Stay Awake by Megan Goldin indeed had me reading past my bedtime.
Synopsis
Liv Reese wakes confused and disoriented in the back of a cab en route to her shared brownstone apartment. When she reaches her apartment, nothing goes as expected. A pair of strangers answer her door, claiming to have lived there for years, and who subsequently push Liv out onto the street.
Liv’s last memory is answering her office phone on a sunny afternoon. Now, there’s a noticeable chill in the air, strange messages scribbled on Liv’s arms telling her to stay awake, and an ominous bloody knife she’s found in her pocket, which she suspects may be linked to a murder she saw on the news.
While the police investigate the murder case, Liv desperately tries to piece together her memory of the last two years and learn more about this murder.
Review of Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
This tense psychological thriller has alternating timelines and multiple POVs.
This thriller was a compelling and equally frustrating read for me. I needed to find out how everything would turn out for Liv, but I also could not stop clenching my teeth at the sheer repetitiveness of it all. The same information kept getting regurgitated, almost verbatim, page after page. It makes sense that Liv would be stuck on square one, considering her amnesia, but it did not make for the best reading experience. There were also a few loose ends that never got resolved.
Overall, I did find the story entirely gripping. I could not put it down. I can see why Megan Goldin’s books are so popular, and I will definitely be checking out her backlist soon.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Expected Publication: 09 August 2022
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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