Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Survive the Night: A Novel

Top positive review

His Best Yet

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2021

I love this author.
Since I discovered him I've grabbed all his books, and enjoyed them all.
But this? This is his best ever!
Constant twists, unreliable (?) narrator.
Different POV's.
All cinematic, and exciting.
My only sadness is it'll be another year before I get to read a new book.
Riley Sager, you are my King!

27 people found this helpful

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njkate

Silly, derivative, predictable

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2021

I can't believe I spent $14.99 for this drivel. The plot was so predictable and the main character so unbelievable. So many opportunities to escape yet continued to stay captive. Much of the plot had sequences used by other authors- nothing original. The final plot twist was absurd and unbelievable. I have read all of the books by this author and they were excellent. This book generated no suspense and was an incredibly fast read because it was so poorly written . Save your money or prepare to be extremely disappointed.

97 people found this helpful

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njkate

Silly, derivative, predictable

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2021

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97 people found this helpful

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Jaime

Worst Book by Sager

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2021

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I really wanted to like this book, but when I had a hard time getting into the physical copy, I purchased the audible version. While that one was easier to get into, I was very disappointed when I figured out the entire story within the first two hours. The writing was tedious and boring. The main character was annoying and unlikable. The writing was a sort of stream of consciousness type, and I do not like that. There was nothing remotely scary or thrilling. This was probably due to the fact that I had no vested interest in the main character. I actually liked all the other characters and felt more sympathy for them. Survive the Night is by far the worst book Sager has written. Charlie, his protagonist was so poorly written, which is ironic because the story is based in the early 90s where feminism was so alive. Charlie is the polar opposite of any strong female character from that era. I have never read a more unlikely or absurd tale. There were so many times the character could have gotten out of the bad situation and Sager chose to have her stay. Honestly, this book has solidified my belief that Sager can not write a decent and believable female character. Even the ending felt like it had been altered with the "surprising twist" to make all the holes and misgivings acceptable. I will not be reading any more of Sager's books after this trainwreck of a tale.

51 people found this helpful

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Matthew H.

Should Have Run For It At The Tollbooth

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2021

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I really enjoy Riley Sager's books. When I finished The Final Girls, I knew Riley Sager would be an author I would read again, pre-ordering the books because they were so good. Not only is Survive the Night such a disappointment, it makes me hesitate to look forward to his next novel.

I don't want to spoil anything because people's opinions may vary, but the unreliable narrator of this story was driven by so many plot holes, it seemed as though the protagonist's recall had less to do with the story and more to do with covering up some very lazy plotting.

Upon the reveal, I was angry... and I don't get angry with books. But this novel is a major letdown from Riley Sager's previous work. The premise was great, the setting... wonderful. Execution past the tollbooth (IYKYK), miserable.

36 people found this helpful

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Sorry, But This Is Just Unsurvivable.

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2021

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It is very rare that I ever write a negative review (or any review at all), but I thought this could be my good deed of the day…to save an innocent reader from the misery that is Survive the Night. How this has a 4 star rating is beyond me (I call for an investigation!) My hat goes off to any author able to have his or her work published, so I apologize to Riley Sager for what I am about to say because I envy your status as a published author and I know you can do better. I had extremely high hopes the instant I read the first of many Hitchcock nods throughout this novel. Being a huge fan of his films, I felt excitement that Survive the Night would be right up my alley. Sadly, there are far too many plot holes, many of which allow the potential victim to very easily escape her possible life threatening situation. SO MANY! About halfway through the book I actually wanted the main character to be taken out by the serial killer. Just put the poor girl out of her misery already, I don’t even want her to survive anymore. Pretty much all of the characters’ motivations are completely without merit or, frankly, lacking in basic common sense. Without giving away the story, all I can say is the ending is such a meager excuse to justify the weak plot lines that it actually made me throw my hands in the air and rue the loss of the afternoon I spent reading this utter disappointment. Everyone stumbles in life and Riley Sager sure bit the dust with this one, but I’m eager to see him redeem himself next time. For now, I urge you to skip this and instead spend your afternoon watching any Hitchcock movie. Seriously, any one, take your pick. You’re welcome.

