Thank you net galley for an ARC copy of the book a Survive The Night by Riley Sager. I really enjoyed this book and could not guess the ending which is rare. I would definitely recommend it to friends to read!

Arc received thanks to NetGalley.

Charlie's friend Maddy is murdered by the campus killer. She should have saved her! Racked with guilt Charlie wants to leave university and return to Ohio. That means hitching a ride with a total stranger, but could he turn out to be a killer and Charlie his next victim!

I really enjoyed home before dark so I was eager to read this one. I’m pleased to say I really enjoyed it. It was fast-paced and gripping I didn’t want to put it down. I was so sure I knew what was happening and things changed very quickly. A couple of the plots I did figure out but only when they were close to the reveal.! I had a love and then hate and vice versa for the characters throughout the story. I loved the ending I felt it finished perfectly. Overall I would recommend this book!

I was so excited to read this book. While not my favourite Riley Sager book, it is still an amazing thriller. I wasn't immediately hooked - I didn't love the 'movie' scenes in the character's head, but I loved the classic Sager twists and turns. Definitely worth the read.

Dare I say, Survive the Night is Riley Sager's most suspense-driven novel yet? This book removes the unnecessary plot developments and red herrings and gives us a straight up suspense novel. Similar to Wendy Walker's Don't Look for Me, this book gets straight to the point.

Charlie Jordan's best friend Maddy was murdered and now she is moving out of state and starting fresh. She's leaving behind a life she has at college, with a loving boyfriend and academic potential. After hitching a ride from Josh Baxter, a guy Charlie met on the campus ride board, the two forge a trip together cross country. As the two venture state by state, Charlie's suspicions over Josh's confusing stories continues to grow. Can she trust this man? Why is he being dishonest? How can Charlie truly be safe when Maddy's killer is still at large? Taking place in the early 1990s, this cat and mouse game is set in a period of one night. What's the worst that can happen?

Survive the Night is less mystery and more suspense/thriller than his predecessors. This book oozes suspense from every page and I just couldn't put it down. The book takes place less than 24 hours, and my reading of it probably is on par with that setting. I truly loved the lack of troupes, lack of unnecessarily plot holes, and the fast paced writing. I felt like I was on Charlie's journey with her and it's quite a difficult feat for an author to be able to immerse a reader like that. This may be a contender for one of my favorites of the year because it just is so suspenseful. Go in without reading too much about this story as it's best qualities are the ones that surprise you.

This book had me hooked from page one. It all takes place in such a short time frame, so it moves very fast. This story took a super twisty turn which I didn’t expect and it was so well done, As always with Sager’s books, they are page turners. I already can’t wait for his next book!

I'm a fan of Riley Sager, so I figured I'd like this book and I did. I love that it's set in the '90s and I like the main character, Charlie is working through a lot of trauma from the deaths of her parents and her friend, so I can almost forgive her for the lapse in judgment getting into a car with a stranger. The "locked room' mystery works here and there are some big twists, but it's not at all creepy or scary. This isn't my favorite Sager book, but overall it's a good mystery.

Thank you NetGalley & Dutton books for this eARC and the opportunity to read & review this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is definitely the quickest I have ever read a Sager book! It’s the 90’s.. cassette tapes, juke boxes, pay phones & two strangers on a long drive late at night. I don’t want to say too much more, I am afraid I may let a spoiler slip out.. but I can say I absolutely loved this book. There was twists and turns I surprisingly did not see coming. I must admit, I did not like the last 10% as much as I wanted to. But the suspense and twists more than made up for it.
Don’t sit on this book, you need it! Pub date is June 29, 2021!

I absolutely love Riley Sager, so I was super excited for Survive the Night! While I liked it overall, it starts off very slow, and doesn’t pick up until about halfway through. I also had a difficult time believe the “movies in her mind” plot point. Once the story picked up, I really enjoyed it. While it’s not my favorite Sager story, it’s definitely worth reading for those who love a good thriller or a good horror movie!

I have enjoyed every book Riley Sager has released and this one was no exception. If there is a well written book about a serial killer then I’m here for it!

Charlie’s roommate, Maddy, was murdered by a suspected serial killer and she blames herself. She is having a hard time living with the guilt and decides to leave school. She finds a ride back to Ohio with a guy she meets at the ride board. She is suspicious of him from the beginning, but just can’t stay at school another day and decides to risk riding with Josh to make it home. What follows is a wild ride and some terrifying twists and turns!

For those that love a thriller, check this one out!

This one fell flat for me. The ridiculous plot of the book made little to no sense. After a string of women are killed over the years and just recently your best friend, would you accept a ride from a stranger? The book was meh for me. The only thing that kept me going was guessing who was the real killer. I did like that he set the destination for my hometown. It's always weird to see Youngstown in a book. The ending and how we got here was so cringey to me. Not a good ending.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for my e-arc in exchange for an honest review! 5 big stars!!

Riley Sager does it again! I have read all his books, and I think this is his best yet! Seriously, the way he wrote Charlie with an unreliable narrator is so CLEVER! I have never seen it done that way before. This book is described as being a game of cat and mouse, and I felt this the entire time I was reading! At one point, I thought I had figured out the ending, but i was like "no, I'm wrong, this is a Sager book, I can't be right." well.... I was right! But I was still so shocked because I had. convinced myself that it couldn't be true. So kudos to Sager for playing his own mind tricks, not just in the book, but with me as the reader.

