Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

66 reviews

mallory10100's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

oh my GOD???? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming

minimicropup's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Tragic, distressing, suspicious

We follow a University student looking for a rideshare so they can return to their childhood home after their roommate was brutally murdered. They are struggling with the losses and stresses in their life and it affects the decisions they make and how they interpret events. 

• Set in Autumn 1991 on the route from New Jersey to Ohio, USA

Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐺🐕: 

• 🔇 Switched from audio to digital. The narrator and writing style didn't pair well for me. It made everything seem campy and cheesy, and took away from the suspense. That wasn't a problem when I read the text, just when listening. I'm not sure why - narrator wasn't bad, maybe just not nuanced enough?
• Charlie makes some ridiculous choices during the plot. When she's clearly in danger she doesn't try to escape, but when she's not in any obvious danger she's ready to hurl herself out of a moving vehicle. As her character develops we come to understand the reasons for her behaviour and rationale, but there are moments that still felt contrived, particularly as we near the end and get the tea about what is really going on. 
• The ending seemed very cringe, BUT it isn't all that it seems. Can't explain without giving up some spoilers! I thought it was clever, but I could see it being more on the trickster side for some. I think it was justifiable, not lazy - it made me feel differently about the MC and plot.

Cred Rating 🤔: Plausible + Justifiable OTT campiness

Mood Reading Match Up: 

• Touch of '90's teen thriller movie vibes
• Suspenseful slasher turned cat-and-mouse action adventure plot
• Stories with classic Hollywood and cinephile themes
• Character-driven mysteries with unreliable narrators and serial killers

Content Heads-Up: Fire. Vehicle accident (fatalities). Terminal illness (on page). Gun Violence. Kidnapping and confinement. Mental illness (dissociative, hallucinatory, psychosis)

Format: Library Digital via Libby

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

minaopal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

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

jj_tj's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Terminal illness and Cancer

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

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

hotscarysummer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Car accident, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Gore, and Medical trauma

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, 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

kayelina's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• 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

2.0

How many times did the author use the word “movie” in this novel? My god it was like her entire personality this cinephile trait of her’s. The plot was predictable and the suspense was not suspense-ing like I know Riley can usually do and bring. Not his best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Mental illness, Suicide, Cancer, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Gaslighting, Car accident, and Death of parent