Reviews - Survive the Night by Riley Sager; The Sandman Volume 2

 

Survive the Night by Riley Sager. OR: Bad Decisions to Drive the Plot.

*Sigh* First, I do have to say, it's well-written, and it's a fast read, so I did finish it.

OTHER THAN THAT.

Survive the Night is based on a deeply flawed premise. Which is that a young woman would agree to rideshare across country with a man she has never met. 

At night. 

Anyway. Charlie - a film major who sees "movies in her mind" (hallucinations) is set to drop out of university two months after her best friend is murdered by a serial killer. Charlie's last interaction with her best friend - a Manic Pixie Dream Girl character - was an argument, and Charlie feels guilty.

So she puts  a sign up on the university's rideshare board, and ends up agreeing to share the ride with Josh - an older and slightly ~mysterious man. He then says they need to leave at 9pm and instead of saying ABSOLUTELY NOT, Charlie agrees.

And so. It begins. Josh gets caught out in certain lies, and messes with Charlie's perception of time, thanks to her telling him about her hallucinations. It's not long before Charlie begins to suspect that Josh is the Campus Killer - the serial killer that took the life of her best friend.

I just. The book is based on SUCH a flawed premise. Which is that a young woman would be WILLING TO GET INTO  A STRANGER'S CAR, then DRIVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Anyway. Like I said, I finished it because the writing style was decent, and the action kept the stupid plot moving along. 

I picked the first "twist" fairly early on, and as for the second one .... the payoff was not worth it.

The Sandman Volume 2: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman. 

It's been a while since I read Preludes and Nocturnes, but it didn't really matter. The Doll's House focuses in more on Rose - the Dream Vortex who has the ability to change the dreamscape.

(I may conflate this with the Sandman TV series which I watched first).

Rose and her mother travel to England to meet Unity Kincaid, who they find out is Rose's grandmother. Rose then travels to the United States to try and find her younger brother, Jed who is trapped in an abusive foster home, and is also being tormented in his dreams.

Meanwhile the serial killer and escaped nightmare The Corinthian happens upon a "Cereal Killer" convention.

I really enjoyed this one - moreso than Preludes. This feels more like escapism in its truest sense, as Dream navigates both the Endless and the mortal world and tries to work out what to do about Rose. It feels like the universe is building on itself with each book, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.