8 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Girl is absolutely stupid

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2021

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Should be called Survive the Book. I won’t go into all the reasons this book was horrible because it’s been said many times. But…was anyone else shaking their heads when Charlie throws the gun in the pool water? A smart person would have kept it until they knew the danger was gone. It was so ridiculous, I just couldn’t. At the end, it says some of what happened didn’t really happen because it was made into a movie. Are you frickin kidding me??? I tossed it. After Home Before Dark and this crap, I’m done with Sager.

7 people found this helpful

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LTJ

Survive the Night is an underwhelming, repetitive, and unrealistic thriller

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2021

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“Survive the Night” by Riley Sager starts out interesting as it builds up the main characters and plot but as you keep reading, it starts to get a bit unrealistic. The main character, Charlie, will irritate you at things that should simply be common sense in life. You know, something as basic that’s taught to us as children to never get into a car with a stranger.

Yet when it comes to Charlie, her ordeals and situations are very unbelievable as she’s completely and utterly clueless the majority of the time, beyond clueless actually, to use any common sense. It was very distracting as a reader to deal with Charlie and her actions throughout this book because it just didn’t feel authentic or anything that could ever be real.

There was also a ton of repetition in this book which to me, is a huge no-no for a thriller. Every word matters as I love when characters, locations, plot twists, and situations are explained in detail. The main problem with this book is there’s just way too much fluff of going over the same thoughts in Charlie’s head that again, takes away from the overall reading experience. This was a genuine page-turner at first but then I noticed as I got from 50% on that everything took a turn for the worst and got pretty boring.

I give “Survive the Night” by Riley Sager a 1/5 as it became a chore to get through this book and the ending was very underwhelming. I won’t ruin anything for you but all of Charlie’s “movie-fueled imaginations” left much to be desired. Just like the whole main angle of The Campus Killer which was also another major letdown with no real development or meaning behind the motive. Towards the end, it felt like lazy writing just to be done with it and as a reader, it’s also exactly how I felt. I just wanted to finally be done with this and move on to something better.

One person found this helpful

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Colleen

Really dumb book

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2021

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This is just plain awful, one of the poorest examples of a “mystery” book I’ve come across…. don’t waste your money, I wish I hadn’t!!

7 people found this helpful

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KatyKat65

Boring

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2021

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It's surprising to me that this book was so boring. I've loved all of Riley Sager's previous books but he's off his game here. Most of the action comes at the end of the book and the rest is all inner musings inside the characters heads, mainly the main character Charlie. The book could have used some more dialogue, maybe some witty banter in the car. I also didn't buy her disorder, which is that when she gets stressed out she spaces out and imagines things as if they were a movie. I get the whole "unreliable narrator" thing, other authors have used it to ratchet up suspense, but it just doesn't work here. Not every book a author Whiteside gonna hit it out of the park and I understand that. Don't choose this book it's your first time reading Sager. I would start with Final Girls or Home before Dark.

One person found this helpful

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Staci

Such a mess. Lazy writing. Nirvana sucks.

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

I’m like…really disappointed. I loved Sager’s books, except Every Time I Lied, as I have yet to read it. But after reading his other books, I've come to notice a certain script or M.O. that he sticks to.

The twist is, it’s always the love interest, or the quiet person that he BARELY talks about so that you forget about them and then SURPRISE, they’re the bad guy. There. You don’t have to read this, or any of his other books, (although Final Girls and Lock Every Door are amazing).

This one sounded like it was going to be so good! Such an awesome plot! Serial killer? Great. Best friend murdered by said serial killer? Spooky. Hitchhiking with a stranger? Getting very suspenseful! Unreliable narrator?! Oh no, who do I believe?! And then…huh?

The ending was all over the place. The reason the killer gives for their slayings is, and no reason is good, but this one was just…dumb. Oh, and they, of course it being set in the 90’s, just HAD to involve Nirvana somehow. News flash everyone, Nirvana is not that great!

I just thought this could have been executed better. I was so excited. I guessed the killer right away, even though I didn’t know why it would be them when they’re character was never fleshed out.

I’m really mad. And I don’t understand why or how it’s getting good reviews.

One person found this helpful

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Surviving the book

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

What a strange and poorly written book!
The main character makes life decisions based on events in old movies and sometimes has hallucinations that she calls “movies.”
Although she obsesses about the recent murder of her college roommate, and there is a suspected serial killer near her college campus, she decides to get a ride home from a stranger whom she meets at the college ride share bulletin board.
It gets worse and ends strangely.
I read it only because it was my book club’s choice. After reading and discussing the book, all but one of us related the book a 0.

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