Stay Awake is a slow burn thriller with an unreliable main character and an interesting premise. Liv is suffering from bouts of memory loss and is desperately trying to stay awake and alert while piecing together both the past and present. I don’t do spoilers so that’s all I’ll say about the plot.

While I loved Goldin’s Escape Room, this one fell a little short for me mainly because it was such a slow burn and I had figured out the main plot twists well in advance of the late reveal. I didn’t find there to be a ton of action or suspense until around the 80% mark, but I still found the characters engaging enough for me to want to keep reading.

Overall, it was a solid and enjoyable read that just didn’t knock my socks off. Judging by the star rating on Goodreads, I seem to be an outlier on this one. Perhaps my high hopes impacted my thoughts on the matter.

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

If you're in the mood for a thriller, this will definitely keep you awake until you find out how it ends!

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. My only complaint is that I felt the end was slightly rushed and I tend to like things perfectly wrapped up. Otherwise I read this in two sittings and it made me anxious which I always enjoy when reading a thriller. Works definitely recommend.

An interesting and unique premise but for me the book has too many flaws. I don’t want to give too much away so I don’t spoil the book for others so I’ll be as vague as I can. Of all the possibilities put forward on the identity of her stalker and killer, such as the waiter, the artist, either one of two co-workers, this person didn’t even enter my mind. You might think that’s a good thing surprise wise, but from how the book is written it makes no sense. I can understand why the person turned out to be the killer, but as the stalker it doesn’t make sense at all to me. I also feel the book ended too abruptly. For me a better ending would have been giving us a glimpse of her life a little beyond her hospital bed, is she acquitted, how is life for her a few months out?
I did really like the characters of the two detectives, Halliday and Lavelle and would love to see them in a series by this author.

Two murders. Two years apart. Is she a suspect or a victim?

This is a thriller that keeps you guessing. The story goes back and forth in time, and that’s putting it mildly. Years, days, and even minutes are transposed throughout the plot. In trying to keep things straight, I began wondering if I had the same memory issues as the main character!

I'm not sure I bought into the pre-murder foresight of the villain or other bits and pieces of the plot, but, that being said, not a bad read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins’ Press for this ARC.

Oh my goddddd.

This book actually took me some time to get into because it was hard for me to follow the way the chapters were organized and the generalized flow. I finally caught on that it alternates between 1st person to 3rd person POV! Between Liv (1st person) and then the officer's who are in charge of the murder investigation (3rd person). Then it allllll started to make sense!

A woman loses her memory every time she goes to sleep (Liv). Someone is murdered and this woman is the prime suspect. Who committed the crime? Will Liv remember what happened? What triggered her to lose her memory like this as of two years ago?

It was super good. I was so excited when the plot twist hit and everything fell into place. I absolutely love Megan Goldin! I will forever read every one of her books and this is one you all definitely need to read! This author knows how to throw down a plot twist that will make you breathless.

Days after finishing, I'm still speechless. Stay Awake sucked me in from page one and didn't let go. I COULD NOT put it down.

Liz's last memory is putting the phone down at her desk at work... but when that was, she doesn't know. She wakes up in the back of a taxi with no memory of how she got there. Some other couple is living in her apartment, she can't find her phone to reach out to anyone for help, even heading back to work leaves her completely confused, as the office is totally redesigned, with new staff and almost no one she recognizes.

Even stranger is that she finds she has graffiti-like text scribbled all over her body!? Ominous phrases such as "stay awake." But why? And why, when she reaches in her pocket does she pull out a bloody knife - one she has no memory of ever touching. Imagine her terror when she catches on the news that a body has been found and the words "Stay Awake" are drawn in blood in the window...

I can't even imagine what this poor woman must have felt. Lost, confused, and alone. But finding out what really is going on, blew my mind even more. This book kept me on the edge of my seat, unable to put it down as I had to know more. My first fabulous read of 2022 and just like Megan's earlier works, it was a fast-paced, can-not-put-it-down psychological thriller, I'm so grateful to have gotten my hands on it!

This review will be posted on my Instagram (@bookishblondegirl) sometime between 01/15-01/19!

