Stay Awake
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3.8 • 25 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
In the vein of Jacqueline Bublitz's BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME and Christopher Nolan’s cult classic MEMENTO, Megan Goldin’s STAY AWAKE is an electrifying novel that plays with memory and murder.
'If you’re looking for a novel to get your heart racing, Stay Awake is the perfect book for you. A superb read right to the gripping, unforgettable end.’ BETTER READING
Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers—a stranger who claims to live in her apartment. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing. In its place is a bloodstained knife. Her hands are covered in scribbled messages, like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.
Two years ago, Liv was thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget—permanently.
A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.
Praise for Megan Goldin:
'Megan Goldin has a sure hand at ratcheting up the tension. The pages turn themselves.' New York Times Book Review
'Cancel all your plans and call in sick; once you start reading, you'll be caught in your own escape room. The only key to freedom is turning the last page.' Kirkus Reviews (starred)
'Top-shelf page-turning crime' Sydney Morning Herald
'Gripping and unforgettable' Harlan Coben
'One of my favourite books of the year' Lee Child
'Every page is filled to the brim with suspense and tension, making you second guess everyone ... It’s a gripping take on the unreliable narrator trope, one Goldin executes brilliantly. If you’re looking for a novel to get your heart racing, Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is the perfect book for you. A superb read right to the gripping, unforgettable end.’ Better Reading
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This adrenaline-fueled thriller from Goldin (The Night Swim) opens with Liv Reese waking up early one morning in a Brooklyn-bound cab, though the last thing she remembers is working her Manhattan day job. Her skin sports myriad handwritten messages, including DON'T SLEEP! I FORGET EVERYTHING WHEN I FALL ASLEEP; she has cash, but no keys, phone, or wallet; and when she buzzes the apartment she shares with her roommate, strangers answer. Her pocket contains a bloody knife, which she tosses. Hours later, Liv wakes on a park bench, though the last thing she remembers is being at work. Back at the office, the staff and decor have changed completely. When a man calls asking where she put the knife, Liv assumes it's a wrong number—until the news reports a murder where the killer wrote WAKE UP! on a window in blood, and she panics. Goldin skillfully interweaves Liv's tense, propulsive present-day narration with chapters following NYPD detective Darcy Halliday's homicide investigation and flashbacks to two years earlier. Shocking twists and resourceful, well-drawn female characters keep the pages turning as the clever mystery unfolds. Goldin reliably entertains.
Customer Reviews
Gripping
This hooked me from the get go and had me checking my own doors were locked!
Memento meets Before I Go to Sleep
Australian journalist turned author of psychological thrillers set in the USA, of which this is her fourth.
A thirty-something chick wakes up in taxi crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in the middle of the night. No wallet or keys, no ID, but a roll of cash in her pocket, and messages in her handwriting in ballpoint on her hands and arms, like the title noted above. Cabbie drops her at home, except it isn’t. Other people live there and are not happy to see her. Work is completely different too, although at least someone there recognises her. Apparently, she’s been living in the UK for two years. WTAF.
Meanwhile, a dude is found murdered in an Air-BnB in the city. The killer has left a message on the window in blood— ‘Wake Up’—which is another one of the things written on our gal’s arm. She goes looking for herself. A rookie female homicide detective goes looking for a killer.
Crisp prose with lots of repetition because she keeps getting tired, falling asleep, and starting over again when she wakes up. If you think that sounds derivative as hell, I agree.