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 now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing, and in its place is a bloodstained knife. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.
Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and 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 as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.
In the vein of SJ Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep and Christopher Nolan’s cult classic Memento, Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that plays with memory and murder.
The Review
STAY AWAKE
by Megan Goldin
“Stay awake”. I repeat. “Stay Awake”.
This is the second Megan Goldin book I’ve read and I think she has a style that you either like or don’t.
I’m still deciding.
The nature of this story means that a large part can’t help but feel repetitive. Like really repetitive. So take note if that annoys you this book may not be for you.
There were chapters that were effective in making me feel like the main character was doomed. I had no idea how the crisis was going to get resolved. And it just kept repeating.
Had it not been so repetitive I think I would’ve enjoyed it more. But for me, this one landed around the middle.
STAY AWAKE…⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy!
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