ARC REVIEW: Stay Awake – by Megan Goldin

Title: Stay Awake
Author: Megan Goldin
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
First published: August 9th 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Finished reading: July 24th 2022
Pages: 352

“I put down the receiver with a click. A sickening dread creeps through me. Something terrible is going on and I don’t have the faintest idea what it is.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

!!! Happy publication day !!!

I had a fantastic time with Megan Goldin‘s previous two books, so of course I couldn’t resist the invitation to read her newest story Stay Awake. The fact that the blurb itself is fascinating and that it promised an amnesia angle AND murder only made me want to read it even more… I had such high expectations for this book, and I’m happy to announce that they were more than met. I was hooked as soon as I started reading, and I couldn’t put it down. I literally finished it in one sitting!

While it’s true that a thriller with an amnesia angle isn’t exactly new or original, the way it’s incorporated into the plot in Stay Awake did stand out for me. The repetitive dissociative fugue where the main character forgets everything that happened during the last two years every time she goes to sleep is fascinating, and it definitely helped taking this plot to the next level. You are left wondering what first triggered her amnesia and what is going on in the present… Especially with her waking up in the possession of a bloody knife and the news of the murder soon after. The fact that she keeps forgetting everything added a lot of tension and suspense to the plot, and it made for some excellent plot twists too.

Stay Awake is basically part gritty psychological thriller and part detective thriller. The story switches between the POVs of Liv Reese and detective Darcy Halliday, which gives the story more dept and enables us to learn more about what is happening in the present. On top of this, we also have Liv’s flashbacks to two years ago to help slowly unravel what happened to her that made her forget everything… The three storylines are balanced perfectly, and work very well together. The police investigation made for a nice contrast with everything that is going on with Liv; balancing the very real murder case with the more abstract and psychological.

Both Liv and Darcy make for great main characters, and I liked how the two complemented each other. There was something about both of them that made me root for them almost immediately, and I simply HAD to keep reading to discover what really happened to Liv. It was such a fascinating journey following Liv around and unearthing little nuggets of the truth along the way… The twists are very well done, and I never did discover who was behind it all. There is an intensity to the whole plot, but that tension only escalates until the story reaches its explosive and very successful ending. What a way to wrap things up!

The writing is extremely engaging and the pace lightning-fast, and I literally raced through this book. Unputdownable indeed! Stay Awake turns out to be another highly successful thriller and it shows why Megan Goldin is on my list of favorite thriller authors. I can’t wait to see what she will come up with next! Highly entertaining, suspenseful, gripping and basically a rollercoaster ride: Stay Awake is perfect for those who enjoy this type of thrillers. Make sure to clear your schedule before you pick it up though, because you won’t be able to stop reading.