Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Book 34 of 2021

My Rating: 5 Stars

Here’s why

I have loved Riley Sager’s writing ever since his first book, Final Girls, was a Book of the Month selection in 2017. Now, back with his fifth novel, Riley had me on my toes the whole time!

Charlie needs to leave Olyphant University ASAP. Nothing her boyfriend, Robbie, can say to make her stay until Thanksgiving break in a few days so she finds herself in front of the Ride Board posting her request. There she meets Josh. He seems friendly enough and wants to leave ASAP, too. But once their drive from New Jersey to Ohio begins, Charlie realizes she hardly knows this person she will be stuck with for hours on end, and the more questions she asks, the more she thinks he might be the root of why she wants to leave school – he might be The Campus Killer.

***

This was such a fun book to read! It took me a second to get into it, but once the setting and characters were established, I was “along for the ride” 😉

Charlie has a really unique character quality that makes her somewhat of an unreliable narrator. She sees movies in her head, or what the psychiatrist told her are “hallucinations,” that alter her reality. When they strike she could be seeing a heightened version of the truth or something completely made up. You can see how this would make her trip with Josh unnerving, unsure if the nuances she is picking up on are real or figments of her active imagination. The other characters – Robbie, Josh, Maddy, and Marge – have positive and negative attributes like all good characters should, and I enjoyed jumping to their perspectives once in a while which rounded out the story well.

I am giving this book 5/5 Stars because I really loved the concept, the twists along the way that made this semi-straightforward plot go places I was not expecting, and of course, the writing style. I also LOVED the ending. The last chapter/epilogue was the perfect cherry on top, which is very “Sager-like.” I can always rely on him to give me something good up until the very last page.

If you have not read a Riley Sager book, I would highly recommend you check them out! They are considered Horror so if that is not your style, make sure you read each synopsis – and my reviews linked down below! – for the one best suited to you!

HAPPY READING 🙂

Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Suspense/Horror