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sarahholliday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
That being said, if you enjoy fast-paced, movie-like thrillers with tons of tension and an unusual psychological element or two, I think you'll enjoy Survive the Night. Not Sager's best, but I still very much enjoyed the read.
Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Blood and Gun violence
katelynprice's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Terminal illness
Minor: Suicide attempt
colleensreadingadventures's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
โฃ
A book with a road trip?! And on top of that a scary road trip with a possible crazy ass serial killer?! Be still my wildly thumping heart!! Unfortunately my beating heart soon turned to a sedated luuubbb duuupppโฆ..luuubbb duuuppp rhythm rather quickly after getting started on Survive the Night. Someone get me a defibrillator! โฃ
โฃ
Itโs 1991 Charlie is fleeing school after her best friend Maddy is murdered by the serial killer dubbed the Campus Killer. It wasnโt just her death thatโs eating at her, itโs also the guilt that Charlie could have stopped it had she just stayed with her friend. โฃ
She meets Josh at the ride share board and decides to hitch a ride home even if it is dangerous to accept a ride from a stranger right about now. She needs to get off campus.โฃ
On the twisted night journey home Charlieโs movie addled brain takes hold and starts to notice things donโt seem to be adding up about Josh. Why doesnโt he want her to see whatโs in his trunk and why does his Drivers License have a different name? Could Charlie be in the car with a killer? Is her movie induced brain seeing things that arenโt there? Throughout the ride home Charlie and Josh play a cat and mouse game and itโs anybodyโs guess if sheโll make it out of the car alive.โฃ
โฃ
๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ:โฃ
-First of all Charlieโs delusions in the way she โsawโ movies in her head really irked me. I thought it was a bit harebrained. Give the girl another mental disorder if you want to make her an unreliable narrator. Not something that sounds so completely made up. โฃ
-Charlie was also super weak in the beginning. I hate whiny, weak MCโs. All that woes is me crap just turns me off.โฃ
-The story was a bit slow and way to repetitive in the beginning for my tastes but it did pick up in the second half โฃ
-The ending really was a bit half cocked to me. A lot of it didnโt make sense and I found it frustrating.โฃ
-I pretty much figured out the whole scheme of things way too early.โฃ
โฃ
๐๐ซ๐จโ๐ฌ:โฃ
-Charlie got a back bone! It was late and she was still pretty stupid but she showed some guts and and I enjoyed her Iโm done being a wimp bad-assery โฃ
-I liked the 90โs nostalgia. The music, the lack of cell phones or GPS. Charlie having to rely on a Pay Phone to get help. โฃ
-The second half was much better paced. โฃ-The premise itself was not bad. It just went sideways with the execution. โฃ
โฃ
I absolutely loved Riley Sagers Final Girls. I keep trying to find that magic within his other books. Sadly Survive the Night was another sorely lacking. I still have a couple books to go before I determine it was a one off, but I truly hope not. โฃ
Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Death, Car accident, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement
Moderate: Gun violence, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content
ekmook's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Violence
elainadoonan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Murder and Mental illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness
gabbreads's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence
_chelseachelsea's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
To review it properly makes spoilers inevitable, so if youโre reading this BEFORE youโve read STN, Iโll leave you with this: nothing about this book is what you expect; that means you are going to be both delightfully engaged and incredibly frustrated.
Spoilers begin below.
And when Marge, desperate and angry, asked Charlie to kill her, I was totally bought-in on the drama. I even thought to myself, โItโs good that the true identity of the Campus Killer is still a mystery. Thatโs realistic. In real life people often donโt find out who killed their loved ones.โ
Then Sager fucked it up.
The big โRobbie is the killerโ twist felt forced, rushed, and ridiculous. Charlie dated this man for a year and didnโt recognize him from behind when he approached Maddy? Maddy herself didnโt yell out โCharlie wait, Robbieโs here!โ when she saw him? Robbie, the ruthless killer, didnโt overpower Marge the second he realized she was lying about Charlie in the diner? It just didnโt line up for me. Thereโs nothing I hate more in a thriller than a forced last-minute twist, and leaving the CK a mystery would have paid off so much better. Charlie could have parted ways with Robbie as friends and still ended up with Josh/Jake.
Speaking of, thatโs my second plot beef. Why does Charlie need to end up with Josh/Jake? In what world would that relationship be healthy? Trauma-bond romances in thrillers are getting very old.
But hereโs the real conflict for me as a reader. Sager does some things with the narrative in this novel that are, as I said above, both the greatest strengths and biggest weaknesses of the book.
Letโs start with the use of unreliable narrators. Sager really impressed me on this one. Typically a book is able to pull off one, maybe two UNโs in a single story, but every single narrator in STN novel turns out to be one, right down to โCharlieโ herself (who, I guess, was actually Movie Charlie?)
But the problem with the main line of narration being a movie version of what actually happened is that a) weโre left with no idea if we ever got any real insight into our protagonist and what her actual experiences were, and b) weโre left deeply confused about what actually happened. If there was no fire, for example, then how did the climax actually play out? Were the scenes between Charlie and Maddy genuine, or were they made up to add emotional depth to the โmovieโ?
And therein lies my biggest frustration. I think the โyouโve secretly been reading the Hollywood version of events this whole timeโ twist was creative and well-executed - it certainly took a lot of literary gymnastics to pull off - but I also feel robbed of Charlieโs story. The tears I shed over the surprisingly poignant moments when sheโs lost in a memory of Maddy feel cheap, like Sager wanted me to be caught up in the emotion only to yank it out from under me. The thrill of the big climax and the plot twists and the gasps I let out feel even cheaper, because I (like Charlie) donโt know what was real and what wasnโt.
And all of this begs the question - did Sager trick us out of love, or spite? By feeding us a thriller that hits many familiar notes and leans into film tropes, is he trying to say heโs smarter than us? Does he want us to feel duped and stupid for buying into it? Or is he simply making a general statement about the dramatization of reality?
Sagerโs authorโs note explains that this novel is a love letter to cinema, but to me the final twist felt like a middle finger to us: the audience members who ate up the bullshit he was feeding us without thinking twice; the morons who trusted every narrator he presented, believed his version of events, and fell for his big trick.
No matter how clever that trick was, it still feels like antagonization.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Gore, and Gun violence
ericarao's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Gun violence
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gun violence, and Cancer
Minor: Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
theidlereader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content
kerrygetsliterary's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, and Terminal illness
Minor: Rape