I was very disappointed by this rather inefficient attempt at a thriller. While the blurb and the plot seemed devious enough, the actual writing is about as interesting and refreshing as the back of a milk carton.

For what it's worth, the story kicks off right away with a bang - and just like that, the first person narrative has you on the hook, without revealing anything. Since this is a first person narrative, from the perspective of a central character who - literally - can't seem to remember, one would have thought that would make for some really tight writing and almost ferocious reading!

Nothing of the sort.

There are interspersed chapters from the perspective of the investigating police detectives, who are depicted about as deep and three-dimensional as the aforementioned milk carton - when it's flattened out.

And then, there are chapters that seem to have become de rigueur - jumps in time - trying to lay it out for the gullible readers, to explain what really happened, enticing and teasing you out in the open. It made the storyline even less interesting, and revealed the writing as even less imaginative.

What could actually have been a superb police procedural, or just a single track story from the perspective of the protagonist - ah... but then, that latter idea would have made it a copy of that venerable Nolan masterpiece "Memento". Couldn't let it be that obvious.

Even the dialog all over is as if out of a textbook - everything seem to be going in the right general direction, but the writing and editing left much to be desired.

All said though, the book literally has all the tropes of a thriller - but none of the content. The basic premise is there, but it is executed quite poorly.

Stay Awake
By Megan Goldlin

A Tense and Unsettling Adrenaline Rush

SUMMARY
Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a NYC cab early one Wednesday morning with no recollection of how she got there. Mysterious messages are written all over her hands: Don’t Sleep, Stay Awake, and Trust No One. She is clutching a fifty-dollar bill in her hand but has no keys, no phone, and no purse. When she buzzes her roommate at their shared apartment, strangers answer the door. After spending the night on a park bench, she goes back to her Manhattan office and finds that both the decor and people have changed. When she hears a news report about a murder where the killer wrote “Wake Up!” on the window, she fears this might be connected to the writing on her hands.

Book Epigraph: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” -Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

REVIEW
STAY AWAKE is a tense and unsettling adrenaline rush. It’s a psychological thriller on NoDoz tablets. Author Megan Goldin skillfully weaves a story of Liv’s present day odyssey with flash backs from two years earlier. This tapestry is combined with the perspectives of NYPD homicide police detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle’s unwavering search for Liv. The story will definitely keep you up at night.

Liv’s vulnerable, anxious, but persistent character was expertly developed from the very beginning. Detective Halliday perseverance served as a breath of fresh air and rationale to this discomforting thriller.

Other delightful and not to be missed psychological thrillers by Megan Goldin include The Escape Room (2019) and The Night Swim (2020).

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Published August 9, 2022
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

*4+ stars! The premise of this book is very interesting: Liv, the protagonist of the story, is suffering from a form of insomnia-induced mental illness--whenever she falls asleep, she wakes with no memory of her recent past. She has notes written all over her hands as reminders but it's still overwhelmingly disorienting, especially when she discovers a knife wrapped in a bloodied teeshirt stuffed in her pocket.

NYC Homicide Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle begin investigating the murder of a young man found in a short-stay rental apartment, stabbed once through the heart. All clues are pointing to a woman with long dark hair...

The timeline bounces back and forth between what happened to Liv two years before and the current case that the detectives are investigating. That makes for a very compelling, page-turning read.

I received an arc of this new thriller from the author and publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I loved Megan Goldin's last two books, so was very excited to get my hands on her new one early! This was a pretty creepy, twisty story that I flew through because I had to know what was happening. Liv's confusion throughout made every person and situation seem sinister and kept things interesting, but I did find it a little hard to keep track of the timeline, since it jumped back and forth so often. I loved Halliday's perspective though! There were a ton of red herrings, and while I guessed one of the twists, it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book. Ultimately, there were a few unresolved plot holes that are driving me nuts, but I definitely enjoyed this one and can't wait to see what the author comes out with next! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was immediately gripping from the first moments! I did feel like it slowed to a snails pace in the middle before picking back up at the end. I did enjoy it. Goldin writes such unique tales and is quickly becoming and auto buy author for me

Liv wakes up in the back of a taxi, with no recollection of how she got there. When she is dropped off at her apartment, a stranger answers the door. She tries to reach for her phone to call for help, but finds a bloodstained knife instead.

When she looks down at her hands, she notices they are covered in black ink, with scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man and thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now is lost and disorientated in a New York City that she no longer recognizes.

Catching a glimpse at the local news, she is horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window – WAKE UP! What did Liv do last night? Why does she not remember anything from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime is doesn’t remember committing – but there is someone who knows exactly what she did. And they will do anything to make sure Liv forgets – permanently.

_____

sooooo…not really sure what I just read 🤔I went into this book with high expectations because I enjoyed MG’s previous two novels - but this one? Nope, not for me. I didn’t find it suspenseful or thrilling AT ALL.

I really enjoy novels with flashbacks, but each time we got to one; it was so freakin’ repetitive. Nothing truly happened until the last 40%ish percent of the book, but honestly by then I was having a hard time staying awake 😜

And I gotta talk about the ending. Like huh? What? I was left SO confused and VERY underwhelmed 🙄

The plot holes were BEYOND ridiculous - and the fact that I was left with so many unanswered questions made me dislike this book even more.

Stay Awake was a snooze fest for me 😴

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I adored Megan Goldin’s prior book, The Night Swim, so I was guaranteed to pick up anything she wrote next. And Stay Awake is yet another masterfully crafted thriller, although in a somewhat different vein. And what a ride it is.
Amnesia is hard to do well, but Goldin pulls it off, capturing the uncertainty around Liv’s situation and what happened in the two years she was in her fugue state. You feel immensely anxious for Liv as she comes to in this wild situation, realizing she has lost so much time, and the unease continues to build as she continues to attempt to put the pieces back together.
This narrative is balanced well with bits showing her last memories from two years ago, providing hints at what happened. It’s also complemented by chapters from the police detectives investigating the case and unraveling Liv’s involvement, which contributes to the suspense.
While character work often suffers in thrillers, it’s not so here. Liv is compelling and sympathetic, if a bit of a mess, and I like how her personal issues were interwoven with the mystery.
This is another impeccable book by Megan Goldin, and one I’d recommend to anyone who loves psychological thrillers.

This book is hard to rate because while I enjoyed it overall, it honestly wasn't good. Not the standard I know Megan Goldin is capable of anyway, from what I remember about The Night Swim.

The writing and storytelling are both subpar and leave a lot to be desired. I didn't have that eureka moment when the multiple POVs converged. A lot of what happens is very unbelievable and feels too convenient. Liv makes a lot of questionable decisions and I didn't find her particularly sympathetic despite her predicament. Neither is this the most interesting of police procedurals but I liked the detectives, especially Halliday.

The climax and reveal were blah, while the ending was unsatisfying and made me want to laugh...? Stay Awake is interesting read, but not one that will take up space on my mind or shelf.

I have no words. This book was one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. It was fast-paced and had such compelling characters. I genuinely could not guess the twist. Right when I thought I had it, I would be wrong about the final "mystery" in some way. It had me questioning the plot line (and my sanity) up until the very end.

I also liked how the storyline alternated between Liv, the main character who has no recollection of the past two years, and Halliday and Lavelle, the two detectives who are trying to solve the murder that is happening alongside Liv's story. It comes clear that Liv is connected to the murder, but she can't remember anything. Every time she wakes up, she loses her memory and can only remember events that happened over two years ago.

The author did a great job of showing Liv's memories during flashback chapters. It was interesting to see the events leading up to the big event. The big event shocked me because I wasn't expecting the out come, but I had predicted half of it correctly.

If you love murder mysteries and thrillers, this is the book for you. I could not put it down and have already recommended it to all of of my friends.

This was like 50 First Dates with a psychological thriller twist. Very cool concept, not the most original, but this was written in a very interesting way that kept me going back for more.

The author impressively created such empathy for Liv while keeping us on our toes about what actually happened. We didn’t know what happened not just because we were the reader, but also because she had forgotten as well. It’s pretty cool to be alongside the same journey as the protagonist.

I liked the alternating perspectives and build up. This was a relatively fast-paced read and I would recommend this!

Wow ! What a ride this novel takes you on. Megan goldin has done it again. Stay awake is a twisty tale of Liv who can't remember what has happened but she knows she has a knife in her pocket covered in blood. She can't remember but she knows she needs to stay awake. She is trying desperately to remember what happened to her boyfriend and best friend. Will she remember?

As the story went on I was clicking through the pages as fast as I could possibly read to find out what was going on. I didn't see that ending coming. Pick up your copy today and devour this novel.

Thank you to netgalley and St martins press for the aRC

Thank you to Megan Goldin, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ebook copy of Stay Awake for me to read and review. What an intriguing, twisty, creepy story. I was immediately fascinated by the unique weirdness of the story. I found this to be somewhat reminiscent of the film 50 First Dates but with a more sinister, mysterious vibe. There were a couple of times that the language used was quite pretentious and I felt like it didn't fit the scenario. Goldin included so many red-herrings throughout the story that I was kept on my toes wondering who was involved almost until the end. I did not want to put it down. Definitely a must read for all lovers of twisty thriller mysteries!

4.5⭐ rounded up.
A suspenseful, thrilling read! I was intrigued and engaged from the questionable beginning until the exciting end.

Liv wakes up with a note written on her hand that says stay awake, but has no memory of how it got there. Turns out she has a rare form of amnesia and her memory goes back two years if she falls asleep.

The confusion she faces, not knowing who to trust or where she lives or what's going on at all, was so well written that you can't help but feel empathy for Liv. Obviously she can't stay awake forever, so there is quite a bit repetitiveness every time she wakes up, but I didn't mind it too much, well maybe a smidgen. Although the puzzle pieces are put together rather slowly since Liv is ultimately living groundhog day over and over again, it still took on a fast pace and I was on the edge of my couch throughout the entire book.

It's told in both Liv and Detective Darcy Halliday's pov in the present and two years prior. This way gave us little tidbits that kept the story flowing nicely at a suspenseful pace. I felt that the current detectives, Halliday and Jack, did a much better job investigating than the ones prior. The others never took her seriously, but I suppose that would be hard to do when you're reporting a carton of milk in your fridge that you didn't place there. But did she truly put it there and can't remember, or is there someone playing with her already fragile mind?

I was lucky enough to get a kindle copy and an advance audiobook to review. I went back and forth between the two. Ultimately, either way was great, but since I started off listening I enjoyed this way slightly better.

This is my 3rd book by Megan, which I think are all of them. I thoroughly enjoy her writing style and definitely recommend her for psychological thriller and wild ride lovers.

This was quick and pretty exciting, but IMO not nearly as good as the author's other books. This reminded me of the movie Memento and the book When the Lights Go Out.
*
Quick recap: Liv Reese wakes up with no memory of where she is, with scribbles all over her hands telling her to stay awake. She tries to go home to find that someone else is living there, and she then finds a bloodstained knife in her cardigan pocket. She's soon a person of interest in a murder and although she knows she can't have killed someone, she has no memory of the event, or of anything in the past two years.
*
Ok...I did like the alternating timelines with Liv in the present and then flashing back to prior to when her memory problems started. I also liked the ending, and I didn't expect one twist (although in retrospect I probably should have...) I also liked the alternating POV with the detectives, although I didn't like how it would switch which detective's POV in the middle of a paragraph.
*
But there were a lot of things I didn't like. For one, I was left with a lot of questions about this memory problem she had, and how it started. The explanations provided seemed a bit weak.
*
Secondly, Liv is handed several opportunities to find out what's going on with her from professionals, or from people who seem to know her and her background and she is just constantly running away! It was so frustrating, and seemed like a way to prolong the story rather than a legitimate decision she would make.
*
I'm seeing a ton of 5-star reviews, so maybe these are just my own nits, but The Night Swim remains by favorite by Megan Goldin!

Okay Megan Goldin, you are now a member of my auto-buy author list. Stay Awake was an electrifying thrill ride from start to finish. It started with a bang, and I fell headfirst and literally had to stay awake to finish. I just couldn’t put this one down.

I fell pretty hard for some pretty obvious red herrings – and y’all, I did not see that twist coming at all! Not even a little bit. Whew! That really happened.

On another note, I would really love to see homicide Detective Darcy Halliday in a series. I just loved her character and need more. Please??

Read if you like…
✨Fast-paced suspenseful thrillers
✨Timelines that jump from past to present
✨Alternating points of view

I rated this one five stars, and this is an easy recommendation for me.

Read it!

My thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book before its publication date.

