Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

45 reviews

taylorsimon's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was an easy story to get hooked on. After reading the ending I felt like I should have seen it coming, but I truthfully did not! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Vomit

daylateandabookshort's review against another edition

dark slow-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

1.0

It's a shame Riley Sager is such a one-trick pony because his writing style is great. But it seems like he's stuck on the same overarching plotline. One or both parents of a 20-something girl are dead, she finds herself in a life-or-death situation, and the would-be killer is never who you're led to believe it will be. I have read 3 of his books and can confidently say I won't pick up any more, once you've read one, you've pretty much read them all.

I skimmed the second half of this book because by then I just didn't care, but I didn't to DNF another book. Plot? See above. Characters? Stupid, unlikeable, and boring, again see above. I didn't enjoy this book and I wouldn't recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

Minor: Mental illness, Rape, and Sexism

aweso10's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

lots of twist and turns, i'll give it that!! i felt like something was missing here, however. it wasn't quite as "thriller-y" as i'd hoped, like it didn't get my pulse racing as much as a good thriller does usually, but i found it a quick and entertaining read nonetheless. the characters were a bit annoying, but i liked the old hollywood kind of theme and 90's east coast setting... so definitely pros and cons!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

dollhousebooks's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

Riley Sager is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. While this wasn't my favorite book of theirs, I still really enjoyed it. I mean, I ended up reading this in half a day because I was so intrigued!!!

I've seen a lot of critiques on how this story didn't feel very realistic, and there was a lack of common sense in the characters, which I can see to an extent; I think thrillers/horror-thrillers don't need to be realistic to be twisty, fun, and terrifying though!

I found Charlie to be annoying, but that's because I dislike cinephiles like her. Classics don't necessarily equate to quality which is often what those film bros and movie fanatics believe, which is rather grating. But other than that, I liked her "plucky" character despite all she was going through emotionally and mentally. The end was pretty great, too. I liked the hint of romance to solidify a semi-happy ending!

All in all, 3.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Child death

minimicropup's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

Narration 🤷‍♀️:
Croaky, flat, and lacking emotion. Sometimes it worked well for the MC, but other times it was hard to listen to and feel anything beyond "meh".

Oops 🙃:  Need to read this, not listen to it. Made it almost 80% of the way through before having to return the audio and that's because it was a struggle to get through it with audio alone. Going to wait to complete this review with the digital text or physical version of the book. 

Format: Library Audio via Libby

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

xiggy'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

Survive the Night follows film student Charlie as she flees college after the murder of her best friend. Naturally enough with the killer still at large you think the best idea would be to hitch a ride home with a stranger rather than wait for your boyfriend, obviously? And this my friends is only the absolute tip of the iceberg when it comes to the illogical and farcical rationale in this book. I love to hate a character but omg by the end of this book I wanted to kill Charlie myself. Don't get me wrong despite the avalanche of bizarre non sensical plot twists, I had to keep reading. 

What I Liked
• The constant bewilderment wondering wtf was going to happen next
• The 90s movie and music references
• The eerie creepy and ominous feeling

What I Disliked
• Charlie! This girl...I just can't
• The complete lack of sense or logic or believability 
• Author's use of mental illness 

I've read Home Before Dark and The Last Time I Lied and really enjoyed those, so I won't let it put me off picking up another Riley Sager book but this one was definitely not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

noxygens's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

laurenvoice's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

Survive the Night was a tense and thrilling read with plenty of twists and turns!

The leading characters in Survive the Night were well-rounded, and you could feel their emotions through the words on the pages. Charlie's character development was phenomenal, although she should have trusted her gut instincts more. And Josh’s character was interesting; the web of lies he spun and that killer vibe he had was a nice touch; it made some of the twists and turns this story took more surprising.

Marge’s character introduction was a surprise, I thought she would slow the story down a bit, but no, she added more depth to Maddy. And she helped not only Charlie’s character development but the story's development too. Thanks to the detour to the Skyline Grille, we saw some great twists within the story and some tense scenes for Charlie and Josh.

It would have been great to get an insight into Maddy's and Robbie's characters without Charlie’s rose-tinted glasses, although the end hinted that they were different to how Charlie described and saw them. However, Charlie being an unreliable narrator made Survive the Night fun, as it was impossible to predict what was coming next!

The end chapter was proof that we should not trust the whole story. Charlie reveals that this was a movie based on her real life, but the director embellished the story for a more dramatic effect. The nineties setting was fun, and the repeated plays of the song Come as You Are were a nice touch. However, what made Survive the Night stand out was that Sager wrote it like a movie.

However, if I had to nitpick, it would be how Josh gaslighting and manipulating Charlie was forgiven too quickly and never addressed properly between both characters. Also, I found the final showdown and revelation of the Campus Killer seemed rather rushed when considering how well-paced some of the other events in the book were.

Survive the Night is the second book I have read by Riley Sager, the first being Final Girls, and I am shocked by the number of dislikes his books have gotten because the two books I have read have hooked me. I have been putting off reading most of his because of the negative reviews, but I am glad Survive the Night premise looked too good to miss, as it was an incredible journey filled with movie magic! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

shelfofunread's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail