A review by laurenvoice
Survive the Night by Riley Sager

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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