. I had no idea. I'm usually pretty good at making a guess - not this time.
There are mostly two POVs - Liv and the Detectives. I hope we see the detective team in future books. I think there are more stories there.

Another great story from Goldin. Another great thriller option for your summer reading

This psychological thriller kept me hooked from page 1! It was easy to follow with tons of twists and turns. I really enjoyed this and it was different than the usual thrillers I’ve been reading

This is the best psychological thriller I've read in years. It freshens up several tropes (like the unreliable narrator) and didn't rely on mental-illness-as-the-bad-guy like too many do. Every time Liv falls asleep, she loses most of her memories. In this story, she tries to piece together her memories and gets entangled in a murder investigation. No one she talks to knows what she's been up to, and most of what she has to go on are notes she's scribbled on her arms.

I inhaled this--in one sitting! -- and will definitely be reading more Goldin books.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I’ll picked this up because Megan Goldin is an auto-buy author for me. I loved her previous two releases: The Escape and The Night Swim. And, as it turns out, I absolutely loved this one as well.

I love Megan Goldin’s writing. Her pacing and style are on point. She writes in alternative timelines, so you get an accounting of what is currently happening while getting sneaks at the past all throughout the novel which keep me going like a moth to a flame. Her books are simply unputadownable to me.

Pick up a copy. You won’t be sorry!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Publishing for the Advanced Reader’s Copy. I am forever in your debt for this amazing opportunity

#netgalley #stmartinspress #stayawake #megangoldin

Thank you Net Galley and St Martins Press for this E-ARC!

Past and present timelines, murder, and amnesia are a factors that make this thriller so effective!

Liv needs to stay awake to remember. She writes reminders on her skin because when she falls asleep she thinks it’s two years prior.

Her best friend Amy, and boyfriend Marco were murdered and she was very close to being another victim. She was in a coma and could not remember what happened. She moved to London to recover but was consumed by trying to determine who killed them.

Liv finds herself in New York attempting to resume her previous life, but ends up being a suspect of a murder that ends up being tied to the original murders. Up until recently (aside from the original murder event) she didn’t have issues with her memory, but now she must remain awake to hold on to any bits of information she knows.

NYPD believe Liv is their prime suspect, but as the truth reveals itself as Liv flies under the radar, there’s way more to this mystery than what meets the eye. Will Liv’s amnesia be something that helps her or hinders her once the NYPD catch up to her?

Wow crazy thriller with definite Memento vibes. Enjoyable twists and turns. Worth the read. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This is a fast paced psychological thriller with twists and turns at every chapter. Liv's memory loss is gripping, especially as details are revealed to the reader that Liv herself is unaware of. I loved the format of the past/present timeline as it definitely added to the suspense and intrigue. An excellent book - highly recommend! I don't give 5 stars often but this one definitely deserves it!

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

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with STAY AWAKE scribbled on her arms in pen, a knife with blood on it, and no recollection of where she is or how she got there. All Liv remembers is two years ago, when she and her best friend lived together, and she worked at a culture magazine in New York City. Now, it's a new season, her apartment is owned by a new couple, and a man has been found dead with the message WAKE UP on the window in his blood...eerily similar to the print on Liv's own arms.

The book alternates between Liv's first-person POV and the detectives' third person POV, with 95% of the story taking place in a 24-hour period starting on a Wednesday at 3 a.m., as we follow Liv in her attempts to outrun the police while trying to regain her memory and, more importantly, to stay awake.

I listened to the audiobook ARC I received for this, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear Imogen Church's voice! She's personally one of my favorite audiobook narrators, after having heard her narrate Ruth Ware's Turn of the Key . I know some people don't like her style, as she tends to dramatize her readings, but I thought it worked really well here.

Once I passed the 50% mark, I couldn't put it down! Things started falling into place, and the time honestly flew by. I felt like the book really benefitted from alternating perspectives, adding to the unreliability of the Liv as a narrator. I loved that we were thrown right into Liv's perspective as she's waking up. It would be like watching 50 First Dates from Lucy's perspective instead of Henry's...if Lucy was a suspect for murder. We're finding things out as Liv does, supplemented by the detectives' findings in the POVs in almost every other chapter.

I could see this book being frustrating for some, especially because the beginning is a little repetitive and slow, since Liv has no memory and therefore we have a really steep learning curve. It isn't until the end that we realize the significance of starting at the exact moment we did.

Overall, this was a really solid thriller, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun mystery/suspense read that has the same vibes as the movie Memento .

Thrills, chills, interesting concept and a well-developed main character. These ingredients make for a fast and enjoyable read.

Liv wakes up in a taxi cab with no idea how she got there. Right away, I was intrigued. She directs the driver to her apartment, but she doesn’t have her purse or keys and doesn’t even live there. Even though, from reading the description, I know Liv has a type of amnesia, I’m now all in, scared for her and invested in keeping her safe. She’s got writing on her hands with weird messages she can’t explain STAY AWAKE and finds herself caught up in a murder. This all made it hard for me to choose sleep over just one more chapter.

The structure of the book worked for me and kept my attention. It’s told from dual POVs (Liv and Detective Halloway) and from multiple timeframes over the past 2 years.

Unfortunately, some of the book didn’t work for me. The writing was often repetitive and alternated between engaging and over simplistic. I had to skim the frequent retellings and repetition. Also, I’m not fond of detective-type stories. This was Liv’s story, and I didn’t care about the detectives’ back stories or the predictable resolution. Also unsatisfying was the overly simplistic ending which neglected to unravel the initial murders or to explain the initial stalking.

In spite of these flaws, I enjoyed this book for its fascinating plot and fast pacing.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

"A sickening dread creeps through me. Something terrible is going on and I don’t have the faintest idea what it is."

Stay Awake tells the story of Liv, who wakes up in a cab with no memory of where she is or how she got there. All she has is a bloody knife and a cryptic message scrawled on her skin: "STAY AWAKE." It doesn't take long for Liv to realize that she's connected to a murder investigation - and that every time she falls asleep, she loses all of her short-term memories. Which means that she could be a witness - or even the murderer - and have absolutely no idea...

"What else have I forgotten? I sense it’s something important. No matter how much I try, I can’t think of what it might be. The only thing I know for sure is that time has skipped ahead without me noticing."

While the premise is fascinating, the execution gets a little convoluted at times. With a timeline that flips back-and-forth between past and present day, narration that shifts from 1st person (Liv’s chapters) to 3rd person (the detectives’ chapters), and multiple story arcs dealing with crimes that Liv is connected to (one where she was a suspect, one where she was a victim, and now a murder where she’s a person of interest), the overall story got hard for me to follow in places.

"I don’t think any of this is what it appears."

However, the messiness and chaos of the story was well-placed, because it lent an authentic feel to what Liv's experiences would have felt like for her, as a character. Not only that, but Stay Awake is one of those rare thriller that doesn't feel like it's already been done before. Everything about this story felt new, fresh, and totally unexpected for me, which I absolutely loved.

"It’s the tiny details that make all the difference…"

Totally worth the read - a solid 4 star thriller!

——

A huge thank you to Megan Goldin, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve been on a thriller kick lately, & this is the best one I’ve read in months!!
Liv wakes up with no memory of the past 2 years….no phone, no identification, just a bloody knife on her pocket. Turns out she forgets everything every time she falls asleep. Each time she wakes up she thinks she’s in the past, with no clues other than what’s scribbled on her hands: Don’t go to sleep! Trust no one. Stay Awake.
The back & forth povs of the police detectives & Liv work perfectly to feed us clues little by little. This is a story that we’re just thrown into the middle of & have no idea what’s going on—in the best possible way.

THIS. MIGHT. BE. MY. FAVORITE. SUMMER. VACATION. READ!🙌

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has held me in the palm of its hand all day. Today was a day where my boyfriend needed me to run a bunch of errands and I successfully completed them but I also woke up at 5:45 am so that I could shower and read for a good 90 minutes before he woke up and our family chaos began. Unfortunately, he is not a reader so I will just gush here in my review rather than drive him insane.


Publisher description:
A murder she doesn’t remember committing. A killer she doesn’t remember meeting. Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that proves memory can be deadly.

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 brownstone, a stranger answers—a stranger who claims to live in her apartment. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing. In its place is a bloodstained knife. Her hands are covered in scribbled messages, like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, 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, similar to the message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget—permanently.

A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.

My Thoughts
I fell for the plot, I really enjoyed Liv and the police detectives that were on the hunt for her. I believed in the whole amnesia plot. This book is the definition of a page turner because that's all I wanted to do to it. Chapter by chapter, I devoured every word and I don't say this very often when it comes to domestic thrillers BUT I DIDN'T WANT IT TO END. I think it is safe to say that this book is certainly going to be climbing the bestseller and book club circuits when it is released in August.

Expected Publication Date 09/08/22
Goodreads review published 09/07/22

This was another excellent thriller from Megan Goldin. Liv Reese has to stay awake - otherwise she forgets everything and wakes up thinking it's two years earlier. The book jumps back in forth between 2 years ago and what lead to her memory issues and present day where a murder investigation is underway and she has become the prime suspect. This book was so fast paced - I couldn't put it down. There were a couple of plot points that were never resolved but it didn't take away from the story. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Stay Awake started strong and interesting concept. I enjoyed this thriller but ultimately found myself hoping it would wrap up!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my ARC of this book.

This was a very wild ride! At first, I wasn't too sure if it was for me, but that changed 1/4 of the way through as things started coming together. There are two storylines, one past (two years ago) and one present. That, at first, was confusing to me. Every time Liv goes to sleep, she loses her memories from the last 2 years. Writing is appearing all around her- Wake Up! - and on her body as well. What ensues is a thrill ride with a satisfying ending. Thankful for this ARC - coming out live to the masses soon!