4.5 stars rounded up!

The last thing Liv Reese remembers is falling asleep at her work desk during a late night at the office. When she wakes up and tries to return to her apartment, she finds strangers inside instead of her roommate and cat. When she tries to call her boyfriend, she is told she has the wrong number. And most confusing, she finds messages written on her skin in her own handwriting, the largest of which simply says 'STAY AWAKE'. Soon she finds out that two years have passed since that night in her office, and a mysterious murder has occurred where the murderer left a message scrawled in blood saying 'WAKE UP'. But Liv would know if she was a murderer...right?

I loved this. Such a unique setup with lots of twists and turns! I liked how we got to see not only Liv's past and present, but we also had the POV of the detectives investigating the murder interspersed as well. I don't think this would have worked as well without the perspective of the detectives, because their perspective broke up, per se, the disorganized and unreliable narrative we got following Liv.

Speaking of Liv's narrative, I think it was refreshing to have an unreliable narrator whose unreliability isn't because she's "crazy" or unstable, but because of a medical condition. I enjoy unreliable narrators when they are well-done, but the unstable narrator has been used a lot lately and I liked this fresh take on it. Megan Goldin did an excellent job of evoking Liv's confusion and distress, while still making her a competent character that we can root for.

As I mentioned, I appreciated the perspective of detectives Halliday and Lavelle, as well as the dynamic between them. Halliday in particular was a great character; mixing her logic/police work with compassion and open-mindedness. I would definitely read another book following these two!

When it comes to who the "big reveal" villain was, I did guess their identity pretty early on, though there were several red herrings that kept me doubting. Even without the red herrings, my (correct) suspicions of who was behind everything didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. The plot and characters kept me concerned with WHAT was going to happen rather than WHO would be doing it.

I highly recommend reading this, especially if you are wanting something unique and different within the mystery/thriller genre! Thanks so much NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this ARC in exchange for my review! Stay Awake will be out on 08/09/22!

I didn't find this exciting at all. Way too unbelievable. I usually like books especially thrillers with the amnesia trope but this missed the mark for me.

This one is out in August - save the date FOR SURE. Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I am such a fan of Goldin’s books, and this is my new favorite.

Stay Awake felt like such a different thriller: a plot line I hadn’t experienced before with an unreliable narrator but NOT because she’s “crazy” - thank you, Megan Goldin. That trope is becoming a tad overdone, I think.

I also could not figure out the ending for sure, until it was finally unfolding. The nature of the story leaves you doubting yourself and every guess you have, not just about whodunnit, but also what the “it” even was.

I read this one obsessively, squeezing pages in every chance I got. Seriously, if you love thrillers, make a note to get your hands on this one when it’s out in August!

The last thing you remember is working at your office desk on a summer day and answering a phone call but now it is night-time, the temperature is frigid, your phone and purse are missing, the letters S T A Y A W A K E are written above your knuckles and other words and messages written elsewhere on your hands and arms. When you go to your apartment, instead of finding your roommate Amy and your cat Shawna you find a strange couple living there. You go to your workplace, Cultura, but you do not recognize anyone, the office has had a radical makeover, you recognize the framed covers of issues of the magazine you worked on but don't recognize the most recent covers, and when you identify yourself, a woman you don't know says she is happy to finally meet you and people ask you about life in London; you are currently in New York City and have no recollection of living in London. When you call your boyfriend Marco, the person who answers the phone tells you that you have the wrong number and to stop calling. When you finally learn the date, you realize that more than two years have passed for which you have no memory. That is the situation facing Liv Reese in "Stay Awake."

Making matters more confusing, an unidentified man has been stabbed to death in an apartment and the words "Wake Up" written in blood on a window, with the words written backwards so they can be read by people outside the building looking at the window. Those words are eerily similar to the writing on Liv's hands, and she becomes concerned that she is somehow connected to the crime. Over the course of the next few days, Liv will interact with people who appear to be strangers to her but know her and treat her like a friend or acquaintance and tell her that she has told them about her severe insomnia and memory problems. When she falls asleep, she forgets everything that has happened to her recently, so she drinks excessive amounts of coffee and caffeine drinks and takes caffeine pills in an effort to stay awake. The story alternates between the events of two years ago and current events -- both Liv's efforts to figure out what is happening to her and the efforts by detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavalle to solve the strange murder in the apartment, which eventually leads to a search for Liv Reese.

