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shereadsmysteries's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking
Minor: Rape, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship
Specific triggers: broken nose, teeth, teeth pullingmkzach's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Terminal illness
vicktorea's review against another edition
- 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
I had some mixed feelings about this. There were so many points where i felt the main character could get out of the situation they were in but just...didn't. Like at any point in real life when those opportunities to escape had arisen, anyone would've taken them so it didn't make sense that the MC didn't take advantage of those moments other than the fact that the author needed to propel the story forward. I also guessed all the twists but i still liked the ending.
I liked the 90's vibe, the creepiness/atmosphere, and the incorporation of classic movies woven throughout the story. I also appreciated the overarching message this story offered; life isn't a movie but you can live your life to the fullest and make it your own movie - carpe diem!
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent and Death
Minor: Suicide attempt and Vomit
sib_reads'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? Yes
2.5
This was my first Riley Sager thriller. As expected, this was a very fast-paced novel with lots of twists and turns, increasing towards the end of the book especially. It is set over the course of one night and there is a lot to unpack in such a short space of time. I didn’t realise that the book is formatted like a screenplay (maybe because it was an ARC and on kindle) until right near the end, but it is obvious that the author is penning a love letter to movies.
Initially I did not enjoy the ‘movie in my mind’ trope of the main character Charlie. However, I warmed to the idea more as the book went on and it was undeniably gripping to read from the POV of an unreliable narrator. I also enjoyed that this book tied up every loose end uncovered throughout. Every question had an answer by the end of the novel, though maybe there was slight over-explanations at points.
The ending of this book was full on crazy. There was so much action and drama, and so obviously it is easy to imagine this book as a movie itself. It was a very far-fetched concept but it surprised me how hooked I was.
In my opinion, you really can tell that this book was written by a man. The main character Charlie was so unlike any woman that exists in real life. She had no common sense and made some infuriating decisions the entire way through the book.
Even though this book did not blow me away (and even irritated me at points) I still could not put it down and read it all in one sitting. That is why I have gone with a mid-tier 2.5 star rating.
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and Mental illness
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Chronic illness, Confinement, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, and Car accident
taylorwheeler'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Cancer and Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit
_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 you’re reading this BEFORE you’ve read STN, I’ll 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, “It’s good that the true identity of the Campus Killer is still a mystery. That’s realistic. In real life people often don’t find out who killed their loved ones.”
Then Sager fucked it up.
The big “Robbie is the killer” twist felt forced, rushed, and ridiculous. Charlie dated this man for a year and didn’t recognize him from behind when he approached Maddy? Maddy herself didn’t yell out “Charlie wait, Robbie’s here!” when she saw him? Robbie, the ruthless killer, didn’t overpower Marge the second he realized she was lying about Charlie in the diner? It just didn’t line up for me. There’s 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, that’s 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 here’s 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.
Let’s 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 UN’s in a single story, but every single narrator in STN novel turns out to be one, right down to “Charlie” 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) we’re left with no idea if we ever got any real insight into our protagonist and what her actual experiences were, and b) we’re 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 “movie”?
And therein lies my biggest frustration. I think the “you’ve secretly been reading the Hollywood version of events this whole time” twist was creative and well-executed - it certainly took a lot of literary gymnastics to pull off - but I also feel robbed of Charlie’s story. The tears I shed over the surprisingly poignant moments when she’s 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) don’t know what was real and what wasn’t.
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 he’s 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?
Sager’s author’s 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
readsandrants's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Terminal illness
Minor: Vomit
cheyreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
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
kris386's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Medical content, and Misogyny