Survive the Night

TITLE: Survive the Night
AUTHOR: Danielle Vega
PUBLISHER: Razorbill
PUBLISHING DATE: July 7, 2015

FROM GOODREADS: Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music.

In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . .
              
. . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly.

Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone.

They’re being hunted.
              
Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to her friend’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here. . . .” in this bone-chilling sophmore novel by the acclaimed author of The Merciless.

MY THOUGHTS: 
I should probably start this out by saying that this book almost earned a 2 star rating, but overall I have to give Vega some credit for her excellent writing skills and I do believe she does horror quite well. I would be interested in knowing if she plans to move into the adult horror world because most of what I found annoying in this book centered around the teenage characters.

Let's start off with what I liked about this book. Like I mentioned, Vega does suspense and chills very well. She manages to be descriptive without overdoing it and she really sold me on the evil presence in this book. Also, I found it to be a quick read and let's admit it, sometimes you just need to read something you can knock out in a day or two.

However, Survive the Night had some negative aspects as well. This book has some serious resolution problems at the end. Now I am all for suspense and leaving the reader guessing, but seriously, I would have liked a tad bit more explanation about the monster. In addition, I felt little connection to any of the characters. They were bratty, and while flawed, they didn't think they were flawed - they felt they were indestructible, above reproach teenagers(see previous bratty comment - it says it all).

I don't regret picking up this book, but I am sure there are books on my TBR which I would have enjoyed more. Being a quick read, I really didn't put much time into it, so that upped the enjoyment factor somewhat as well. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys YA horror, or anyone who enjoys late 80's/early 90's teenage slasher films.

I received this book from Penguin First to Read which did not influence my review/rating in any way.

RATING: 3 PAWS

COYER SCAVENGER HUNT #39 - Read a book with no living thing on the cover