Megan Goldin is officially one of my favorite writers. Stay awake was a fast-paced thriller about Liv, who when she falls asleep she forgets everything. She has Stay Awake written all over her hands and wrists to remind herself to not fall asleep. the story is told in the future and the past to give you snippets of information throughout the story. I read this one quickly as I couldn't stop thinking about the story. A great one and one I would recommend to those that like quick thrillers that keep you in suspense until the very end.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book! I’ve loved all of Megan Goldin’s book but this was probably my favorite of all! Following Liv’s choppy story and uncovering pieces alongside her kept me turning pages at a breakneck pace! My only complaint is that I saw one of the twists coming (who was after her) pretty early on in the story. Otherwise, I highly recommend to any thriller or mystery fan!

This book was simply unputdownable! An expertly crafted fast paced thriller from Megan Goldin. I loved her Night Swim and this one was a great read as well.

I’m a sucker for books that has a protagonist with unreliable memory. This one had memento vibes. Liz Reese wakes up one night at a cab, with no idea of how she got there. There are scribbles on her hand which says “ stay awake “. She has a bloody knife in her pocket and everything about her life seems to have changed . Someone else is living in her apartment. She isn’t working on her magazine anymore. And every time she sleeps and wakes up , her memory resets. And in the news , she sees her picture , wanted for a murder.

The story is told in multiple perspectives, multiple timelines and it keeps you guessing. Throughout the book I kept feeling nervous for Lizzie. With these kinds of book , the plot could get repetitive and lagging. Not with this one though , Megan keeps the story interesting by revealing a piece of puzzle with each chapter. I devoured this one in one night. I “ stayed awake “.
The ending itself was bit predictable, but I loved how the book had so much going on and did not completely depend on the reveal itself.

Overall , a fast paced , gripping thriller that keeps you awake at night ;)

I highly recommend this book.


This book comes out on August 9,2022. I thank st. Martins press and NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 stars for a thrilling, “one day in the life of crime” unputdownable story that isn’t coming out until AUGUST. This is the book you pick up for your 6 hour flight. This is the book that you read until 3 am.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab and doesn’t know how she got there. A usual party night? Not so much. She doesn’t remember anything beyond a sunny day at her office and answering her phone two years ago. As Liv wakes up, she’s thrown into a world beyond her recognition and she’s wanted for murder. Can the girl get a break?

I really enjoyed reading the Detective Halliday and Lavelle portions too. Good ol’ detective work makes my day. Taking off half a star because it lacked “heart” in the story, but I didn’t want to be bogged down during this thrilling chase.

3-1/2⭐️ (rounded up)
I’m going to preface this with mentioning that memory loss/amnesia storylines are just about my least favorite thing in a book because I feel like it’s (typically) a cop-out storyline where there are no limits. I guess I just feel like it’s less creative or they don’t have to try as hard on the twists because the character conveniently can’t remember..
**SO take this review with a grain of a salt.**
If you like that kind of theme in a book this could be a great read for you. I will say even though I’m not a fan of the premise of any book being memory loss I do think Goldin put a clever spin on the type of amnesia & what it was triggered by, etc.. Think 50 First Dates (Drew Barrymore & Adam Sandler movie) but add in some murder. It is not your typical ‘character gets in a car crash & wakes up remembering nothing’ storyline.

Right off the bat the story starts out with the main character Liv very quickly realizing she’s lost some bits of her memory. Shortly after there’s a murder & the entire book is basically based on those two things, and what part she may or may not play in the murder. Due to the amnesia storyline there was a ton of repetitiveness in phrases & events so I felt like I was continually reading the same thing in much of the book. In turn it felt like the story really drug for at least the first half of the book & even after that while it did pick up there’s still a lot of the same repetitiveness. One easy example is her memory of a phone call she received..I feel like I read that part 50 times! I get why the author did it & it was necessary to the story but that I guess goes back to why I’m not a fan of books based on memory issues.

Besides what I’ve previously mentioned this is a quick easy read & very well written! Well described characters. Liv was not really a likeable character but at the same time I was kind of rooting for her. So often an unlikable character can ruin a book (for me). It really wasn’t lacking in anything, it has the ingredients for a great book. It has dual timelines where it went back & forth from present time to 2 years prior, which I personally don’t mind when books have that so long as they mesh well together & this did! Just like her other books it’s twisty & keeps you guessing. I eventually had a feeling who the murderer was & what some of the twists were but I initially wouldn’t have ever guessed it & I love that I can expect that from her. I’m happy with how the book ended for the most part but I feel that with as slow as the entire book was that in comparison the ending was super short & rushed.

