A Book A Week

It finally happened. After nearly 3 years of dodging the proverbial bullet, I finally tested positive for COVID-19 last week. It took me about a week to overcome the worst symptoms, and I thankfully only have a lingering nasty cough. However, one benefit to being forced to isolate is that I've had ample time to catch up on reading. Megan Goldin's novels The Escape Room and The Night Swim were some of the best thrillers that I read in their respective years of release. This put her newest book Stay Awake, out today, among my most anticipated reads this year. Lucky for me, Goldin's publisher generously provided me with a copy of Stay Awake to review. I found the work to be the perfect form of escapism as I suffered through the worst symptoms of this illness. 

Liv Reese awakes in the back of a taxi having more questions than answers. Her amnesia is only further pronounced as she steps up to the door of her apartment and is greeted by strangers. Who are these people in her home? The tenants seem as confused as she is, and they quickly close the door. Liv goes into her pocket to retrieve her phone but instead pulls out a knife covered in blood. Her phone is nowhere to be found. Liv's hands are adorned with hastily scribbled messages like a random phone number, "Don't open the door", and most startling "STAY AWAKE". 

Incoming homicide detective Darcy Halliday has been partnered with department veteran Jack Lavelle. Beyond the usual newcomer/veteran dynamic at play, the pairs' boss has tasked Lavelle with vetting Halliday for future promotions. Halliday has a history of working for the state department, a past that is understandably shrouded in mystery. Halliday and Lavelle don't have much time to get to know each other before they are called to the scene of a gruesome murder. The brutal stabbing would be bad enough, but it is the message scrawled on the window of the room in the victim's blood that chills everyone to their core. STAY AWAKE!

Megan Goldin is fast becoming known for her ability to produce compelling standalone thrillers, and Stay Awake further cements that status. She's crafted the perfect unreliable narrator in a character who loses her short-term memory each time that she sleeps. The novel alternates perspectives between this woman who is attempting to compile the events that lead her to this point with that of the detectives investigating a murder in which she is the prime suspect. Goldin sprinkles in flashbacks to her protagonist's past, giving the reader insight into the person she used to be. This provides some much-needed depth to a character who is otherwise stuck in a repetitive loop of insomnia and paranoia. The short chapters and fast pace make this the kind of can't-put-it-down read that I've come to expect from Goldin. I did see the ending coming well before the big reveal, but it did little to deter my enjoyment of getting to that point. Stay Awake is another solid thriller from an author who is already one of my go-to writers in the genre. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2022, 33)