mcipher 's review for:

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

3.0

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This was great plane reading - it sucked me in immediately and kept me entertained. Liv is a woman who wakes up, not remembering how she got where she is - she just recalls answering her office phone on a summer day. Now it’s cold and she’s confused, and she has notes saying stuff like “stay awake” written all over her hands. This happens over and over, because every time she falls asleep, she forgets. Liv’s a great unreliable narrator because she truly can’t remember, but the words on her hands give her clues to follow, so she’s not flying totally blind. The story alternates between Liv’s story over the course if a few days now, Liv’s story two years ago, and the perspective of two homicide detectives working a case alongside Liv trying to piece together her forgotten life. I did enjoy the book, something about the detective sections felt a bit forced - there were times I was getting details I didn’t need to flesh out characters that didn’t feel important to the story, and the way the detectives worked and spoke felt inauthentic. When we were with Liv, I believed what was going on. When we were with the cops, I kept wondering why I needed any details about either one if them and their history and I kept wanting to get back to the real story. I also felt like the culprit was just unsatisfying and the motive was weak. All that aside, I liked Liv and how she managed to hide her memory loss - or embrace it when it benefited her - and I loved the way her story unfolded, switching from past to present and filling in gaps along the way.

Note: I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s!