Survive the Night
by Riley Sager
Summary
It’s November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana’s in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.
Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she’s named after, Charlie has her doubts. There’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t seem to want Charlie to see inside the car’s trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?
What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a pay phone and in a place where there’s nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing – survive the night.
My Review
Riley Sager is a hit-or-miss author for me, and unfortunately, this book landed somewhere in the middle. I’m slowly working my way through his backlist, and while I didn’t dislike this one, it certainly didn’t blow me away either. It was decent, just not memorable. There’s some language, but no spice.
Based on the premise, I expected to be completely hooked. I was hoping for a gripping, high-stakes road trip thriller that would keep me on the edge of my seat. Instead, what I got felt more like a laid-back joyride with only a few bumps in the road. The plot dragged for most of the book, and I kept waiting for something big to happen, but it didn’t really kick into gear until the final stretch.
The twist? Totally predictable. I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve read so many thrillers at this point, but the big reveal didn’t surprise me in the slightest. I actually rolled my eyes and thought, “Of course it’s that person. Shocker! How original.” Maybe it was a fresher concept when it was first released, but reading it now in 2025, it felt tired and tropey.
That said, the last portion of the book did pick up, and I found myself more engaged by the end. I listened to the audiobook version, and while the narrator did a solid job, I often found myself tuning out while working. The story just didn’t hold my attention consistently.
Still, I’m committed to reading through all of Sager’s work, so I’m glad I can check this one off the list. Would I reread it? No. Would I recommend it? Not really. If the premise intrigues you, it might still be worth a try, but personally, I think there are stronger, more suspenseful thrillers out there.