I would predict this is going to be a 2022 MUST READ! I was given an early copy in exchange for an honest review. STAY AWAKE is what you want to do. The book is that great However, I waited too long and did fall asleep,it was so late when I started this one I couldn’t help myself. I fell asleep mid read and felt like Liv, I didn’t have a memory for certain parts. I should have not moved my bookmark before I fell asleep. Then reread chapters from last evening. At any rate there are so many twist and turns. my heart started thumping when Liv’s did. With two years previous, Current detectives reviewing previous work, Thoughts and actions of current detectives regarding current murder. This book ticks off all the marks of a great murder, suspense, thriller. Whatever you want to call it. You are going to love it. STAYAWAKE. I will be recommending this to anyone who likes a #murder/thriller/suspense. #Youwillloveittoo. I have no doubt it will be a #2022Best Read!

This one fell a little short for me, which is disappointing.

I love thrillers, and I was immediately interested in this plot. However, the pace is just a little too slow for me. It felt like it took a little while for anything to start going somewhere, and once we start getting somewhere... well, all of that takes a little while for me. I am not a slow burn type of reader - I need my pacing to be a little more engaging to hold me, and I just wasn't expecting this to move so slowly.

I liked the main character as an unreliable narrator; I thought it definitely made things a lot more interesting. I didn't necessarily feel the same way about a lot of the side characters. They felt a little trope-y, conventional. In fact, the novel itself feels very conventional. Which again, is absolutely fine.

Despite my review, I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this novel. If you enjoy a slow burn thriller, and don't mind the aforementioned features, then I would definitely recommend this one. The writing is unpretentious and easy, and as I said, the plot is solid.

Three stars because while I didn't necessarily connect or click with this one, I cannot say this is objectively bad. Just very middle of the road, for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free digital copy in exchange for a for a fair and honest review.

I liked this thriller, and I’m not usually a thriller person. A little confusing with the time hops when the main character already doesn’t know what is going on, but I get the reasoning for its use in the narrative. Liked the main character and nods to Memento.

I’ve always steered clear of mystery/thrillers, because I’m a big baby but wow this was a good read! Like Groundhog Day with a creepy twist. I genuinely did not know where this story was going, and was completely surprised by the end. Now I know I should give this genre more of a chance!

I don’t normally like memory/amnesia books because they don’t feel believable or they have the same ending but THIS WAS SOMETHING ELSE. Liv doesn’t just have amnesia, she has trauma induced self-insomnia amnesia that causes her mind to reset every time she falls asleep. She resets to two years ago thinking she’s at the same job, apartment, life only…she’s not. And now, she’s woken up with a bloody knife in her pocket and all signs point to her as a gruesome murderer.
I loved the back and forth time lines between Liv now, Liv two years ago, and Detective Darcy Halliday trying to piece together what happened. She’s working across agencies and countries to get to the bottom of what looks like and open shut case and she stands her ground with senior detectives about not agreeing with them about Liv and the circumstances surrounding her life and the murder they are investigating. This felt like a realistic version of a story built on memory loss. My only issue was why? I mean, I know why, but WHY WHY? There were a couple of unanswered questions which isn’t my fav. ALTHOUGH, if there will be a sequel maybe that’s why? And in that case I’m totally for it. The also feels like the beginning of a series for Detective Halliday which is a series I’d totally auto-buy.

My first MG book but definitely not my last.

Wow! This book was a trip and I found myself holding my breath the entire time. I hope to see this turned into a movie or an HBO short series! Eager to read more by the author.

Loved loved loved!! This was totally dark and twisted. Going back and forth between before and present was done great!

Wow! What did I just read? An expertly written thriller with twists and turns you never see coming. I honestly couldn't put it down. The sympathetic main character has amnesia and must question everything she sees and hears. People around her might just be gaslighting her. Or are they? Where does the truth lie? I enjoyed this unique premise and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. Thank you Net Galley for this ARC.

Wow! This was an exciting book from start to finish and I didn't want to stop reading even to go to sleep. Goldin has a gift for writing characters you want to root for and each of her previous books have completely different plots which shows a lot of talent. In this book Liv wakes up on a NYC subway and doesn't remember why she is there. She knows her name but without a purse or phone she doesn't know where to go or what is going on; her last memory is answering the phone at her office. When she looks in her pocket she finds some money and takes a taxi to her apartment only to find new people living there. She eventually figures out she is missing her memories for the past two years and oh, yes, there is also the problem of finding a bloody knife in the pocket of her sweater.

The novel goes back and forth between two years earlier and Liv's present time where she has written on her hands things like:: Stay awake!, Don't Fall Asleep and other things warning of danger. Other chapters are narrated by a police detective duo Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle and I enjoyed their partnership and determination to solve a murder which Liv may very well have committed. Amnesia is a scary thing and for Liv it is even scarier because she can't locate her boyfriend or her best friend Amy, and the few people who say they know her she doesn't remember. The author did a great take on the amnesia story and I thought the ending was exciting. Good pacing, great characters and plot. Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Wow, wow, wow! This was a great way to start a new year of reading! From the very beginning right to the end the author kept me wanting to figure everything out. Nope. Just hold on and keep reading! The tension created in the first page does not let up until the end. Goldin does a great job of developing her characters. The detectives are just deep enough, with details and background that are just enough, but not too much that it detracts from the storyline. The main character, Liv, who loses her memory of the last two years every time she falls asleep, is frantically trying to put the puzzle pieces of the last few days together, and the reader is right there with her. Is she a murderer or a victim?


Thank you to St. Martin's Publishing Group and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

9781250280664

352 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: August 9, 2022

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Short-Term Memory

In the early hours of the morning, Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi and gives the driver the address of her apartment. She bangs on the door but a strange couple answers. She wonders what they are doing in her apartment and thinks maybe they are guests of her roommate. She looks around and realizes that all her stuff is gone. She runs out before they can call the police. She then notices the writing on her hands and arms with the word Nocturnal in larger letters. It must be someplace she knows but she cannot remember. While walking there, she puts her hands in her pocket and finds a bloody knife in a t-shirt. What is happening to her and whose blood is on the knife?

The story is fast paced, the characters are well developed, and it is written in first person point of view with flashbacks. This book reminded me of the movie Memento with Guy Pearce. Liv is suffering short term memory issues. Every time she goes to sleep, she forgets what happened and her mind is reset back two years ago when she is answering the phone at her desk at Cultura magazine. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story and was guessing the end but never got it right. If you like mystery stories with twists and turns, you will enjoy this book.

A twisty-turny thriller that will keep you up all night! Megan Goldin weaves a spider web of a story, that follows protagonist Liv Reese as she tries to fill in a missing 2 year memory gap while being suspected of murder.

Readers note: Lots of timeline hopping due to the nature of Liv’s condition, but overall not too hard to follow.

I sure do love a good amnesia trope thriller!! I became a fan of Megan Goldin's when I read the Night Swim (still my fave!) and have loved everything I read of hers since.

The suspense was so great in this one I didn't want to put it down! And a couple of the twists here really got me! I didn't see them coming.

I just wanted a little more from the ending, hence the 4 instead of 5 stars. Other than that, this was a fantastic read that kept me engaged from cover to cover!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc of Stay Awake!

This book is fast-paced! It starts off immediately with the main character having lost her memory and she's in a taxi cab. Such an action-packed thriller that had my heart racing for most of the story. I read this in one sitting because I needed to know what happened next!

📖: Stay Awake
✍🏼: Megan Goldin
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️//5
Release Date 🗓: August 9, 2022

🤔💭: First off, I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martins Press for providing me this eARC and I am voluntarily leaving my review! Wow, this one took me on quite the ride and I was hooked from beginning to end. The premise of this story was quite terrifying actually as Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab and has no idea how she got there or where she is. When she gets dropped off at her apartment, strangers answer the door and force her out. She tries to call for help but discovers her phone is missing, finds a blood stained knife on her, and sees the words Stay Awake written on her hand. When she watches the news, she sees a murder took place where the victims blood was used to write a message on the window, which happens to be what’s etched on Liv’s skin. She has absolutely no recollection of anything that happened and is trying to piece together the fragments of her life. There’s someone out there who knows exactly what happened and who may be trying to make her forget—permanently. Like I said, this was quite the nail biter and the story shifts from two years ago to the present to help us piece everything together and find out answers on what happened those two years ago and how it relates to what’s happening now.

