The twists, turns, misdirects we’re incredible. I did not see any of the twists coming. A perfect suspenseful thriller.

While I was excited about the premise of this book, I was disappointed by the execution. The idea was strong and compelling. The side characters added to the story. However, the main character let me down. She ran away from solutions and made frustrating decisions.

It was a quick, fun read, but not one that I will revisit.

I will fully admit I requested this one for myself, rather than to recommend to my students. And I'm glad I did! I loved the "Memento"-like feel this novel had, and how unreliable the narrator truly was. It was fun to be able to read this before it was published, and to then watch all the rave reviews pour in for this phenomenal book!

"Stay Awake" might be the most suspenseful thriller I have ever read. The tension crackled off the page, and there was no point where I felt sure I knew what was going to happen next. Megan Goldin did an unbelievable job, not only of making Liv's condition feel real but of drawing readers into her world of uncertainty and paranoia.

S-T-A-Y A-W-A-K-E. Liv Reese wakes in the back of a New York City taxi to find this message scrawled across her knuckles. She finds she has no phone, no purse, no understanding of where she's coming from or where she's going, and no idea what time warp she's entered that has sprung her into midwinter when the last thing she remembers is answering her office phone on a warm, summer's day. As Liv tries to reconcile what she can remember, living in a Brooklyn brownstone with her much-loved roommate, Amy, dating a new guy who might just be "the one", Marco, and scoring a well-deserved promotion at trendy magazine, Cultura, with the waking nightmare she finds herself trapped inside: where messages like the ones scrawled over her hands are found written in blood at a crime scene.

Although she can't remember where she's been and she's not sure where she's going, Liv knows she isn't a killer. Time for her to prove it, to both herself and the police, is running short as she begins receiving messages from the only other person who seems to know what happened to Liv in the past 24 hours. The only problem is that Liv gets the feeling they might want to shut her up, permanently.

Goldin has given us one of the best thrillers in recent memory with "Stay Awake." The tension, the confusion, and the paranoia swirling around Liv are palpable. Readers will be racing towards the finish, unable to walk away from Liv's story, forcing themselves to stay awake just to reach the thrilling conclusion. An absolute must-read for fans of Lisa Jewell, Simone St. James, and Alice Feeney. Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "Stay Awake" in exchange for an honest review.

My first book by Megan Goldin. I love the unreliable narrator trope (one of my favs!) and this was a fun twist on it. I wasn't able to figure out the who-dunnit until near the end, so I enjoyed that about this one, as usually I can guess the plot pretty early. There was one add-in that I didn't understand why it was mentioned as much as it was, but not a huge deal.

I definitely recommend this one to any thriller lover! Will be checking out more of Goldin's books. Thanks, St. Martin's!

Another unputdownable story full of suspense to the very end! I did have some suspicions that were proven by the end but loved how everything came together in the end.

Every time Liv falls asleep, she wakes up forgetting everything from the last two years ago. She has a rare form of amnesia that makes her very vulnerable to something from her past when she has absolutely no memory of it. The story is definitely packed with tension, suspense, and drama.

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy of Stay Awake, by Megan Goldin! This exciting thriller is out now, and you definitely need to block out some solid time to read it because you won’t be able to put it down.

I LOVED this one. I loved everything about it:
- The dual points of view
- The unreliable narrator
- Solving the murder
- How I couldn’t put it down for hours

If you’re looking for a great thriller, this one will definitely fit the bill.

Thank you Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press for the gifted book.

Liv wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea how she got there. And when she goes to her apartment, evidently she doesn't live there anymore. Then she realizes she's missing her phone and in it's place is a bloody knife, and there is writing on her skin that says "stay awake." New York doesn't feel like the city she knows, but she can't place why it feels so off. Then she gets a glimpse at the news reporting a bloody murder where there was a message left at the scene, the same that's on her arms, "stay awake".

I will start off my review by saying one of my least favorite tropes in books is the groundhog day trope. And while this book doesn't exactly follow the premise of that trope, it is close enough that it definitely taints how I feel about it. But once I got past the repetitive nature of this book, the premise is interesting and the twists and turns were enough to keep me engaged from beginning to end. I also appreciated that I did not peg the bad guy correctly and the police officers in the book seemed mostly realistic.

No spoilers
I honestly hated this book. The characters were either flat or annoying. The sypnosis was so so promising but the book didn’t deliver enough for me honestly. There was also a lottttt of unanswered questions that were actually very important for the comprehension of the story and book.
Disappointed.

I had fun with the suspense (and even shared a few cups of coffee with Liv along the way).

My Review: This story had me interested from the first chapter which is always a win. I very quickly became invested in Liv’s story. The chapters flipped through timelines and perspectives very smoothly. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost with this type of approach, but the author did a really good job so the reader was never lost. This type of storyline has definitely been done before; it wasn’t the most original plot, but it was well delivered nonetheless. I would recommend for people who enjoy suspense without it being “keep you up at night” scary.

Keywords: amnesia, caffeine, murder

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my honest review.*

A new twist on amnesia where it was caused by a severe traumatic incident and resets every time Liv wakes up so she is trying to stay awake. While the book could be confusing with the way it jumps between POVs and time lines, it is very well done and feels as if you, the reader, are dealing with the amnesia as well. Who can you trust? The police are after you. Are you the killer? Or is the killer chasing you, too?

Quite a thriller! Very engaging.

After Night Swim and Escape Room, I trust Goldin with all of my crime loving heart to deliver explosive thrillers!! I was right to trust Goldin because she did it again with Stay Awake—an edge of the seat fast paced thriller with dual timeline where our MC wakes up with cryptic writing on her arm. To figure it out and find clues to piece it together, she must Stay Awake. Goldin is good at writing strong, empathetic and sometimes unreliable female MCs. This story’s MC Liv is also one such character. You will be guessing and yelling along with this character till the final turn out!! Highly recommended if you like to read high stakes thrillers and psychological thrillers.

Thank you St.Martin’s Press for the arc via Netgalley

I loved this! It kept me guessing to the very end. I also loved the way it was written with different point of views and time periods!

This book had me hooked from the very beginning!! Waking up in the back of a cab with no memory covered in your own notes written on your body?! WOW! Sure, some moments weren’t always believe and Liz was so infuriating at times but overall this book was one of the most insane psychological thrillers I have ever had the pleasure of reading!! My jaw didn’t totally drop at the twist but it was still incredibly satisfying and if you’re new to thrillers, this one is for sureeeeee a hit!

*Imagine waking up and not recognizing where you are. Your last memory is a sunny day, a phone ringing at work, you picking it up...and that's it. Now it's fall, over two years later, and you have no memory of what has happened in those two years. You've written things like "STAY AWAKE" all over your hands and arms. But you can only stay awake so long before your body gives out on you. That's Liz's reality, She tracks down coworkers and they reference something bad having happened but unsure as to what.

We do go back in time to learn what led up to her last memory two years ago but then...nothing...after Liz picks up the phone at work. All she remembers of the last two years is what has happened since she last woke up. She's all alone, she can't trust anyone. And she knows someone has been watching.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

I've read and loved Megan Goldin's first two books, and she doesn't let up with Stay Awake! I loved the cinematic structure of this book, which alternates between police investigating a homicide, and Liv's experience waking up near that homicide and trying to figure out if she's somehow connected. She can't remember the last two years of her life and only remembers being in her office. When she tries to go to her apartment, someone new lives there! Then she starts getting phone calls from some creepy guy and has writing on her arms telling her not to fall asleep or trust anyone. My brain was going all over the place with the author's red herrings and I couldn't stop turning the pages of this thriller banger. Would especially recommend to fans of Lisa Unger's Under My Skin, which also deals with murder and memory loss.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this story in exchange for an honest review. I could not put this book down. I had to find out why Liv would forget everything after she went to sleep. This book had so many twists and turns and definitely had me biting my nails. I was happy with the ending, was not entirely expecting the outcome even though I had a general idea of where it may lead. Definitely a great writer of twisty turns.

Wow! This was a crazy ride. While it did keep me interested I felt that Meg was the typical character in a psychological thriller. I mean this in that there were so many points in the story where she could have gotten help but ultimately went running. To the point where the reader becomes impatient and frustrated.

But… the story is twisty and turns and beyond bizarre. Overall even with the character redundancy I enjoyed the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a copy to review.

"There's no such thing as being an observer. Doing nothing is doing something."

What if every time you fell asleep, when you woke up you couldn't remember the last two years of your life? Liv Resse wakes up in the back of a taxi and she can't remember how she got there. When she gets home she discovers someone else now lives in her apartment. Confused and disoriented, Liv finds STAY AWAKE written on the back of her hand. The life Liv remembers seems to have vanished and now she is is stuck trying to figure out the missing pieces.

Stay Awake starts off with a bang and rarely lets up on the gas. Megan Goldin spins a fabulous mystery full of intrigue, suspense and drama. Told from alternating timelines, this had plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end.

So grab a cup, or 7, of coffee and be prepared to stay awake long into the night to finish this one~

A very solid 3.5/3.75 stars. Thrilling and hard to put down, but the overall reveal was quite underwhelming and I was expecting more from this author.