NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Friday, January 20, 2023

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

 Fast and fun psychological thriller.


Liv Reese has a huge gap in her memory. The last thing she remembers is answering the phone at her office over two years ago. Every time she falls asleep and wakes up, she has forgotten everything that happened since. Obviously, this means she wanders around a lot trying to figure out where she lives, where she works, and why everything is so strange. She can't find her phone or her wallet. Her roommate and her boyfriend aren't answering her calls Then, she sees herself on TV as a suspect in a murder. All she has to do is STAY AWAKE in order to try to put the pieces of her fracture memory together and figure out what is going on. 


I had sworn to myself that I would not read any more books that had the words "amnesia" or "memory loss" in them. I'm not sure why this beckoned, but it did and I picked it up and was immediately hooked. Sure it was predictable, and this narrator was certainly unreliable, but it was entertaining, and I actually liked most of the characters. Even the flawed protagonist, Liv, wasn't as annoying as so many have been. 


I liked the fast pace and the narratives from the point of view of Liv and also of the police who are trying to investigate the murder. The time shifts can be a bit disconcerting and helps get the reader in the frame of mind of the dissociative fugue state that Liz is experiencing. I enjoyed it. 


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre - psychological thriller, mystery, amnesia

No comments:

Post a Comment