I grabbed this book because I'm all for a psychological thriller! However, I read this more of a psychological suspenseful mystery than a psychological thriller. It did keep my attention, and I wasn't happy with the few times I had to put the book down.

Live Reese wakes up in a fog, in the back of a cab. She asks to be dropped off at her apartment. She knocks a few times, but takes a while to get an answer. It seems Amy, her roommate, has company over, but they won't let Liv in. She's confused and begs to come in to at least make a phone call, and the husband gives in and allows her to make a call., because Liv had mentioned Amy's name and mail still comes to the apartment. Liv calls her boyfriend, but no answer, then she kind of loses it about the apartment and they force her out, but do call her a ride. While waiting for her ride she discovers a bloody knife in her cardigan sweater pocket and sees the words STAY AWAKE written on her hand. She has no ide why!

There are a few timelines in there, but they focus mainly on two years ago and today.

Two years ago she had a great job, a fiancé, a tight best friend, and life seems to be great.

Today a murdered body has been found and when Liv catches the story on the news she has no clue who it is, but notices the words STAY AWAKE written in blood on the window and cannot even imagine what she has done or why, there's no memory of it at all!

The two detectives working on the case are trying to solve a murder that starts off with not even knowing who the victim is, let alone who to look for. As the day proceeds answers start coming clear.

So with loving the story so much that kept me "turning pages" and aggravated putting it down, why the 3 stars? Because being a true crime reader and a true crime documentary watcher you are not going to get DNA results in the same day, let alone NYC, even if you have connections with the FBI. Plus saying again, I read more of a mystery than a thriller.

Thank you Scene of the Crime an William-Morrow for allowing me to read it through Netgally for an honest review.

Generally speaking, I felt the story was interesting until we were exposed to more character backstory around 20% in… from that point on, I just had to push my way through to the end. The synopsis held so much promise but, unfortunately, this read wasn’t for me.

This novel was so addicting that I kept wanting to speed read through to find out what happened. I enjoyed the dual viewpoints from the police solving a present day murder as well as what was happening to Liv Reese, the main character, while she kept losing her memories and trying to figure out her life. I cannot imagine that being my life, where every time I fall asleep I forget the past two years of my life. While I did overall enjoy the story, I was left wanting a little bit more, though I can’t quite put into words what. I felt as though the story wrapped up a little too neatly and while I was able to suspend disbelief a little as I read the story, I still wanted a little more real-ness to the end. Overall, I will absolutely read anything Megan Goldin writes.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is such a riveting thriller about a woman with a rare form of amnesia that puts her in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. This boom is jammed packed with tension, suspense and drama. The mystery behind Liv’s amnesia is very intriguing and the way this book unfolds makes it where you can’t put it down and you need more and more. The ending is very action packed and surprising! Couldn’t have done it better SO worth the read!

I still remember watching the movie Memento the first time and being totally blown away by the concept. When it was used as a comp title for this book, there was no doubt I’d request it.

Just like Leonard in Memento, Liz Reese makes notes to herself on her hands and arms – Stay awake, Don’t trust anyone, Don’t answer the phone. Every time she falls asleep her mind resets to two years ago, and the last thing she remembers is answering her office phone on a sunny summer morning. A lot happened in that time span. Imagine losing two years of your life – people you can’t remember, places you’ve lived, things you’ve done. Even worse, losing loved ones during that period and every time you’re told about their death you experience the grief all over again. Maybe you can’t exactly relate to what Liz is going through, but it sure is easy to emphathize with her.

This book had me hook, line, and sinker, and I plowed through it as quickly as I could turn the pages. I rooted for Liz to stay awake and remember the crucial details from her past. She hits one obstacle after another, but is fortunate to have found some compassionate people who are also willing to offer help. Around the halfway mark I was pretty sure of the identity of the culprit (I was correct), but I kept waiting for the motive. Yes, something happened that might make that person angry, but based on the information given about them, it seemed completely out of character. I’d hoped some earth-shattering reveal would be made at the end – but it wasn’t. And I felt cheated.

Judging by other reviews, I’m very much in the minority with this opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe I even missed some crucial line of detail somewhere along the way. This could turn out to be one of the best reads of the year for someone else. Before the ending I was completely engrossed in this book, so I wouldn’t hesitate to read something else by this author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.