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A review by colleensreadingadventures
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
โ๐๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ. ๐๐ง ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฐ. ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉโ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ.โโฃ
โฃ
A book with a road trip?! And on top of that a scary road trip with a possible crazy ass serial killer?! Be still my wildly thumping heart!! Unfortunately my beating heart soon turned to a sedated luuubbb duuupppโฆ..luuubbb duuuppp rhythm rather quickly after getting started on Survive the Night. Someone get me a defibrillator! โฃ
โฃ
Itโs 1991 Charlie is fleeing school after her best friend Maddy is murdered by the serial killer dubbed the Campus Killer. It wasnโt just her death thatโs eating at her, itโs also the guilt that Charlie could have stopped it had she just stayed with her friend. โฃ
She meets Josh at the ride share board and decides to hitch a ride home even if it is dangerous to accept a ride from a stranger right about now. She needs to get off campus.โฃ
On the twisted night journey home Charlieโs movie addled brain takes hold and starts to notice things donโt seem to be adding up about Josh. Why doesnโt he want her to see whatโs in his trunk and why does his Drivers License have a different name? Could Charlie be in the car with a killer? Is her movie induced brain seeing things that arenโt there? Throughout the ride home Charlie and Josh play a cat and mouse game and itโs anybodyโs guess if sheโll make it out of the car alive.โฃ
โฃ
๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ:โฃ
-First of all Charlieโs delusions in the way she โsawโ movies in her head really irked me. I thought it was a bit harebrained. Give the girl another mental disorder if you want to make her an unreliable narrator. Not something that sounds so completely made up. โฃ
-Charlie was also super weak in the beginning. I hate whiny, weak MCโs. All that woes is me crap just turns me off.โฃ
-The story was a bit slow and way to repetitive in the beginning for my tastes but it did pick up in the second half โฃ
-The ending really was a bit half cocked to me. A lot of it didnโt make sense and I found it frustrating.โฃ
-I pretty much figured out the whole scheme of things way too early.โฃ
โฃ
๐๐ซ๐จโ๐ฌ:โฃ
-Charlie got a back bone! It was late and she was still pretty stupid but she showed some guts and and I enjoyed her Iโm done being a wimp bad-assery โฃ
-I liked the 90โs nostalgia. The music, the lack of cell phones or GPS. Charlie having to rely on a Pay Phone to get help. โฃ
-The second half was much better paced. โฃ-The premise itself was not bad. It just went sideways with the execution. โฃ
โฃ
I absolutely loved Riley Sagers Final Girls. I keep trying to find that magic within his other books. Sadly Survive the Night was another sorely lacking. I still have a couple books to go before I determine it was a one off, but I truly hope not. โฃ
โฃ
A book with a road trip?! And on top of that a scary road trip with a possible crazy ass serial killer?! Be still my wildly thumping heart!! Unfortunately my beating heart soon turned to a sedated luuubbb duuupppโฆ..luuubbb duuuppp rhythm rather quickly after getting started on Survive the Night. Someone get me a defibrillator! โฃ
โฃ
Itโs 1991 Charlie is fleeing school after her best friend Maddy is murdered by the serial killer dubbed the Campus Killer. It wasnโt just her death thatโs eating at her, itโs also the guilt that Charlie could have stopped it had she just stayed with her friend. โฃ
She meets Josh at the ride share board and decides to hitch a ride home even if it is dangerous to accept a ride from a stranger right about now. She needs to get off campus.โฃ
On the twisted night journey home Charlieโs movie addled brain takes hold and starts to notice things donโt seem to be adding up about Josh. Why doesnโt he want her to see whatโs in his trunk and why does his Drivers License have a different name? Could Charlie be in the car with a killer? Is her movie induced brain seeing things that arenโt there? Throughout the ride home Charlie and Josh play a cat and mouse game and itโs anybodyโs guess if sheโll make it out of the car alive.โฃ
โฃ
๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ:โฃ
-First of all Charlieโs delusions in the way she โsawโ movies in her head really irked me. I thought it was a bit harebrained. Give the girl another mental disorder if you want to make her an unreliable narrator. Not something that sounds so completely made up. โฃ
-Charlie was also super weak in the beginning. I hate whiny, weak MCโs. All that woes is me crap just turns me off.โฃ
-The story was a bit slow and way to repetitive in the beginning for my tastes but it did pick up in the second half โฃ
-The ending really was a bit half cocked to me. A lot of it didnโt make sense and I found it frustrating.โฃ
-I pretty much figured out the whole scheme of things way too early.โฃ
โฃ
๐๐ซ๐จโ๐ฌ:โฃ
-Charlie got a back bone! It was late and she was still pretty stupid but she showed some guts and and I enjoyed her Iโm done being a wimp bad-assery โฃ
-I liked the 90โs nostalgia. The music, the lack of cell phones or GPS. Charlie having to rely on a Pay Phone to get help. โฃ
-The second half was much better paced. โฃ-The premise itself was not bad. It just went sideways with the execution. โฃ
โฃ
I absolutely loved Riley Sagers Final Girls. I keep trying to find that magic within his other books. Sadly Survive the Night was another sorely lacking. I still have a couple books to go before I determine it was a one off, but I truly hope not. โฃ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Death, Car accident, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement
Moderate: Gun violence, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content