This wasn’t a typical psychological thriller. At the beginning of this book, I wasn’t sure about it. I was very confused but kept listening because I had so many questions. And the questions just kept coming with no answers in sight. The confusion hooked me and I wanted answers. I loved that the narrator was unreliable, but not for the normal reasons. If you like psychological thrillers, definitely give this book a shot when it’s released.

I absolutely LOVED this book! I’ve loved all of Megan Goldin’s previous books, so I was thrilled to read this one!

This book is about Liz Reese, who loses her memory every time she wakes up. The way the story is told was absolutely riveting. I couldn’t put this book down! It’s told from split timelines, as well as a detective’s POV. There is so much tension and lots of suspense. It’s a fast-paced, page-turner. The unique format constantly kept me on my toes and had my mind spinning with all of the possibilities in which direction the story might go.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I look forward to reading whatever Megan Goldin writes next!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Just wow. I really, really loved this audiobook! It was such an original storyline and it kept me hooked the entire time!

Stay Awake was a great read by Megan Goldin. Luv wakes up in the back of a taxi and doesn’t know who she is or how she got there. She is dropped off at the door of her brownstone, where a stranger now lives. She reaches for her phone to call for help and its missing, but a bloodstained knife is there. She then notices her hands are covered in pen with messages on her skin, like STAY AWAKE. Just two years ago, Liv lived with her best friend, dated a new man, and was a successful writer for a trendy magazine. She’s now lost and disoriented in New York City. She catches the local news and sees a report of a crime scene where the victims blood was used to write a message in the window. It just so happens to be the same message on her hands. She doesn’t understand why she remembers nothing from the last two years. There is someone who knows exactly what happened and they will do anything to make her forget it. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

This was a great thriller. I really liked the audio. I went into this one blind and really liked how it was totally something different and had some really good twists in it. Would recommend this one!

Before writing this review, I wanted to say that my number one priority in a thriller is a crazy twist, so I am not necessarily the best reviewer for this style thriller - one that is focused more on the ride than the final reveal.

I loved the Night Swim by this author, so I had very high hopes for this. The book starts off with our main character Liv stumbling home in the middle of the night to find out that not only is there a different couple living in her apartment, but she’s lost over two years in time. She has scribbled messages like “wake up” and “stay awake” all over her arms which unnerves her to her core when she learns that this message was painted in blood at a murder scene near by.

This novel does okay with elements of disorientation and memory which rubs off on the reader. The novel is very repetitive since it has a Groundhog Day element, and the reader is almost omniscient since we remember more about the MC’s story than she does, so it is sometimes annoying to feel like she is not picking up on major clues, which was a bit frustrating at times.

Lastly, in my opinion, the ending wasn’t super impactful. There was no satisfying “click” in my brain at the end when I piece everything together. Pick this up if you want a wild ride that is compulsively readable, but not necessarily a well-crafted mystery.

4 star concept, 5 star narration, and 2 star reveal, so 3.5 stars overall.

5 stars for the book! 3.5 stars for the audio.

Liv Reese suffers from memory loss after she experiences a traumatic past event. Every time Liv falls asleep, she can only remember her life as it was two years ago. When she discovers she is wanted by the police for murder, it opens her to a whirlwind of events while she tries to decide who she can trust.

The dates and times in the story jump around by chapter as the reader is led to paste together the details of the events that occur in the book. I did have to go back in a couple chapters to make sure when events were occurring, but the back and forth of the timeline made the book even more mysterious.

I had a very difficult time getting used to the two narrators. I had the luxury of first reading the book. Then I listened to the audiobook. I perceived the story line totally differently after listening to the narrators tell the same same story I read. It was not bad. I personally just did not care for the change in inflection of the one narrator’s voice. I felt it was over dramatic.

This is my first read by Megan Goldin, although I have heard rave reviews about some of her other books. After reading this book, I will definitely be checking them out! This is a true thriller! Most readers will probably be baffled until the end with the multiple twist and turns.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

Quote: “This case is like an iceberg.”

I listened to this audiobook within a couple of days. The audio narrator was excellent.

This was an evenly paced thriller. Not a slow burn, but not quite a page turner either. The unraveling of the facts and circumstances were steady & intriguing.

This BOOK is like an iceberg. Stay Awake has a premise that is utterly terrifying.

Liv’s mental state is both eerie and unsettling. I was rooting for her the entire book, even when her reality was so uncertain. You just want her to win, to figure it out and be ok. It’s a whirlwind of what’s real and what’s not. You never know who you can trust.

I cannot imagine waking up everyday and not remembering the events that took place prior to opening my eyes. Liv was clever enough to write notes in her own handwriting BUT when you have writing all over your body…you may seem a bit…unstable to the general population. Who will believe you? Is Liv a murderer, a target…or a bit of both?

I really enjoyed this book and all of the characters in it. I definitely recommend checking it out.

So this was a pretty crazy book... I was just complaining that I needed something good to read and this was definitely a wild rollercoaster of a story...

This book destined for me to read it ask I happen to have 3 copies of it... you see I requested it when I saw it on Netgalley but kind of forgot about it. Then one day a package arrived at me house that I didn’t order to my surprise I actually won a paperback copy in a Goodreads giveaway... which I might have known if I paid attention to my email... anywho maybe a day or so later Netgalley was like here’s your ebook and later I saw the audio version was up for review so I have 3 arcs of the same book. And since I’m a combination reading I did use all three so I could read this story...

So long unnecessary (unasked for) explanation of why I have 3 copies of the book aside...

This is the story of Liv... a woman who loses her memory of the last two years every time she falls asleep. She wakes up in a taxi attempts to go home and finds out it’s no longer her home and this begins her journey... she has no phone nowhere to go and finds a bloody knife in her pocket and notes written all over her body telling her to Stay Awake. We follow Liv around New York as she tries to piece together what’s going on which her while being forced to start over again and again every time she sleeps.

We also follow Detectives Halliday and Lavelle as they try to solve a murder of a man who it seems Liv came in contact with. During the course of their investigation they find out about Liv’s condition as they attempt to track her down and figure out exactly what’s going on. Liv’s problems seem to come from a traumatic event that happened 2 years ago... Which of course is why we also follow Liv around in the days leading up the what happened to cause her trauma.

I could guess what happened to cause Liv’s trauma pretty early on but the killer was literally the last person I would have expected. The story was rather tense wondering if this next blackout would lead Liv to the killer she doesn’t know is out to get her. I can’t even imagine how terrifying that would be to keep waking up confused and to keep losing days of your life. It was a good story I liked Liv and Detective Halliday who was determined get to the truth no matter what the evidence might suggest.

Can’t wait to see what the author comes out with next I haven’t been disappointed by her work so far. Also the narration was great.

5/5 Stars!!! This book was so good I could not stop listening. It's hard to talk too much about the book without giving anything away. Liv is the main character who is unable to remember anything that happened to her every time she falls asleep. She constantly finds herself staring at the words "STAY AWAKE" written on her hands, unsure why she has written this and why she is unable to remember anything. Liv must stay awake in order to stay safe. I don't want to give any spoilers away but if you're looking for a thriller that you can't stop listening to this is the one!! Although this book jumps timelines and perspectives I found it very easy to follow along which can sometimes be hard to do with an audio book so that was an added bonus. I can't wait to read/listen to more from this author!

I'll preface this review by saying that memory loss is one of my least favorite tropes. I get so easily frustrated with the repetition, stubbornness, confusion, time jumps, etc. that often come with this trope - but I requested this book nonetheless because I thought Goldin's previous work, The Night Swim, was a total masterpiece. Unfortunately, the pitfalls of amnesia still rang true and dominated the plot, and that was frustrating.

The book centers around a woman, Liv Reese, who suffers from memory loss after a traumatic incident that happened two years earlier. Every time she falls asleep, she forgets everything that has happened in the past two years. At the start of the book, she wakes up in a cab in New York City with two things in her pocket: a huge wad of cash and a towel with a bloody knife inside. She has strange messages written in her own handwriting all over her hands and arms: "Stay Awake" - "Wake Up" - "Do Not Fall Asleep. You Forget Everything When You Fall Asleep." The cab pulls up outside her apartment, but another couple lives there now. She calls the numbers of her best friend - no answer. Her boyfriend - wrong number. Something is not right. In another apartment building on the same night, police are investigating the murder of a man, an editor at the magazine where Liv works. Written in his blood on the window of the apartment: Wake Up. Soon, Liv becomes suspect number one in this murder.

The book rotates between present day with Liv's memory loss and the perspective of the two detectives investigating the murder, as well as two years earlier, before the traumatic event that triggered Liv's memory loss.

I found the book hard to follow, augmented severely by Liv's fugue state - she falls asleep and loses her memory several times in the book, and she has to start all over again with denying that she has memory loss, trying to contact people she used to know to no avail, and figuring out what's going on with her life. Some of the chapters are told from the perspective of the detectives investigating the murder, but I didn't really enjoy watching the investigation play out. They zero in on Liv fairly quickly, and spend pretty much the rest of the book trying to find her - that's the extent of the detective work. The ending was not that satisfying either; everything happens so quickly without any gradual hints as to "whodunit," and I felt that there were still many plotlines left open by the end of the book.

Finally, I REALLY did not care for Imogen Church's narration of Liv in the audiobook. I have somewhat enjoyed her narration in the past, but she a) does an American accent here, which doesn't suit her, and b) delivers each line with so much intonation and drama that is completely unwarranted. She acts as though every sentence is a surprise or an outrage when she's just describing things like sitting down at a bar. It was almost comical at some points and really took me out of the story.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC via Netgalley.

I couldn't put this book down. If you love thrillers, this one will not disappoint with lots of twists and turns that you don't see coming. Megan Goldin is definitely an auto-buy author for me and can’t wait for her next book. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary copy.

Liv, waking up in a cab. She gets home, and soon realizes it’s not her home. She doesn’t have her keys or phone, only a bloody knife, so she buzzes her roommate to let her in. Instead, a strange couple is living there, all of her furnishings and her roommate are gone - even her cat is gone. After the couple threatens to call the police, Liv leaves. Then, she notices her hands - they are covered in ink. There are many things written all the way up her arms, mostly warnings, with the largest one reading “STAY AWAKE”. Liv Reese looses her memory every time she falls asleep. She cannot remember anything that happened from the past two years stemming from a traumatic incident. The narrative is split between two timelines- one in the present day and the other depicting events from Liv’s life two years ago. Liv’s past is shared in her own voice and the current timeline is shared by Liv in the first person with Darcy Halliday’s perspective shared in the third person. True to its name, this book did keep me awake till the very last page. I enjoyed how the timelines merge and that the pace does not falter throughout the narrative. Though the dissociative memory loss angle and the constant resetting of Liv’s memory do lead to repetition of content, the author manages to keep the narrative taut and the suspense palpable till the very end. The final reveal is not entirely unpredictable, but I did enjoy the build-up towards the climax with its twists and turns and multiple red herrings. At times the writing did feel a bit choppy but I felt that it added to the atmosphere of the novel rather than detract from it. Detective Halliday as she looks at all of the evidence with an open mind. Megan Goldin draws you in and make you feel the tension that Liv is feeling right from the start. Even with a few plot questions that I have it still is a fun and unique read!


Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Megan Goldin, and NetGalley for the ARC

“𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘠 𝘈𝘞𝘈𝘒𝘌”

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: liv wakes up in the back of a taxi with no phone, no wallet, and a bloodstained knife in her pocket. her skin is also covered in messages reminding her not to fall asleep.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: this book was soooooo good. our MC, Liv, has a condition where once she falls asleep she forgets everything when she wakes up. she wakes up and finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. this book was so unique and i absolutely loved the way it all came together. we had the flashbacks from 2 years ago (which is the last thing liv remembers before waking up) and then the current timeline with the detectives trying to solve the murder case. detective halliday was seriously one of my favorite characters too! she was such a badass & stood up for what she believed to be true. i thought the story flowed so well & was so well written. the ending also completely shocked me & took a turn i never saw coming. i highly recommend checking this one out when it’s published in august!

𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: i loved it!

special thank you to megan goldin, macmillan audio & netgalley for a copy of this ALC in exchange for an honest review!

This psychological thriller has the trope that I have the most love/hate relationship with - making the main character think she’s crazy. Our main character Liz has lost a huge chunk of time (amnesia) and everyone around her still seems to know what’s going on. This novel was done really well, I sat at the edge of my seat waiting for the big explanation. I was definitely getting “Blindspot” (the tv series) vibes and I really liked that show.
Also, I’m ready for a detective romance now please and thank you.

Thank you to Netgalley, Megan Goldin, and Macmillan Audio for providing an ARC audiobook in return for an honest review.

Another solid book by Megan Goldin! And a quick paced thriller!

Liv shows up to her apartment to find it occupied by complete strangers, she feels something’s won’t deep inside but can’t place what it is. He stuff is gone, her roommate too….

She then finds herself caught in the middle of a murder investigation of a killer deemed “the Sleepless killer” - but she has no memory of a crime, the location or the deceased.

This book, written in dual time likes will keep you engage until the end - with the feeling of Momento and all the makings of a great thriller this book checks a lot of boxes! Tons of red herrings, don’t over think it - and truly enjoy it!

This book was exhausting… see what I did there?lol. It was incredibly frustrating to watch Liv waking up with no memory, over and over again. Like Christopher Nolan’s famous novel, Momento, Liv marks her body with messages to help her when she wakes up. I didn’t find the messages helpful at all, and it seemed Liv didn’t either. Lol she needed to scribble who the murderer was, the minute she figured it out. Instead, there are cryptic messages and reminders not to fall asleep.
I totally figured out who the real killer was. The clues were very subtle, but if you pay attention you can totally figure it out early. So pay attention!
The audiobook is narrated by my favorite narrator, Imogen Church and January LaVoy. Both women did a bang up job with catching the right emotions and frantic energy of the book. You definitely won’t fall asleep listening to these women tell a story!
While I liked the story, I didn’t love jt. It was too close to Momento, and really frustrated me with the repetition of moments leading up to the big reveal. I wanted more of the thrill and suspense I’ve come to expect from Megan’s books.

Absolutely love this! I’m not usually a fan of stories that jump times and narratives as it can get confusing but Megan Goldin does it so well! I’m also not typically a fan of unreliable narrators but this is the prime example of that done well. I will say I enjoyed Pic’s perspective more so than the detective , though both were great. This was a ride let me tell you I was so confused but in the best way possible. A storyline like this would be easy to get “lost” but it is done in such a great way that even though you are confused on what’s happening it is effortlessly easy to follow along. I also will note I really enjoyed the narrator for this audiobook!

My thanks to Net Galley and MacMillan audio for a chance review this .

Liv Reese wakes up in a cab with no memory of how she got there. Somehow Detective Halliday believes she is tied to a murder recently committed. Liv is a chronic insomniac with messages written over her hand.

Good thriller and narrative. I was a little confused jumping back and forth between perspectives bur not a bad listen.

This story is 🤯🤯🤯. I have said a thousand times how sick I am of the unreliable narrator trope. But let me just tell you, THIS IS HOW YOU DO AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR TROPE. Megan Goldin killed it with this story!! I am so impressed by her writing and story telling skills. Stay Awake is about a woman who woke up in the back of a cab with no clue who she is or how she ended up there. That’s all I’m going to say because I recommend going into this one as blind as possible. You will be blown away! 4.5 stars from me! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. You can grab this one in stores on August 9th, but trust me, you’re going to want to preorder! The narration in this one was also fantastic, so if you’re looking for a new audiobook, grab Stay Awake!