Book Review: Survive the Night by Riley Sager
Wow this novel was trippy. Following one whole (long) night, my Survive the Night review will tell you exactly what I thought was thrilling about this novel, and the things that I found less than thrilling.
Book Information
Charlie has just lost her best friend, Maddy. What makes things worse, though, is that Charlie was the last one to see Maddy alive before a serial killer took Maddy’s life. Even if Charlie can’t remember what happened before Maddy was killed due to the hallucinations that she has, that doesn’t stop Maddy’s family and the police from blaming her, and questioning her, and telling her that she should remember. So, when Charlie gets a ride home from a virtual stranger who could be a serial killer in disguise, her hallucinations could mean the difference between life and death. Told in the span of one long night, Charlie must learn how to survive the night and whether or not she can trust her own mind let alone the man driving her home.
Review | Heidi Dischler
So, to start, I really did like the premise of this novel. With that being said, a lot of times I found the chapters to be tedious. For thriller novels, I expect to be wanting to turn every page wondering what will happen to the protagonist. For this one, while the writing was really great at times, I found myself wondering what would happen while simultaneously hoping that it would happen soon.
I liked a lot of the character relationships, and while Josh is downright creepy at times, he was one of my favorite characters personality wise. Charlie was a little hopeless and her boyfriend just reminded me of a sad puppy most of the time.
Spoilers ahead.
Okay, so the ending? Didn’t really see it coming, but—at the same time—it didn’t surprise me. I’m not sure if that makes sense or not, but I was kinda just like eh. Maddy’s grandmother kidnapping Charlie for revenge purposes seemed really over the top to me. Not to mention that Josh was never a bad guy after all made me have to rethink everything I had read up to that point. The part that really got me, though, was the fact that Robbie—her boyfriend—was the serial killer who killed Maddy. Everything seemed to come completely out of the blue and I get that’s what Sager was going for, but to me it didn’t make sense.
Also, the movies in Charlie’s mind? Is she schizophrenic? I thought that was really well executed for most of the book. It made everything super confusing at times, though, but it added to the suspense more than anything else did.
Overall, I didn’t hate the book, but I also wasn’t that impressed. Will I remember it a few months from now? Probably not. Did I think the writing was pretty great even if the plot was lacking? Absolutely.
Source: Audiobook from Overdrive Local Library
