Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Survive the Night

This book is good in the same way that reality TV is good, or in the same way that eating an entire bowl of candy is good. You have a good time while you're experiencing it, but when you're done, you're like - wtf? This book was wild in good ways and bad ways. I don't even know how to talk about this book without giving away spoilers, so I'm leaving it at that. That, and - this book serves as a perfect reminder that if you take medication and you haven't taken it yet today, make sure you take it.

Content Warnings

greatestheights's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

If I had to hear the words "movie in my mind" one more time, I s2g.

I wanted to like Charlie. I wanted to like this plot. I wanted so many, many things, namely for Charlie to get out of the goddamn car and/or take ANY of the numerous opportunities she had to get tf away from this terrible situation. I thought I was going to lose my mind when a cop was literally RIGHT THERE and she still willingly GOT BACK IN THE CAR WITH A DUDE SHE THOUGHT WAS A VICIOIS SERIAL KILLER.

Also, we need to talk about how bad Sager is at writing women and mental illness. Just
stop, buddy. After The Last Time I Lied and now this, I think I'm solidly done with this author.

Alllll of that said, I devoured the book in less than 24 hours, so props to Sager and the audibook narrator. I also was genuinely surprised with one twist and pleased with myself that I guessed the second. Is it weird that I enjoyed listening to this book and simultaneously hated it? Probably, and that's why I gave it an extra star.

Content Warnings

seawarrior's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sager's newest installment contains twists and turns that fizzle into a more predictable plot, but remained entertaining nonetheless. Charlie is my favorite of his protagonists so far. The women guiding his stories are cut from the same cloth, and tend to have both a unique hobby and a trauma based mental illness that causes an internal conflict complicating the external one they need to survive. However, Charlie really appealed to me. I felt that she was a very humanized portrait of a person with psychosis. Her hallucinations are never used to make her seem monstrous and instead, any horror surrounding their existence comes from her vulnerability to be gaslit. This type of empathy towards a psychotic character is rarely a given in horror, and was refreshing to read. I also felt that Charlie's motivations and self-image were clearly defined, so that even when she was making decisions that seemed colossally poorly considered, I understood why she chose them.

Other than my interest in Charlie, there wasn't much in this story that stuck out to me. I read it primarily to see how it resolved, but without the same gripping fascination I've had for some of Sager's other books. Those who are interested in Hitchcockian suspense may be more drawn to the story than I was, and I'd recommend it to people who fall into that category. Otherwise, this may be one to skip if you don't think Charlie will appeal to you as a protagonist.

Content Warnings

horizonous's review

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Here's the thing, I think this is the most readable book Riley Sager has written so far. With every other of his books I hit a point where I had to force myself to keep going because he couldn't really hold my interest. Not with this one. I mean, it wasn't good, frankly it got quite stupid, but I kept reading it in two days without feeling I'm hate-reading it, which says something, I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can understand why some people really hated this, because of the

(some of) it is just a movie

twist in the end, but I suspected as much from the beginning because of

how the prologue is written and the chapter titles

, so I wasn't really surprised. The "she sees movies in her head" situation is a lazy device to make a protagonist unreliable, the reveal of the killer is just 🙄 but what really, really annoyed me is the fact that Charlie

MARRIED HER KIDNAPPER!!?

🤬 I mean, really?
Up until that point I thought, depending on the premise, Riley Sager might be an author I will pick up in the future if I feel a bit slumpy and need something quick, but I just can't get over the fact how dumb his female protagonists all are, and so far Charlie definitely takes the cake.

Content Warnings

ekmook's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

hyac1nthgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

though i am usually a fan of most tropes, the "unreliable narrator" trope is one i wished would be left behind. the action was good when it was good, but that's about all i liked about this book.

Content Warnings

More...