#MacmillanAudio review of Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

Megan Goldin has become a go-to thriller author for me and this psychological thriller has a good chance of being #1 on my best of list. Read on and see why I loved this so much.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 9781250854773
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: 08-09-2022
Length: 10 hours-59 minutes
Source: Publisher for review
Buy It: Audible/Chirpbooks

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview

A murder she doesn’t remember committing. A killer she doesn’t remember meeting. Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that proves memory can be deadly.

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 claims to live in her apartment. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing. In its place is a bloodstained knife. Her hands are covered in scribbled messages, like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was 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, similar to the 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. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.

A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.

Listen to an excerpt courtesy Macmillan Audio

MacmillanAudio · Stay Awake by Megan Goldin, audiobook excerpt

My Macmillan Audio Review:

Stay Awake
Megan Goldin

Goldin’s Stay Awake may just be the best thriller of the year, a fast paced super psychological thriller that will keep listeners up all night on the edge of their seat with their nails bitten to the quick; think of a dark Groundhog Day that repeats every time you wake up but instead of trying to impress a girl you’re running from a killer, only you don’t know it and oh by the way every time you wake up it’s rinse and repeat because you think it’s two years in the past. Wow!  And while Megan builds her story the audience will get fed crumbs that might fill in some blanks but could just as easily be red herrings leaving the audience listening attentively to every word so they don’t miss a breath.

Liv Reese wakes up in a NYC cab with a pocket full of cash, a bloody knife in her pocket and strange phrases like WAKE UP written on her hands. Deciding she must have had too much to drink she goes home to her apartment and discovers that someone else lives there, she goes to her office and discovers that while she’s well known she doesn’t work there anymore it’s like she’s in an alternate universe and she’s not sure where to go for help, she thinks about calling the police until she reads a message on her hand that says, TRUST NO-ONE. Tired, afraid and a little paranoid she just wishes her best friend and roommate Amy or her boyfriend Marco would answer their phones then maybe she could make some sense out of all this nonsense.

 Liv doesn’t know it yet but she’s in grave danger and her strange amnesia is both a blessing and a curse, the big question is will she figure things out before the danger catches up to her.

Meanwhile NYC detectives Halliday and Lavelle have their hands full trying to solve a bizarre murder of a man in a short term rental with no murder weapon on scene the only evidence is a long strand of dark hair on the pillow beside the dead man and the biggest clue is the words written in the victim’s blood saying WAKE UP.

The characters are amazing in this intense chilling novel and everyone plays their role perfectly, Liv will make the audience scream STAY AWAKE more than one time during the novel, she’s vulnerable and wide opened to all the sucker punches she gets during the novel and the lead detective Darcy Halliday is fantastic a no-nonsense cop with a good head on her shoulders, a military background and compassionate. Her fellow detective Jack Halliday is also a good character a Yin to Halliday’s Yang open minded but at times needs coaxing to see things her way. The villain however remains in the shadows until the shocking reveal that will have most listeners bamboozled. Fans of Megan Goldin, Hank Phippi Ryan, and Lisa Gardner will not be able to take off the earbuds until the credits roll.

Narration:
January LaVoy is the perfect choice for the no-nonsense, practical cops particularly Halliday where Imogen Church plays the confused, bewildered Liv super skillfully. These two orators will give listeners a definite edge over readers.

 

About the author:
MEGAN GOLDIN, author of THE ESCAPE ROOM and THE NIGHT SWIM, worked as a correspondent for Reuters and other media outlets where she covered war, peace, international terrorism and financial meltdowns in the Middle East and Asia. She is now based in Melbourne, Australia where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs.