Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

39 reviews

moonylovesstars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Cancer

mikaelaandherbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A super quick read! This one had me hooked and I loved the twist/big reveal for the storyline. The epilogue is a little weird, but I guess it ties in to the main character's personality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder and Grief

Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, and Suicide

tays_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Violence, Gun violence, Gaslighting, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Cancer, and Stalking

markedwithanm's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Car accident, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Death of parent

abbiemreads's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

2.0

A fail on the trope of unreliable narrator, the ending undermines the entire thing and made me frustrated
I liked the tense parts but honestly saw the twists coming and it felt like adding in the other perspectives from Charlie’s was because the author didn’t trust their readers to understand what was happening 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Suicide, Mental illness, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

emilymbrown's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, and Body horror

Minor: Abandonment, Cancer, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

jillkaarlela's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This suspenseful mystery really leans into the idea of getting swept up in movies and discerning between reality and fiction. The main character, Charlie, sees hallucinations, or “movies in her mind” and has a hard time discerning what is real after her friend was murdered, after Charlie left her behind at a bar after they got in a fight. Charlie was the only one who saw her friends murderer, but during a movie in her mind, and can’t discern if any of it was real. She gets so overwhelmed with grief and guilt for leaving her friend, that she has to leave the university. So she takes a ride with the first person she sees, Josh. But as the ride goes on, Charlie becomes highly suspicious of Josh, but can’t tell if these things are actually happening or if they are a movie in her mind. She has to figure out what is real, before it is too late. 
That concept of the “movies in her mind” kinda gets confusing as to what is real or not. I guess that’s the point, because the protagonist can’t tell what’s real, but it makes it a little bit harder to keep up. 
I also didn’t particularly like the brief change in focus/narrator because it was an unreliable narrator, and it was almost deceptive in the way it portrayed the characters in those chapters. It just kinda made me confused. I would’ve just chosen to not make the one or two chapters focused on the other characters. 
However, I did like this book. It was one of the better mystery suspense novels I’ve read in the past few months. Not the best by far, but it was fairly good, and interesting. I wouldn’t call this a thriller, but it is definitely a mystery suspense novel. 

ok, so I guess the whole thing was the movie, that took liberties in the story and changed some of the “actual events”. I guess that fits well with the theme, but again, it’s a little confusing. I do like that she and josh/Jake ended up together and got to make the movie. I didn’t expect it to be Robbie though, I guess I wasn’t thinking about it that much. I kinda thought the whole thing would’ve been a movie in her mind, and none of it would’ve happened. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Torture, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Suicide, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

erinrlreader1994's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Kinda disappointing. Not a very smart main protagonist in the character Charlie, kinda predictable killer, and unsatisfying ending. Wouldn't recommend unless you like characters who make choices that don't make sense or unreliable characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Murder

seawarrior's review against another edition

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.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Torture, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident

hann_readsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

crazy twists & turns, enjoyable read but wish there was more character development for a few characters 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Torture, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Death, and Car accident