Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

48 reviews

carlaah1984's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.25

First book I've listened to in a while where I started a document just to keep my notes for a review. I'm not sure what it says about me that I keep picking up books where a central theme is

a college roommate has been murdered

especially since I started a career in high education this fall. It's also that all of these

slain roommates have been enigmatic, larger than life, and beloved by their roommates In my Dreams I'm holding a knife and the Maidens.

I was young in the early 1990's so it was fun to have this book set in this time period, and then me questioning some of the things if that was around then, like *69 wasn't really used in PA until 1996, also there is a quote that is Madeline Albright but she wasn't Security of State until 1993. However, the setting of 1991 allows for a modern audience to remember or to learn what the world was like without cellphones or WIFI, fear is heighted without those. The use of "come as you are" though the book was rather great, I listened to in and it's gave such the right creepy vibe for the scence it's used it, and led to questions about the line "I don't have a gun" and how that would play out. To that point there are moments where it's odd to have a man writing about women's safety that felt a bit odd to me- it was someone who had been told about the experience but not lived it as much. I enjoyed Charlie's passion and references to films, it made it so visual for me as I could picture the movies in her mind or the movies she was referencing, also the backstory of her name was great.

I was surprised the murders didn't have a SA element, not that all campus crimes have to have that, but I wasn't sure if it was an element that just wasn't being mentioned to not be overly traumatic, once Robbie is relived as the campus killer which was both a great final twist and oddly disappointed that it was able to be tied up with the crimes being solved. With the mentioned of Take back the night and rape whistles I was surprised SA wasn't part of it until Robbie explains why he killed each of them. Additionally, I was disappointed in Maddie's mother for blaming Charlie so much, but that was really amped up by Maude. It was a GREAT twist that she was behind all of it, and the shift how her character was seen.

It was a great story, the way it plays with the what is and isn't happening, with the twist, the way the tension building. I was surprised and impressed by it which hasn't happened in a thriller in a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Grief

Minor: Terminal illness

nicoleharris's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Terminal illness and Suicide attempt

mkzach'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

greatestheights's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

If I had to hear the words "movie in my mind" one more time, I s2g.

I wanted to like Charlie. I wanted to like this plot. I wanted so many, many things, namely for Charlie to get out of the goddamn car and/or take ANY of the numerous opportunities she had to get tf away from this terrible situation. I thought I was going to lose my mind when a cop was literally RIGHT THERE and she still willingly GOT BACK IN THE CAR WITH A DUDE SHE THOUGHT WAS A VICIOIS SERIAL KILLER.

Also, we need to talk about how bad Sager is at writing women and mental illness. Just
stop, buddy. After The Last Time I Lied and now this, I think I'm solidly done with this author. 

Alllll of that said, I devoured the book in less than 24 hours, so props to Sager and the audibook narrator. I also was genuinely surprised with one twist and pleased with myself that I guessed the second. Is it weird that I enjoyed listening to this book and simultaneously hated it? Probably, and that's why I gave it an extra star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Terminal illness

isgbv's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Murder, and Torture

fran_h's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Terminal illness

karamelka_kar19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I heard so many negative things about this book, but I really enjoyed this one. It had a steady pace, although really slow for a triller. I liked the discussions of victim-blaming and gaslight, the story was written with great compassion and care. 

There are many plot holes, characters did some stupid (and weirdly realistic) things, but they're kind of made sense as the wholе book is a bit ridiculous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Cancer, and Car accident

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

sib_reads'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? Yes

2.5

I want to thank NetGalley, the author, Riley Sager, and Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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.

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Content Warnings

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

yvettesvibes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence