Book Review - Riley Sager's Survive the Nights
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: June 29th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy
Charlie needs to get away from campus. She needs to flee to her grandmother's house. The fall semester has been a killer. Literally. Her unique and funny roommate Maddy was murdered by The Campus Killer. What's worse is that Charlie might have seen Maddy's killer. Only problem is, Charlie's memory isn't exactly reliable. Ever since her parents died she has taken refuge in old movies. Whenever the world gets to be too much she starts hallucinating. Her brain flips a switch and turns on a projector, making the world around her into a movie. These "movies in her mind" started at her parents funeral and happened again that fateful night when she was angry at Maddy and stormed off, turning back once to see someone lighting Maddy's cigarette. Someone she can't identify no matter how hard she tries. She has barely been able to leave the dorm room she shared with Maddy since then. As the Thanksgiving holiday nears Charlie has decided to head home. To leave New Jersey, and her boyfriend, possibly forever. She can't think that far ahead, to the end of the semester, all she can think of is to flee. This is 1991. There aren't many options for her to get back to Ohio aside from the campus rideshare board. There she meets Josh. Josh looks just like the kind of upright college student whom you could trust to get you home. And despite everything that has happened to her Charlie is willing to trust Josh with her life. Her boyfriend Robbie tells her that if at anytime something feels wrong or off to call him and tell him that "things took a detour." Charlie likes that, it's very Hollywood. Plus, if things feel off she doesn't even have to get in Josh's car. But when he pulls up she does. She puts on Maddy's red coat and gets in the car and before they even reach the interstate she's wondering if she's made a mistake. Things just seem off about Josh. He doesn't know campus landmarks despite claiming to work there. But Charlie knows her own mind isn't to be trusted. She lapses into movie memories and montages all the time. Though wouldn't a clever killer use her illness to trap her? Are they even heading to Ohio or was that just a convenient lie to get her in the car? So the question becomes, is she safe anywhere when her own mind is playing tricks on her? Or did things just take a detour?
Every once in awhile there's a book you just can't wait to get your hands on. For me there's just a handful of authors that I adore but I am usually able to wangle an advance reading copy because of my blog. Note, I set up my blog to get free books, now I get free books, blog's purpose justified! The problem with a Riley Sager book is that keeping a tight lid on spoilers is the number one priority of the publishers so... despite Dutton loving me in the past I had to wait like all the other plebs. AND face rejection on a handful of e-galley sites. Such. False. Hope. Which meant my expectations kept getting higher and higher. There was even a few minutes when I thought of buying Survive the Night for my Kindle because I couldn't wait for my physical copy to arrive! But I patiently waited, and the more I waited, the less likely the book was going to live up to my expectations if I'm honest. And the thing I kept seeing and hearing again and again without even looking for spoilers was that you would either love or loath the twist. Now I'm one of those people who assume everything will have a twist, but I don't want to be told because then I'm hyper aware. I'm like Roy on the cannibalism episode of The IT Crowd "Moss and the German," I do not want to be guessing when and what the twist is. I remember going to see The Village and because M. Night Shyamalan was the twist king, well, my friend Matt and I made a game of it and started correctly guessing the twists long before they happened. That wasn't a fun trip to the movies in regards to enjoying the movie. So Survive the Night came and I read it in virtually one sitting, which is surprising for me as I read at a speaking pace. Yes, I saw the twist coming, and honestly, I don't think it deserved the moniker if I'm honest. This is a thriller that's twisting constantly, like a tooth about to be pulled out. It's a ride that you're waiting to end because you want to know what happens and because, if I'm honest, Charlie is kind of an annoying unreliable narrator. So yes, there are lots of tropes and twists but it's more the movie references that are at the heart of this book. If you're a film geek like me, well, it comes together in a nice bow at the end and you kind of forget the bumps in the road along the way. If you don't like films... well, you might be in for a bumpy ride.
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