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Stay Awake
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  • Published: 16 August 2022
  • ISBN: 9781760897222
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $37.00

Stay Awake

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
16 Aug 2022
EBook
16 Aug 2022
Audiobook
16 Aug 2022
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The heart-stopping new thriller from the Australian author who has taken the world by storm. A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.

In the vein of Jacqueline Bublitz's BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME and Christopher Nolan’s cult classic MEMENTO, Megan Goldin’s STAY AWAKE is an electrifying novel that plays with memory and murder.

'If you’re looking for a novel to get your heart racing, Stay Awake is the perfect book for you. A superb read right to the gripping, unforgettable end.’ BETTER READING

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, 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. 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.

Praise for Megan Goldin:

'Megan Goldin has a sure hand at ratcheting up the tension. The pages turn themselves.' New York Times Book Review


'Cancel all your plans and call in sick; once you start reading, you'll be caught in your own escape room. The only key to freedom is turning the last page.' Kirkus Reviews (starred)

'Top-shelf page-turning crime' Sydney Morning Herald

'Gripping and unforgettable' Harlan Coben

'One of my favourite books of the year' Lee Child


'Every page is filled to the brim with suspense and tension, making you second guess everyone ... It’s a gripping take on the unreliable narrator trope, one Goldin executes brilliantly. If you’re looking for a novel to get your heart racing, Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is the perfect book for you. A superb read right to the gripping, unforgettable end.’ Better Reading

  • Published: 16 August 2022
  • ISBN: 9781760897222
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $37.00
Categories:

About the author

Megan Goldin

Megan Goldin 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 the author of three internationally bestselling thrillers: Stay Awake, The Night Swim and The Escape Room. She is now based in Melbourne, where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs.

portrait photo of Megan Goldin

Also by Megan Goldin

Dark Corners
The Night Swim
The Escape Room
The Girl in Kellers Way
See all

Praise for Stay Awake

Megan Goldin has a sure hand at ratcheting up the tension. The pages turn themselves.

New York Times Book Review

Top shelf page-turning crime

Sydney Morning Herald

Highly diverting . . . Goldin disorients the reader by deploying multiple timelines.

Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review

Goldin—writing in sharp, uncluttered prose—cleverly keeps us guessing.

Dan Fesperman, The Washington Post

Megan Goldin’s last book, The Night Swim, was an original and gripping novel that brought Goldin to the top of my auto-buy list. Now with her latest novel, Stay Awake, she’s cemented herself as one of my favourite crime fiction authors. I pride myself on my ability to spot plot twists, but Goldin is one of those rare writers that kept me on my toes until the very last page. I absolutely loved reading every chilling reveal surrounding Liv, her amnesia, the strange messages on her hands and the gritty crime she’s been implicated in. Every page is filled to the brim with suspense and tension, making you second guess everyone – including Liv. It’s a gripping take on the unreliable narrator trope, one Goldin executes brilliantly. If you’re looking for a novel to get your heart racing, Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is the perfect book for you. A superb read right to the gripping, unforgettable end.

Better Reading

Before you get 10 pages into this absolute firecracker of a book, you’ll be hoping a production company has snapped up the movie rights already... Goldin, author of The Escape Room, is master of a breakneck plot, and you should probably start this early in the day – because there’s no way you’ll sleep through this one.

Fiona Hardy, Readings