This books gave me serious NO EXIT vibes as it takes place over the course of one night. This means that all the intensity is heightened because it happens in such a short time frame. I felt similar to how I did in No Exit- like I was constantly out of breath trying to keep up. I felt very much in tune with Charlie and felt whatever she felt. When she felt scared, so did I, when she was running for her life, I felt out of breath too, when she was angry, I felt unexplained anger too. I felt it all.

I would have finished this book in 24 hours if I could have kept my eyes open reading it in bed. But I'm kind of glad I waited until daylight, as I don't think I would have slept much if I had finished it in the middle of the night!

Go read this book! It's an amazing masterpiece!

I liked this book. I don't think it's Riley Sager's best work to date, but I did enjoy the read. I found his take on an unreliable narrator interesting. Charlie sees "movies in her mind" and can't always distinguish them from reality. Some parts really had me guessing and there were some really good twists and turns, but overall not my favorite book by this author.

I always enjoy books by Riley Sager for the fast plot pace and the puzzling style of the story. Each one of Riley's stories is quite unique. I truly enjoyed SURVIVE THE NIGHT because it was one of those that strings you along, giving you opportunities to formulate theories about what happened. As a reader, I felt like I was a part of the journey during the car ride. You get to know the characters quite well through the driving as a setting. The ending was almost too fast for me, but overall it was a very entertaining thriller and murder mystery.

While I have grown to be a fan of Riley Sager, his latest, Survive the Night, misses the mark for me in a couple of areas. First of all, the premise: A campus killer has yet to be caught. A guilt-ridden roommate who must get away from the college. Despite all the warnings and information provided on campus, she gets into a car with a strange man for a ride home to Ohio? Secondly, the unreliable narrator constantly flipping the plot with “movies in her head” got tiresome very quickly, and the “flips” seemed a cop out instead of good writing. This plot device was plain tiresome.

The story takes place just short of Thanksgiving 1991. Film student Charlie Jordan cannot take the guilt anymore regarding the death of her roommate Maddy. She just must get away from campus NOW, so she posts a request on a ride board. Remember those? Her boyfriend Robbie does not put much effort into convincing her to stay on campus with him.

Josh Baxter is the stranger who shows up after 9 p.m. to give Charlie an all-night ride home to Youngstown, Ohio, from fictional Olyphant University in New Jersey. Charlie knows she is doing a risky thing getting a ride from someone she does not know but her anxiety and survivor guilt are in control of her. As the projected six-hour journey progresses, she talks herself into and out of believing that Josh is the Campus Killer. At a stop for food at a diner in the middle of nowhere, Charlie calls Robbie and lets him know she is in trouble. She thinks the waitress might be of help in this situation and that Robbie will have called the police.

But all is not what it seems of course as this is a Riley Sager thriller in which Charlie must find a way to survive the night.

Sager pays homage to the many movies he loves as well as to some music from the 1990s. He is a former journalist, editor, and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name, Todd Ritter. A Pennsylvania native, Riley lives in Princeton, New Jersey, where he writes, reads, cooks, and attends movies.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting April 8, 2021.

I would like to thank the PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

3.5 Stars- I wish half stars were a real part of the rating system!
I think the toughest thing about this book is that I can’t help but compare it to Sager’s other books, and in doing so, this one feels a little less compelling than the others.

There’s plenty of the trademark Sager tension but it’s initially hard to get enough sense of Charlie, and half of the book is spent wondering why she’s making the choices she’s making. 50% of a story is a long time to be uncertain if you like a character or even the novel, and if it hadn’t been for my love of Sager’s previous books, I might have DNF’d this one.

But then closer to the 75% mark more and more twists are delivered, and for the most part, you can only see them coming a few pages before the actual revelation. And as is usually the case, the resolutions are very satisfying.

Well, I did find this book a bit confusing. There were times when I couldn't follow whether Charlie was in one of her dream states or if it was real, which I guess was the point. I also found it strange that she decided to go with Josh/Jake even after she realized that he had been lying to her and she believed he was a serial killer. I didn't guess everything about this book, and it did hold my interest, but wasn't my favorite book by this author.

This book seems like it's going to be more horror or thriller focused with its serial killer on campus, but Survive the Night is much more film noir. We have Charlie, our movie-obsessed heroine who blames herself for the murder of her best friend/roommate after leaving her alone that night. Racked with guilt, she's preparing to drop out of school and return home mid-semester. Heading to Ohio with Josh, who she meets at the rideshare board, Charlie can't help but feel nervous as some of the information he shares doesn't add up, until she's sure she's sharing a car with the Campus Killer.

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat with Charlie as she tries to figure out what's real.

I love Riley Sager books.... That being said this is his best book yet! I don't even trust myself after the ride I just went on with Charlie! My head is spinning! Charlie is flawed, crazy, emotional, yet brave and spunky she is the perfect character! If you only read one book this year let it be this!!!!

This book is fantastic! Definitely kept me guessing until the end and it was wonderfully creepy like all of Riley Sanger’s books. It might be my favorite one to date!

I LOVE Riley Sager books, but was left slightly unfulfilled and disappointed with his last novel, Home Before Dark. Thankfully, Survive the Night left me feeling the opposite - I was riveted by Charlie's story, her character development, and the road trip setting. Riley Sager is once again the King of Thriller's in by book, pun intended.