"Stay Awake" is one of the creepiest and most twisted stories I have read. The confusion that Liv experiences every time she awakens from sleep is palpable. The author does a great job of keeping the reader on edge and guessing, especially as there are multiple characters and events from two years ago that may or may not be related to the traumatic event that will upend Liv's world, and which has ongoing ramifications for her, including a connection to the mysterious murder the police are currently investigating. The story has multiple sub-plots and there are multiple characters whom it is unclear whether they are friend or foe and/or are plausible suspects for the over-arching villain in the story. The character who turns out to pose the greatest threat to Liv is not the person I would have suspected. "Stay Awake" is well worth reading -- and once you start, you will not want to sleep until the book is finished.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This book was a fast paced thriller that you won't want to put down. I'm sure I could have devoured this book in a day, but life has been busy. I did have my suspicions early on, but as usual, I would keep second guessing myself. I enjoyed the past and present timelines where slowly but surly it all comes together in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. I have enjoyed Goldin's previous works so I was delighted to get my hands on this one. Unfortunately, I was bored to tears. Although it was enough mystery that kept you wondering why must she stay awake and why can't she remember anything, the rest of the story was so boring.

This is my first great book of the year! It was SO GOOD! Fast paced, heart pounding and confounding- just the way I like a good thriller mystery! Liv wakes up and has no idea where she is but when she goes home she finds she no longer lives there and the people she knows are no longer there! She realizes that every time she falls asleep she forgets her whole life and so she has to STAY AWAKE! Liv is way more resourceful and competent than I ever would have been in her situation but as she races around manhattan trying to piece together her story the reader is coming up with theory after theory (none of mine were right) about what is going on. I am a fan of this author already but I LOVED this book!

I was really looking forward to this book because the overview was very enticing. Unfortunately, it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It just took far too long to get to the meat and potatoes. If I have read about a quarter of the book and still don’t see where it’s headed, I don’t have much patience and move on to something else. That was the case for me. Maybe not for another reader. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC and the chance to offer my opinion.

Oh my word! This book disrupted my sleep. I stayed up all night reading and then finished Stay Awake before getting ready for work.
In Stay Awake, Liv has an unusual case of amnesia; each time she goes to sleep, her memory disappears. When she wakes again, she is confused and doesn't understand that two years have passed. She also doesn't remember the terrible trauma that preceded her memory issues. But that isn't her only issue. Someone is out to make sure that Liv never has a chance to recover her memory. Another murder occurs. All the clues point to Liv as the perpetrator. She also wonders if she could have done something so horrible and not be able to remember it. But all is not what it seems.
Stay Awake will keep you guessing up until the very end. Wonderful read!

This book took me a minute to get into, but oh my goodness, once I did I could not stop reading it!!! Excellent story, totally not what I thought it would be about. There was a personal story to this book not just your regular mystery story. Excellent book for anyone getting bored or not enjoying their usual genre. Great book for a book club as well.

I love all Ms. Goldin's book and now I'll add this one to the list!! The characters have depth and as you're reading it's like a movie playing in your mind, the best kind of book. I highly recommend reading this book and if you haven't read her others start NOW!

Stay Awake
A Novel
by Megan Goldin
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

The book was just okay for me. It was pretty confusing, too much jumping back and forth. there are .so many characters, multiple POVs I just felt I was reading six books at once.

4.5 stars! Stay Awake was such a fun book. I enjoyed the alternating chapters between the detective, Darcy Halliday and Liv Reese who keeps waking up with no memory of what happened and thinking it’s two years prior. I really enjoyed the development of the character Detective Halliday; I hope she is in future books. She was well crafted and multidimensional and there just so many unanswered questions related to her past. Please me a series!!!! 🙏🏻

This is my second book by Megan Goldin and will not be my last. Well done!

Big thank you to St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to read, Stay Awake and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!