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A review by justinkhchen
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
3.0
3 stars
Even with its glaring issues, this is my favorite Riley Sager I've read thus far (For context: The Last Time I Lied: 2.5 stars, Lock Every Door: 2 stars, Home Before Dark: 3 stars). While overall it still contains the same gripes I have with Sager's past books, over-emphasizing on in-the-moment shock value and disregarding basic rationale, there's enough self-awareness and breaking-the fourth-wall attitude this time around that makes the flaws somewhat tolerable.
The first 75% is an excellent psychological mystery, with it's slow-mounting tension and various alarming situations gradually revealing themselves. Even though Riley Sager didn't reinvent the wheel on closed space mysteries, the scenarios he has conjured up remain captivating, and the intentional absence of modern technology (story is set in the early 90s) definitely helps amplifying the terror. As a semi-cinephile, I greatly appreciate all the movie references (some very acclaimed, but obscure oldies!)—though I can also see this been an annoyance for readers who are unfamiliar with these source materials, then these mood-building mentions are just useless elements slowing down pacing. There are still some glaring plot holes regarding how characters act/respond, but overall I was thoroughly enjoying this energetic, sometimes silly thrill ride.
Then the narrative completely lost me in its final 25%, where the reveal(s) are so ludicrous and dumbfoundedly flawed, they are not only silly on their own, but also undermined some of the earlier scenes, making them even more comically irrational under the new context. This is classic Riley Sager, who has been pulling this trick in the last few novels, where the closure needs to be 'neat' by force-feeding every character a 'narrative purpose'—but this obsession for 'tidy' ending over realism completely detached me from the plot and its characters.
I was ready to give Survive the Night a 2 stars prior to the 'epilogue', so it was pretty astounding how much this little section at the end altered my soured attitude. Riley Sager pulled a trick not dissimilar to what he did in Home Before Dark, but is much better executed here—the self-mockery legitimatized some of the over-the-top elements, though I wish this was developed even further.
I started Survive the Night as someone who doesn't understand the online obsession towards Riley Sager's work, which are mediocre at best. Survive the Night still retains the 'promising start, clumsy execution' structure, but at least it is moving one step towards the positive.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
Even with its glaring issues, this is my favorite Riley Sager I've read thus far (For context: The Last Time I Lied: 2.5 stars, Lock Every Door: 2 stars, Home Before Dark: 3 stars). While overall it still contains the same gripes I have with Sager's past books, over-emphasizing on in-the-moment shock value and disregarding basic rationale, there's enough self-awareness and breaking-the fourth-wall attitude this time around that makes the flaws somewhat tolerable.
The first 75% is an excellent psychological mystery, with it's slow-mounting tension and various alarming situations gradually revealing themselves. Even though Riley Sager didn't reinvent the wheel on closed space mysteries, the scenarios he has conjured up remain captivating, and the intentional absence of modern technology (story is set in the early 90s) definitely helps amplifying the terror. As a semi-cinephile, I greatly appreciate all the movie references (some very acclaimed, but obscure oldies!)—though I can also see this been an annoyance for readers who are unfamiliar with these source materials, then these mood-building mentions are just useless elements slowing down pacing. There are still some glaring plot holes regarding how characters act/respond, but overall I was thoroughly enjoying this energetic, sometimes silly thrill ride.
Then the narrative completely lost me in its final 25%, where the reveal(s) are so ludicrous and dumbfoundedly flawed, they are not only silly on their own, but also undermined some of the earlier scenes, making them even more comically irrational under the new context. This is classic Riley Sager, who has been pulling this trick in the last few novels, where the closure needs to be 'neat' by force-feeding every character a 'narrative purpose'—but this obsession for 'tidy' ending over realism completely detached me from the plot and its characters.
I was ready to give Survive the Night a 2 stars prior to the 'epilogue', so it was pretty astounding how much this little section at the end altered my soured attitude. Riley Sager pulled a trick not dissimilar to what he did in Home Before Dark, but is much better executed here—the self-mockery legitimatized some of the over-the-top elements, though I wish this was developed even further.
I started Survive the Night as someone who doesn't understand the online obsession towards Riley Sager's work, which are mediocre at best. Survive the Night still retains the 'promising start, clumsy execution' structure, but at least it is moving one step towards the positive.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**