Survive the Night by Riley Sager
It’s the 90’s. Charlie is looking for a ride to her hometown in Ohio when she meets Josh at the ride board going in the same direction. When Charlie hops in the car, she starts to think that Josh might just be The Campus Killer who has recently claimed the lives of some women at her university. Will Charlie survive this car ride?
Ugh….this review is extremely difficult for me to write, because I am seriously Riley Sager’s #1 fan. He even made my list of top 10 favorite authors. I pre-ordered Survive The Night months in advance. I even ended up with a signed copy, and the author sent me a faceplate in the mail. He is pretty active on Twitter, and he has acknowledged my support on several occasions. We are also friends of friends so this is a total awkward turtle moment.
One of the hallmarks of Riley Sager books is that they are incredibly page turning. Also, I felt like The Last Time I Lied had a twist that I didn’t see coming but made total sense. Also, The Last Time I Lied and Home Before Dark really were so interesting because the characters were trying to remember things from the past, almost with a bit of nostalgia. I distinctly remember being in my car listening to my audiobook, transfixed, arriving at my destination but refusing to budge.
Now, enter Survive the Night. I kept waiting for the page turning part, but I just couldn’t get into it. There was too much internal dialogue with Charlie. This book didn’t capture the nostalgia of the past. This book had a twist, but I figured it out fairly early on when I was thinking of who could it be.
Overall, this book just wasn’t as entertaining as it should have been. The author is clearly talented. I do wonder if the editor has afraid of giving tough review notes. This book really minded me of The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman in a way that this book also did not fit into the Riley Sager brand. It was off brand and just off. I requested this as an ARC awhile back but was rejected. I really wish that I had the opportunity to provide those review notes, because this author deserved better.