Liv Reese shows up home at her apartment building with no memory of the night before. Had she been drinking that much? She reaches for her phone but it's not there, nor is her purse. No keys then. She buzzes for her roommate to let her into the building. But it's not her roommate who shows up at the door. A couple she doesn't know comes to the door. They don't want to let her in but the man agrees to let her in long enough to borrow his phone. When she enters what she thought was her apartment, she doesn't recognize anything. None of her furniture or belongings are there. She calls her roommate but gets a message that the number is out of service.
Liv leaves after finding a knife in her pocket which she hurls away and heads back to the bar where she had been earlier. Her phone and purse aren't there but the bartender gets her a taxi and sends her to a hotel. Liv finds she has quite a lot of money in her pockets. The next morning she goes to the magazine where she works and where her last memory is of answering her phone. She finds no one there she knows and people who assume that she is back visiting from London where they believe she has been leaving.
A murder is on the television news and all the newspapers as well as everyone's lips. A man was killed in an apartment, stabbed. The words Stay Awake have been written in blood on the window. Liv looks down and sees the same words written on her hand. Has she somehow lost two years? Who is the man and why does she think she is involved?
Megan Goldin started her writing career as a correspondent. She is now writing psychological thrillers and has had several successful novels. This one is particularly scary as it is easy to imagine oneself in Liv's shows, unsure what is going on and everything you thought you knew turning out to be wrong. Liv is determined to find the truth and that is dangerous for her as someone is tracking her every move waiting for a chance to end her forever. I listened to this novel and had to stop it occasionally as the tension mounted. This book is recommended for mystery fans.