Stay Awake

Liv Reese has a great job writing for lifestyle magazine, Cultura, a hot Italian boyfriend, Marco, a stunning physician roommate/best friend, Amy, and a great apartment in Brooklyn.

Doesn’t she? 

She did until she woke up this morning. Why is everyone treating her so strangely? And who is the couple who answered the door of her apartment? Weirder still: Why is there a bloody knife in her pocket, and why are her hands and arms covered in ballpoint ink admonishments to “WAKE UP!”, “STAY AWAKE!”, “TRUST NO ONE”, and more?

If all of that isn’t alarming enough, during her wanderings, she’s just seen a news report showing a murder scene where the killer scrawled “WAKE UP” in blood on the victim’s window. Is she connected to it somehow? Detectives Darcy Halliday and Jack Lavelle certainly suspect so, and now they just need to find her to ask questions.

That’s a great premise! You have an MC who’s not just lost two years of her memories but whose brain does a complete reset to her last familiar day each and every time she falls asleep. She’s confused, scared, and vulnerable to dangers she’s completely unaware of. I should feel the utmost care and concern for her! Wouldn’t anyone? So, why did I start feeling detached?

Questions are what mysteries are built on.  It’s why most of us read them! However, there’s a big difference between a series of new questions that move you toward a conclusion and the same question being asked repetitively, like a child in the backseat saying, “Are we there yet?” over and over and over - only Liv’s question would be some variation of “What’s going on?”. I enjoyed it at first, then … not as much.

While I liked the story, my over-analytical brain got in the way of just going along with some things. Other than Detectives Halliday and Lavelle and those involved in the investigation, no one seems to know how to ask or answer a direct question. Everyone tells Liv that she doesn’t remember things, but no one seems to ever tell her the facts, like “Hey, you seem really confused. Let me help fill in the blanks.” Nope. Liz doesn’t ask and they don’t offer, and no one thinks to call the cops to help this clearly very confused woman. 

What did work for me was the narration by Imogen Church and January LaVoy. I thought they both did a fantastic job, and listening to this while reading along on my Kindle kept me engaged in the story.  The premise is intriguing, the story is good, the writing is excellent and it has a solid ending reveal, so the book has a lot going for it! Definitely more pros than cons.

For those of you considering this book, I hope that much like our MC, Liv Reese, you’ll go to sleep tonight and completely forget my review and wake up tomorrow with only memories of that last glowing one you’ve undoubtedly read before mine. There are many! I think most readers will really enjoy this book, and I know I’ll be eagerly awaiting Megan Goldin’s next one!

★★★ ½ (rounded to 3)

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Netgalley and author Megan Goldin for this digital ARC to honestly review. This will be published on August 9, 2022.