Stay Awake

A Novel

By: Megan Goldin

Narrated by: Imogen Church, January LaVoy

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

2022 NYPL Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

©2022 Megan Goldin (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Whoever voiced Liv was awful

I REALLY enjoyed this story. But the voice of Liv was a struggle. Her cadence was odd.. and the way she stressed every other syllable was like a yo-yo and it was exhausting. It might work in the theatre, but not a book. It’s unfortunate because that’s seems to be the main complaint here bringing down the score on a really good book

The narration was so painful

This narrator had the worst man’s voices and made the characters sound like idiots. It was painful. They book was great however.

Disappointed

I am a little irritated I wasted 19. on this audiobook. I couldnt get through half of this book. The story is slooooow. The narrator is pretty hard to listen to.

Main character narration =nails on a chalkboard

My only critique is that of the main character narrator. I know she was going for the perpetually disoriented person, which the main character was in the story, but the constant halting vocal affectation went from feeling realistic and expected to unbelievably grating. We were on this journey with her. Did she have to remind us with every sentence that she was disoriented? We got it in the first chapter. Other than that it was fantastic

Interesting and attention grabbing

I saw a lot of reviewing commenting on the narrator and how she ruined the story for them. Which I could see when I listened on 1x or 1.1x because her way of speaking just seemed awkward. However once I sped up the audio to 1.3x it sounded just fine to me. The story is interesting and unique. I didn’t see the culprit being who it was so I liked that, although other areas of the story were pretty easy to catch on to. I liked it and thought it was an interesting story, although the main character did make me annoyed sometimes. But I think that makes a good story too, sometimes it’s stories that maybe don’t fit what you think they should be but what the writer wanted you to get from it.

A good listen

I enjoyed this book, the story line was good and left you guessing what was next.
Although some parts were soft spoken, the narration was still well executed.

Totally awesome!

This is the second book by this author I have read. The characters in both books were well rounded and interesting! Stay awake had such an appeal for someone who doesn’t exactly sleep as much as I should. The main character was well rounded and worth cheering on! One minute you think she’s guilty and the next minute you are yelling at her to remember what happened! If you have never read the night swim, get another credit and read that one too! It is so worth it and I can promise you that you will not be wasting your time on either book or regretting spending the credits! Can’t wait for the next book from Megan! Ok

Taut thriller that keeps you guessing

This book had great pacing and an engaging mystery. I thought the story was very well written, although I was left with one big question at the end that was unanswered

(*SPOILER ALERT* Why did the killer target Liv in the first place?? The second time around makes sense, but why the first time around??)

If you’re looking for a book that will keep you interested, this is it.

As far as the performance, the person who read the detective’s chapters did great. The person who read Liv’s chapters was difficult to listen to (nearly to the point of enraging); the repetitive, sing-song inflections and the absolute snail’s pace of the reading was like nails on a chalkboard, not to mention the grating pronunciations (“Hooston” instead of “Houston,” etc).

Don’t fall asleep!

The story was entertaining. I enjoyed it even though it was slightly repetitive. The only downside is that one do the narrators is hard to listen to. The inflections every few words were a little Much for me.

it was 4 star good. kept my interest

as always there will be no spoilers. in my review

this was a pretty decent book. prob is Im a tough critic. very tough. so without spoiling anything. I will just say. good characters, steady paced story , finally a spin on a different storyline. ( have we no original ideas in this country anymore. just saying ) if I have to give one note while listening is pay attention to all the characters bc I got to the find out part and had no idea who the people were for a minute.

im not familiar with this narrator. however I thought she did a great job. I had no problems with tone. her inflections were properly administered , she did very well.