I loved this creepy non stop suspenseful thriller. The main character had a rare form of insomnia where when she fell asleep she would forget everything for the past two years of her life.

Short synopsis: Every time Liv falls asleep, she wakes up with no recent memories. She wakes up with a bloody knife in her pocket and messages scrawled on her hands and arms urging her to Stay Awake.

My thoughts: After reading The Night Swim earlier this year I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Megan Goldin’s newest thriller. Stay awake exceeded every expectation I’d had!

A fast paced, page turning, atmospheric thriller that will keep you guessing until the last pages.

Loved the perspective from the detectives and the unreliable narrator was done so well in Liv.

I can’t wait to read more from Megan!

Read if you love:
- Fast paced thrillers
- Multiple perspectives
- Amnesia troupe
- Reverse order timeline

Thank you so much St Martins for a copy of this book!

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a psychological thriller following Liv Reese as she wakes up in a cab with no clue where she is or what has happened to her. From there, we find out that every time she doses off, she loses her memory, like a scary 50 First Dates. The novel also follows Detective Haliday as she tries to find a cold-blooded killer, one who stabbed their victim and even wrote "Wake Up" on the window in blood.

While this thriller is fast-paced with a lot of twists and turns, it ultimately has too many scenes reiterating that our narrator has memory problems. It can be a little repetitive, and my overall criticism of the genre itself is that our heroines have SO MUCH TRAUMA! I can't list all of her issues without spoiling, but it does take me out of the story when an innocent person has such a sad backstory.

If you have never read Megan Goldin, start with The Night Swim, as this is a far more compelling story with multiple narrators that actually contains social commentary.

Stay Awake was the first book I read since August and I'm so glad it pulled me tight in and kept me wanting more. At times it was a bit repetitive but I understand why that was needed since Liv suffers from amnesia. It was a medium paced suspense book that kept my attention and made me want to read one more chapter to find out what happens next. Highly recommend!

The premise of this story was very intriguing. A woman wakes up with a bloody knife in her pocket and words scribbled all up and down her hands and arms, telling her to "stay awake." What does it mean? And why can't she remember the past two years of her life?

I admit, this story did not keep me quite as captivated as The Night Swim. In fact, it felt to me like two different people wrote these stories. Stay Awake jumped around a lot from present day to two years ago to two days ago, and I found myself having to backtrack a lot to keep myself straight on where we were in the timeline.

Liv really is dealing with quite a lot, losing her memory every time she falls asleep. And now she has no clue what she's been doing for the past two years of her life. And someone appears to be after her. This was certainly a twisty tale that kept me guessing all the way through. I had one suspect in mind, but I was completely wrong, so kudos to Ms. Goldin for throwing me off the track.

My favorite chapters were the ones with Detectives Halliday and Lavelle. I tended to get a little aggravated with the decisions that Liv was making, but I've never been in her situation so I can't say what I would have done differently. All in all, I enjoyed this book, but it didn't hit all the marks for me the way The Night Swim did.

Suspenseful and engaging, Stay Awake kept me pulled in to the story from the first chapter. Unreliable narrator (amnesia), lots of potential suspects, and twists I didn’t see coming. Highly recommend this well-paced thriller!

Stay awake is written in the form of letters. This was such a unique writing style, I loved it. Liv wakes up in a tazi with no idea where she is headed, or how she even got in this taxi. When she arrives at the apartment that she shares with her friend Amy, she is shocked to find who strangers are living there. We follow Liv who has a rare type of amnesia.

Her life is exhausting because every time she wakes up she needs to piece together her life. She wakes up one morning with the words "stay awake" written on her palm. Later that day she sees a new report of a murder investigation. And at the scene of the write, written in blood is the same message... "stay awake".

This was such a page turner!!

I was so hyped up to read this book I ended up being kind of scared to read it, you guys. Have you ever been so excited for something you feel like you may have talked yourself into it disappointing you? That's what I kind of did with "Stay Awake": For months on end I was so excited to read this book that when it came time to read it (I read my ARCS rather chronologically and I have a system, folks)... I put it off. Then everyone in my house got COVID, so I fell behind in my ARC reading. And then I moved on, telling myself I would make time for "Stay Awake" when I had time for it.

And now I feel awfully dumb, because this book was flipping fantastic! Sure, it does remind me of the fabulous 2000 Christopher Nolan film "Memento" in a lot of ways, but I simply couldn't bring myself to care too much, because from the very first page, I was rolling with this story and how Goldin used the bookend storytelling method in such a unique and effective manner. It's not easy to bookend a story that starts in media res specifically like this one does and echo that beginning with an ending that's much the same but with the plot resolved and the character completely changed. Also, the themes of PTSD, enduring grief, and needing a purpose in life to keep moving on after a great loss echoed in both our protagonist, Liv Reese, and in one of the NYPD detectives in charge of the chase, Detective Halliday. A tenuous psychological insight between Halliday (who used to be in the military and lost fellow troops and friends in Afghanistan and at home) form a solid sympathetic backbone between the unreliable narration of Liv (who, of course, knows not to trust her own brain so we know better too) and the too-pragmatic and masculine brain of Halliday's partner, Detective Lavelle. Detective Lavelle's not a bad cop by any means, but he's a city copy who just doesn't know to look any deeper than the evidence right in front of him, while Halliday can see there are nuances to this case that she can't dismiss.

Memory loss is a horrid, traumatizing thing. I suffer from memory blackouts myself. That's part of what drew me to this book. I don't suffer the same kind of blackouts, but I've lost hours, days, weeks, and once I missed months. The time I missed months I had a nervous breakdown. You panic, not knowing or understanding why, and it simply makes you want to beg to be locked away because you can't be sure of what you did in that missing chunk of time. I actually did beg to be committed. I didn't trust myself. It also makes you paranoid, because you realize that you're vulnerable: people could say things to you or talk you into things or take things from you and you may never remember. So I had a very visceral reaction to Liv's memory blackouts, because I remember that feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. I remember how that feels, to go into a place and have people remember you being there and you not remember. It didn't trigger me, but boy did it make me empathize with Liv and her predicament. If it weren't for [spoiler reasons], I'd have been mentally begging her to just go to the police and tell them to take me to the mental hospital, because it was obvious Liv was just too vulnerable to be alone.
As the plot unfolded in this book, page by page and scene by scene, I was also reminded of "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" by Gillian McAllister, even though that title came out later in the year than "Stay Awake". But both books have that time device plot of the past coming up to meet a predetermined point near the end of the book, and it works so well because it allows just a drip of information of what Liv went through in a pivotal time frame to the entire plot, allowing all the collected information from the rest of the book to coalesce into a clear picture at the exact right time for the rest of the book to press forward into one exhilarating conclusion.

I absolutely loved this book and wish I had read it sooner this year. What an excellent thrill ride!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for granting me access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review, and another thanks is due to St. Martin’s Press for sending me a complimentary finished hardcover copy of the book. Thanks, you guys!

Please note this review is being written as part of a series of backdated ARC reviews that were due earlier in the year but, for one reason or another, I wasn’t able to get to them by the publication date.

File Under: Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller/Crime Thriller/Five Star Reads/Thriller

Megan Goldin is a rockstar on the mystery/thriller front! I am LOVING her! She had me questioning every character and their innocence which is what you want to do! I was captivated and the ending was so well done! Good job and can’t wait to read her again!!

This was a quick read for me considering I was super intrigued and wanted to know who commuted the crime! The psychological aspect incorporated into the story was super interesting to me since I’ve heard it happen to people who want to suppress trauma. I enjoyed having to piece together all the clues and figure out what truly happened to Liv!

4.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for a free E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Wow this book surprised me in all the best ways, i absolutely loved this book. There was twist and turns as well as the premise was something that i really haven’t read before at all. Additionally there was 3 main povs that we kept flipping between and fast paced chapters. Honestly any fans of thrillers need to read this book was absolutely amazing!

I enjoyed this one but not quite as much as The Night Swim by this author. I did enjoy getting to solve the mystery as we went along and getting to follow the cops and Liz at the same time. I thought it came together nicely in the end. But to me, it was slightly predictable. Will still read more from this author for sure!

I had no problem staying awake to read this. I think I could not have oput it down until finished. It moved very fast, with many twists, so was a great night to spend a whole night.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Stay Awake is a phenomenal story with amazing characters. Liv, the main character and Darcy the detective… I want more of them.
This was such a mind grabbing, psychological thriller that’ll you will stay awake all night to finish.
One thing I liked the most is the set up of the story and how the main events are in the course of one day.
Looking forward to more from this author.

Overall, this book was a hit for me. It took me a minute to get into the swing of it, and I didn't know if this would be semi sci-fi or if there was a logical reason for Liv's amnesia. But as this went on, i became more invested and began doubting almost every character. This was the kind of thriller where you feel anxious, in a good way, which make this book hard to put down. I did predict the end, but I still enjoyed the twists. I fully recommend this and love Megan Goldin's writing.

WOW. I loved The Night Swim by Goldin but this.. this was something else. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had a thriller make me feel this way. I truly had no idea where it was going, had no clue who the killer was, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

Liv’s amnesia gave me Memento vibes and made for a very interesting but complicated part of the story. I mean complicated in a good way - you’re frustrated in that CMON REMEMBER SO WE CAN WRAP THIS UP which makes the thriller all the more juicy. I loved the two detectives assigned to the case and how they handled the investigation. It was all just done so well.

If you’re looking for a good thriller that’ll knock your socks off, this is the one for you.

🔪VERDICT: 5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for an ARC!

Books that deal with amnesia, but adding an element of mystery on top of it, really made this book an absolute winner for me.

Learning what exactly happened that caused Liv to not understand why she can't remember anything since her phone rang at her work desk, was a great plot twist in the book. I could feel the stress and anxiety through the pages each time Liv woke up without remembering where she was and why she couldn't remember anything.

What a great book; and won't skip reading any books by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ebook ARC! I LOVED LOVED LOVED Night Swim, so I was very excited for this one, too.

This one definitely kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was a little bit longer than I think was necessary.

I think this is a really interesting premise. This woman keeps waking up and can’t remember anything that’s happened to her in two years. How horrifying that must be.

You have to piece together what has unfolded little bit by little bit as she is able to stay awake and begin to find things, write them down, etc.

Overall this was pretty good!

3.5/5⭐️

I highly recommend the audio for this one. It is narrated by Imogen Church and January Lavoy, two SOLID female narrators who really bring these characters to life.

This does have a detective element lending it to more of a crime thriller, which I love but I know some people don't.

Goldin's descriptions really give you a mental image of the characters in your mind's eye, which I appreciate. Our main protagonist Liv has memory problems, every time she falls asleep she loses 2 years of her life. The premise, paired with the slippery timeline in the narrative and dual points of view make for a fast paced, and jarring (in a good way) reading experience. She uses the messy timeline to purposefully put the reader into the shoes of Liv and misdirect suspicions.

I missed some of the social commentary that came with Goldin's last novel, "The Night Swim." I preferred that one to this. "Stay Awake" seems like her way of writing more of a fun thriller with a little less depth.

The reveal felt lackluster, unfortunately. I didn't understand the motives of one of the characters and I would have like to have gotten more information and had those loose ends tied up.

Overall this kept my attention and took me for a ride. If you enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Memento, this has a similar premise and you might enjoy this as well.

Stay Awake is full frightening scenes. Readers certainly won’t need to be warned to “stay awake”—the story and the writing will make sure of that. Curious if we’ll see Halliday and Lavelle on the pages of another Goldin thriller—the two are so opposite but make a great team.