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Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
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English
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STAY AWAKE

Megan Goldin

In the vein of SJ Watson's Before I Go to Sleep and Christopher Nolan's cult classic Memento, Megan Goldin's Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that plays with memory and murder.

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 now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it's missing, and in its place is a bloodstained knife. That's when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and 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, the same 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 as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. 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.

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.
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Published 2022-08-01 by St. Martin's Press

Comments

"an absolute firecracker of a book" --Reading Books (the association of Australian Independent Booksellers) Read more...

"highly diverting" Read more...

"[An] adrenaline-fueled thriller. ... Goldin skillfully interweaves Liv's tense, propulsive present-day narration with chapters following NYPD detective Darcy Halliday's homicide investigation and flashbacks to two years earlier. Shocking twists and resourceful, well-drawn female characters keep the pages turning as the clever mystery unfolds. Goldin reliably entertains."

Book trailer Read more...

"The latest novel from the author of The Night Swim (2020) is a very interesting variation on the lost-memory theme. Goldin keeps piling on the questions (Why is someone else living in Liv's apartment? How has her workplace changed so much? Why have her bank accounts been closed?) until we're just as confused as Liv. ... Eventually Goldin answers these questions and many more, but only when she's ready, and good luck trying to figure out the answers before that. Misdirection has always been a key tool in her toolbox, and she uses it to perfection in this beautifully conceived and executed thriller." (starred review)

“Goldin seamlessly ups the tension Stay Awake will have readers staying awake to the last page.”

UK&BC: Canelo Crime; Australia/New Zealand: Penguin Books; Czech Rep.: Dobrovsky; Hungary: Alomgyar; Russia: AST; Bulgaria: ERA Media;