Survive the Night – Book Review

Charlie Jordan is being driven across the country by a serial killer. Maybe.

Behind the wheel is Josh Baxter, a stranger Charlie met by the college ride share board, who also has a good reason for leaving university in the middle of term. On the road they share their stories, carefully avoiding the subject dominating the news – the Campus Killer, who’s tied up and stabbed three students in the span of a year, has just struck again.

Travelling the lengthy journey between university and their final destination, Charlie begins to notice discrepancies in Josh’s story.

As she begins to plan her escape from the man she is becoming certain is the killer, she starts to suspect that Josh knows exactly what she’s thinking.

Meaning that she could very well end up as his next victim.

A game of cat and mouse is about to play out. In order to win, Charlie must do only one thing . . . survive the night.

No. of pages:- 338 pages

Date published:- July 29th 2021

Publisher:- Hodder and Stoughton

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 3.5/5 stars

Here’s the thing. Ever since I read Lock Every Door, I have always wanted to read Riley Sager’s books. I have so far read Lock Every Door and Last Time I lied which I actually enjoyed and I am yet to read The Final Girls and Home Before Dark. So I was excited when Survive the Night was released and the plot sounded intriguing and interesting–a girl hitches a ride with a complete stranger who may be the serial killer that the everyone is talking about.

Here’s the thing–I loved this book–I really did. But in full words, I am having mixed reviews about this book.

Let’s start with good things about this book

• The plot sounded so interesting and intriguing that was the main reason why I wanted to read this book
• The story was set in 1991 so I had a fun time knowing the 90s music even though I already have listened to Smell Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana (one of my favorite 90’s music)
• Had a fun time knowing about movie names which I made a mental note to check out some of the movies.
• The first part of the story was so intense and I was literally hooked into the book in the beginning–is Josh the real Campus Killer? Is Charlie going to be the next victim?
• And the story was fast paced a plus sign in my book for a thriller

But…there are some things I didn’t like in the book

• Charlie is a naive character–she had many chances to escape yet she chose to become the victim.
• It was a bit predictable as what was going to happen in the end.
• The ending to me was a bit vague, twists and turns were not very good in my opinion.

This may not be his best book and still, Lock Every Door will be my favorite Riley Sager book. Nonetheless, I can’t wait to read his next novel!