I’ve enjoyed all of Goldin’s other books especially The Night Swim…the book that started it all for me & her😜. I liked this one but I probably wouldn’t make a point to recommend it. She’s still an auto-read author for me but unfortunately the amnesia storyline made this one a bit of a miss. 3.5⭐️ rounded up because although the storyline didn’t entirely work for me I did enjoy it & wanted to know the ending, and the writing alone bumps it to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! It’s because of a previous arc that I came across her as an author to begin with.

I don’t know where to begin! I was very drawn to this book when the blurb said you wouldn't be able to put this book down. Granted, I was able to put it down because I had to sleep, I totally did not WANT to put it down. It started out strong enough to pique my interest, and as I got deeper into the book. I was thoroughly invested. There were layers to what was going on in Liv's life both in the present and in the past and each of these things were a piece of the puzzle. This was so well-written and Megan Goldin really solidified her spot as a top writer in this genre because of this book. "Stay Awake" deals with a character that was suffering from insomnia and memory loss where she wouldn't remember anything whenever she woke up from the past two years and each chapter would flash between past and present so it would have been very easy to be confusing but this book was so well written that it wasn't confusing at all. It becomes very clear that someone is after her and I truly had no clue who it was. One downfall with thrillers is sometimes the ending is rushed, or the author tries to tie it up with a nice bow that just doesn't match the story. That wasn't the case with this book.

This was a great book and I'm so glad I was asked to read it. Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Oh my gosh! I couldn't put this down. I went back and forth trying to put pieces of the story together to figure out what the hell was happening and was SHOOK at the end. So good!

Stay Awake is a gripping, page turning thriller! One that I've not ever read before.

You will find this book written in two POV's. One in today's timeline and that of two years prior.
Liv is confused and wakes up not realizing/remembering where she is and why...or even why she has written words on her body.

Stay Awake is an intense, thrilling, gripping read that will keep you on your toes until the very end! If you're looking for a one of a kind thriller, this is the book for you!
And that ending.... wow. I didn't see that one!

A well written thriller from start to finish!!!!

Highly recommend to anyone who loves thrillers!
I look forward to reading more books by this incredible author!!

5 stars
*Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for a widget to read in exchange for an honest review*

Liv is the female MC, who loses two years of her life every time she falls asleep. She has notes on her hands like “stay awake” “don’t talk to the police.” It was a very creepy and well thought out storyline. I’ve loved all of the books written by this author and cannot wait for them to write more. Perfect combination of thriller and creepy!!

I’d like to thank netgalley and the punisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have one read one other book by this author, The Night Swim and really enjoyed that so I was excited to read this one. When Liv wakes up and realizes she can’t remember who she is, what day it is, or year and she has notes written all over her hands, she must try to find out what has happened the last two years because if she falls asleep, she may never remember. A great read.

I loved Goldin's previous novel, The Night Swim, and I was so excited when I received a widget for Stay Awake. I dove into this book with high expectations. I seem to be in the minority here, and do not want to leave a negative review, but I just did not like this book. I find the whole amnesia plot is becoming over done in a lot of the books I have been reading lately. When I got into this book, and amnesia starting playing such a huge role, I started to lose interest immediately. Several times while reading this book, it just felt to me like the movie Groundhog Day. The story got very repetitive, and that got frustrating for me. I got very tired of the same phrases over and over again "stay awake" and "don't trust anyone". They seemed to be repeated every other page. I developed no emotional connection to Liv or any of the characters for that matter, other than maybe Ted, who was the only one I really liked in the whole book. I will not fault Goldin's writing style at all, because it is still spot on, I just don't think that the theme of this book worked for me. Sad to say this was a miss for me, but again, I seem to be in the minority.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins' Press for this ARC.

I was given this book from NetGalley for an honest review -
Lily tries her hardest to stay awake because when she sleeps she can't remember
Two years ago she worked as a writer at a magazines and was dating.
Why is there writing all over her hands that say stay awake? Why is she running and not knowing where she is? Why does she find a bloody knife in her pocket?
Someone knows and doesn't want her to remember! Grab this book for an edge of your seat thriller!

Wow this is so good it’s told in two timelines - present day and two years ago by Liv Reese. Present day Liv wakes up in the back seat of a NY cab with no clue as to why or how, she also doesn’t have her phone or purse but there’s writing written on her hands. Somehow she understands she must stay awake to figure out why she is wanted by NYPD. Two years ago, Liv survived a traumatic event and moved to London. She’s diagnosed as an amnesiac, memory loss. When this occurs Liv wakes up not remembering what happened the night before. This is a quick, very intense, and twisty read! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy. This is my honest review.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a solidly written book. It does require a lot of suspension of disbelief to believe that the lead character Liv, cannot fall asleep without forgetting everything. If you can get over that premise, this book is pretty darn good. The back and forth time frames work well and set the stage for the progression of the story. I did figure out "whodunit" about three quarters of the way through, but nonetheless this was an entertaining story. Pretty good police procedural too on top of a good domestic mystery. Recommend and thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

A great page turner in the covid era... a great escape for an afternoon, a day at the beach, a vacation or plane read to divert ones thoughts from everyday life.

Could not put it down! There were so many twists and turns that I was completely engrossed in this book. There were a few things I figured out before the book revealed them, such as an affair that was taking place and who the killer actually was, but it did not detract from the book once my assumptions were proved true. I loved Halliday and how she was so determined to look past the obvious clues and I thought Liv was a great character as well. I would highly recommend this book!

I wrote a review for Stay Awake yesterday and left it until this morning to review. Do you know what? I realized it was so boring it would have put Liv to sleep no matter how much caffeine she ingested. The new review plan is being revised and rethought, but for 2022 and I am going to try to leave the book description to the people who already wrote it quite well and stick to how the book made me feel. Good luck to me!
Imagine waking up in a taxi with no idea how you got there? Especially when you don't recall going out and having too much to drink. The last thing you remember is being in your office and answering the phone. What could have possibly happened between then and now? She doesn't have her purse or phone, but she does have a lot of cash, a bunch of writing on her hands telling her to stay awake, and other assorted messages that make very little sense. Oh, and a bloody knife, just, what did Liv do after work?
If this seems like a disorienting scenario, buckle up because this is only the beginning. Every time Liv falls asleep, she wakes up having no idea where she is and only remembers the last thing she did, answering the phone in her office. We learn through chapters set in the present, and two years ago, that she suffered a severe injury and something horrific happened to her roommate and boyfriend. She doesn't know who to call or what to do and every time she gains a little more knowledge, she falls asleep, losing all of her recently gained information.
Enter Detectives Halliday and LaValle who are searching for a woman who is the number one suspect in a murder investigation. The woman turns out to be Liv and when she sees her picture on TV, the only thing she is sure of is that she wouldn't kill anyone. But can she be trusted when she doesn't remember the victim or what she did last night? When it appears that someone other than the police are desperate to find Liv, I was holding my breath hoping that she wouldn't fall asleep again!
This was such a tension-filled story and honestly, just a nightmare scenario. I loved how the author dropped small tidbits of information along the way. Enough so I started to make predictions about the bad guy, but not enough for me to not have more than one suspect, including Liv. Megan Goldin is three for three with me. Every book has been so different and once again, I stayed up too late finishing this one. For once, that was an incredibly good thing, and when I woke up in the morning, I checked to be sure I had finished this twisty book. 4.5 stars.

I enjoyed Night Swim by this author so I needed to get my hands on this ASAP! I could not put it down and was so invested in how things would play out. Soooo good and highly recommend!

This was a very aptly titled book: Stay Away, Stay Awake, Stay Awake! That's what I had to tell myself last night in order to finish this book because it was that good. I read it almost in one sitting.

I really enjoyed the storyline in regards to how everything was woven together. The multiple timelines and multiple POV"s were certainly a plus and were very nicely done. I loved the banter between the two detectives, would be interested to see another novel with them included!

One very small criticism I would have (very minor) is that the blurb refers to the movie Memento, for those who have seen that movie it kind of let me know how it may turn out. It didn't ruin anything by any means but I just had a good idea of where it was going. But can see wanting to entice people who may have enjoyed the movie.

Every book by this author has been unique and I have really enjoyed them all.

Thanks so much for my advanced copy looking forward to the next book. Separate review will be posted on good reads without the criticism.

Stay Awake begins: "Starbursts blink from streetlights like they're sharing a secret as I wake to find myself slumped in the back of a cab, without any recollection of how I got here or where I'm going."

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd, just like that, I was hooked. Good thing I was in that haze between Christmas and New Year's Eve when time doesn't count, because I was able to dive into this book without feeling the slightest bit of guilt about the things I should be doing. (New Year's Resolution: stop feeling guilt about things I should be doing.)

Anyway, Megan Goldin hits all the right notes for me (if you like old mysteries and new podcasts, definitely check out The Night Swim) as a reader, and I've become *picky* about my thrillers of late.

In this book, Liv Reese has a memory condition where whenever she wakes up, she's forgotten everything that happened in the last two years, after she nearly lost her life in (for lack of better words, and to avoid spoilers) a traumatic event. I have absolutely no idea whether such a condition can really happen, and I'll leave that to the smarter folks. But Goldin more than convinced me, and I was along for every turn of this roller coaster ride.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book. Megan Goldin, please keep them coming.