Recommend: ✅ I would definitely recommend this thriller! Make sure to add to your TBR for when this is released on August 9th! 👍🏼

Stay Awake is THE definition of unputdownable. Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi and has absolutely no idea where she is or where she was. She's dropped off at her apartment except when she gets there, a stranger answers the door and forces her out into the cold. Lost and disoriented, she looks down and sees that her hands are covered in messages: STAY AWAKE.

The next morning, Liv catches the news and is horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim's blood was used to scrawl a message across a window -- the same message that's scrawled on her hands. What did Liv do last night? And why does she not remember anything? 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.

Told from Liv's perspective and alternating timelines, Stay Awake blew me away. Probably my favorite read of 2022 so far -- I wish I had amnesia and could read this again!

This thriller blew me away. Because of the nature of the plot it took a little bit to get going, but once it did the story had me riveted. Had it not gotten late at night, I would have finished this in one sitting. The novel is described a being of the same ilk as Before I Go to Sleep and Memento.. While I have seen both movies, I really only recall Memento. And this book really does manage to play out in a similar fashion. The main character Liv's memory loss when she goes to sleep and confusion when she awakens is combined with flashbacks that help explain how she got to where she is in the story. Meanwhile, the two detectives who are searching for her give an exterior perspective and help fill in the gaps left behind by a forgetful narrator. The story was absolutely compelling and made want to rush to the end to see how it all turned out. While the true culprit wasn't that difficult to figure out, the book did keep you guessing until near the end. My only minor gripes are that the motive seemed obvious, but was never outright explained, and there was a mysterious subplot that was forgotten about by the end. But the writing and the story line were so excellent I will definitely be seeking out other books by Megan Goldin.

Liv, just stay where you are supposed to and don't move for a day ..darn it! I was too frustrated with the main character, Liv, to fully enjoy this story. It was fast paced and pretty unique so I think that is why others enjoyed it so much. For me, it was too long and Liv just got on my nerves so badly. For an adult who has seen miserable relationships in her mother's past, she is quite clueless when it comes to her own. She irritates me throughout the book. And she is somehow left alive by the supposed genius killer? That is not the only time we are asked to suspend belief. Her trip from London and NYC also mystified me.. Anyway, there are a few red herrings sprinkled through but most people will be able to see through them I think. /this was a solid 3 star read to me. I will still look for Megan Goldin books to read because she is a great at painting the scene and she definitely does not disappoint when it comes to the main story line of her books.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for a chance to read and review.

This one got me goooooood! I was spooked! I almost had to sleep with the lights on haha. I absolutely loved it.

Stay Awake. Stay Awake. Stay Awake Stay Awake.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
Expected Pub Date: 8/9/22

Get ready to hunker down and toss all adulting straight out the window! What a unique spin on an amnesia mystery. Think 50 first Dates (movie) but add a wholesome murder mystery. I read this within 24 hours and it is damn good.

3 things that blew me away:

1) amnesia storylines are my least favorite, but this book was phenomenal!

2) when reading a thriller I typically *always* have a perpetrator in mind. With this one, I was 100% consumed by the story that I read straight through without the wheels turning like mad in my head. Not many thriller books can do that to me!!

3) I crave that draw-dropping moment in the end when the perp is revealed. The killer did not surprise or shock me. I thought it didn't make the most sense, maybe a bit underdeveloped in a way...however, based on the story as a whole I didn't mind that, which is extremely rare.

^ Goldin's writing is complex, never stale, and won me over. This is one to watch! No doubt it will be a huge hit when it hits shelves. 4.5 stars rounded up!

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this eARC