Survive the Night

Survive the Night is a 2021 thriller novel by American author Todd Ritter, under the penname Riley Sager. It was first published in the United States on June 29, 2021 through Dutton and centers upon a woman who realizes that she may be sharing a car ride with a murderer. Synopsis The book follows Charlie, a young woman who drops out of film college due to the trauma of witnessing the murder of her best friend Maddy by a serial killer. Dubbed "The Campus Killer", the murderer had been picking off women on their campus. At the time Charlie had assumed that the murder was one of her visual hallucinations, something she is prone to experiencing, especially in emotional situations. These hallucinations typically appear as film scenes. As she did not stop the murder and cannot provide many helpful details, Charlie is extremely guilt stricken. She arranges for a ride home via a ride share, as she doesn't drive due to her parents dying in a car crash, and through this meets Josh. Their ride is initially pleasant and the two hit it off, however Charlie becomes convinced that he is the murderer when he mentions that the murderer took one of Maddy's teeth, something that the police did not reveal to the general public. Josh also admits that he came to campus specifically to find Charlie. The two stop at a diner, where Charlie meets a waitress named Marge. She is briefly offered a chance to escape with Marge's help and even manages to call her boyfriend Robbie, but Charlie decides to keep traveling with Josh in order to get revenge and stop him from killing anyone else. This surprises Josh, who assumed that she would have chosen to escape. The two talk some more and Charlie admits that she tried killing herself. She then stabs Josh and flees back to the diner, where she is captured by Marge and taken to an abandoned resort lodge. Marge reveals that she is Maddy's grandmother and that Josh is a bounty hunter. She hired him in order to bring Charlie to her and force her to give her details of the murder. Unable to give her any of the information she desires as she has begun to hallucinate, Charlie is almost attacked by Marge but saved by the last minute by Josh. Marge shoots Josh and accidentally sets the building on fire by dropping a lantern. Charlie's boyfriend Robbie appears, responding to her earlier call, and saves Charlie from both Marge's fury and the burning building but is injured in the process. This makes it necessary for Charlie to drive.