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The Survivor

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 506 ratings · 144 reviews

The #1 international bestselling author of You’re Next, unleashes his most accomplished, compelling thriller yet

One morning in Los Angeles, Nate Overbay—a divorced former solider suffering from PTSD and slowly dying from ALS — goes to an eleventh-floor bank, climbs out of the bathroom window onto the ledge, and gets ready to end it all. But as he’s steeling himself, a crew...more

Hardcover, 374 pages

Published August 21st 2012 by St. Martin's Press (first published April 12th 2012)

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Year's Best Thrillers (2012)

2nd out of 12 books — 13 voters

Die Liebe in den Zeiten der Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Top of the Pile

20th out of 41 books — 12 voters

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Community Reviews

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Sep 30, 2012 Michael Sherer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gregg Hurwitz’s SURVIVOR sends me into manic-depressive swings, the turbo-charged plot producing a high so exhilarating from the very first page that meth might as well be Valium, and writing—oh, that kid’s prose—that makes me weep with the knowledge that I could never be that good, that lyrical, in my dreams.

Once again, Hurwitz takes a sympathetic, ordinary guy, gives him some inner angst and throws him into an impossible, life-threatening, morality-questioning situation and lets the guy’s adr...more

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May 08, 2013 Patrick Rijnders rated it 4 of 5 stars

Having read quite a few thrillers, I more or less understand the mechanics of most of these books. No matter what the premise is, they tend to follow the same lines: innocent man or woman ends up in a hopeless situation, all seems lost, nobody can be trusted, you know the deal. You could almost wonder why you should read these books anymore.

However, the way a book is written, characters, background and setting can turn a predictable book into something that is still exhilerating to read. Linwoo...more

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Jan 31, 2013 MeinKampfy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Gregg Huwitz once again draws ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances, with action at break-Michael Bay's-neck speed. with one caveat: 90's Disney family comedy. enter precocious teenage daughter with daddy issues, teenage daughter's slightly retarded, tattooed, boyfriend with ear gauges, Love of My Life ex-wife, Ukrainian mafia, and lots, and lots of cheese. there has never been this much cheese, ever. kissing foreheads, bickering, and pet-names ensue. oh yeah, i still love my dad, wh...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Jean rated it 3 of 5 stars

As I was reading Survivor, I decided that the writer had written this book with a movie in mind. It's that kind of non stop action story with a sympathetic hero (PTSD AND ALS)dead best friend who appears as a ghost Rescue Me style from time to time and a Ukranian mob villian who's the baddest badass, except when it comes to his 17 year old daughter.

I call this an airplane book. It's very entertaining but when the story is over, its not one you are going to spend any time afterwards thinking abou...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Barbara Z. rated it 5 of 5 stars

(Audiobook) This is the third thriller by Gregg Hurwitz I've listened to, having only discovered him a few months ago. The Survivor is his latest, and as far as I'm concerned, best. It's a little emotionally manipulative, but, hell, that's what the genre is all about. I found the story very compelling, gripping and even fun, considering the amazing downward spiral of the main character's existence.

There are definitely some Ukrainian Mafia stereotypes in evidence, voiced menacingly by the somber...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller

My review posted on MADreads - http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/m...

You know you're having a bad day when your suicide attempt is interrupted by a bank robbery. Just the kind of day Nate Overbay is having. He's on an 11th floor ledge - having crawled out of the window of his bank - very carefully choosing his landing spot in a dumpster (so he doesn't squash anyone) when he hears a gunshot and sees the blood splatter on the window next to him. When he realizes that a group of masked gunmen are...more My review posted on MADreads - http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/m...

You know you're having a bad day when your suicide attempt is interrupted by a bank robbery. Just the kind of day Nate Overbay is having. He's on an 11th floor ledge - having crawled out of the window of his bank - very carefully choosing his landing spot in a dumpster (so he doesn't squash anyone) when he hears a gunshot and sees the blood splatter on the window next to him. When he realizes that a group of masked gunmen are robbing the bank, Nate is torn. He's determined to go through with his jump, but the gunmen have already killed a couple of people and they make clear they're perfectly willing to kill more, including a little girl who reminds Nate of his own daughter. What's an ex-soldier to do?

Nate does do the right thing and foil the bank robbery. But the ringleader escapes after warning Nate that "he" will make him pay in ways he can't possibly imagine. For Nate, the threat holds little weight. He was just about to kill himself after all. And if suicide doesn't get him, then his recently diagnosed Lou Gehrig's disease will. It is that diagnosis on top of the PTSD he can't shake and the finalization of his divorce that has brought Nate to this point and he is finding it surprisingly freeing to not care. Even when the "he" of the threat (Ukrainian mobster Pavlo) kidnaps him and makes clear that very bad things are going to happen, Nate is ready. What he isn't ready for is the threat to his daughter Cielle and that changes everything. Now he's got only a few days to complete the task set for him by Pavlo. If he fails it is Ciele who will pay.

I've been in a reading slump lately. It's not that I haven't read any good books, I have, it's just that nothing has been ringing my bell. You know what I mean. That book that grabs you and enthralls you and leaves you wanting more. The one that is just so good you have to keep reading well past your bedtime. I know you've all read them. Survivor has broken my slump. Certainly this is a page-turner, but it is also a deeply moving story of a man who is struggling and remains human throughout. This is the best thriller I've read this year.(less)

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Sep 09, 2012 Christa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook-arc

This was my first experience reading a book by Gregg Hurwitz, and I will be looking for his backlist. Nate Overbay was a great character. He had loads of baggage, and didn't think much of himself, but he was very sympathetic and likeable. I also enjoyed the role his wife, Janie, played in the book. Their daughter, Cielle, was often annoying and abrasive, but she was a teen who felt abandoned by her father. The storyline pulled me in from the first page and kept me captivated throughout the book....more This was my first experience reading a book by Gregg Hurwitz, and I will be looking for his backlist. Nate Overbay was a great character. He had loads of baggage, and didn't think much of himself, but he was very sympathetic and likeable. I also enjoyed the role his wife, Janie, played in the book. Their daughter, Cielle, was often annoying and abrasive, but she was a teen who felt abandoned by her father. The storyline pulled me in from the first page and kept me captivated throughout the book. There was lots of action, and the story moved at a fast pace.

Nate Overbay hasn't felt like he's done anything right in years. He already thinks he has nothing left, and then finds out that he has a terribly debilitating fatal illness. He believes the only thing for him to do is to take his life in a way to bother others as little as possible. He even positions a dumpster to fall into when he jumps from a ledge so that no one will have to clean up a horrid spread out mess. His plans are interrupted when the bank whose ledge he is on is robbed. Nate watches the robbery through the window, sees people shot, and then goes through the window, picks up a gun one of the robbers laid down, and proceeds to shoot all but one of the six bank robbers. Nate is soon made aware that the robbery was part of a much larger scheme, and he is suddenly in danger from a nasty group of Ukranian bandits. When Nate's daughter is threatened, he goes to warn his estranged family of what has occured. He also tells them of his illness, which he has known about for nine months. Soon, his wife and daughter are also in danger so, although he intended to end his life, he holds off in order to protect the two people he loves. Fighting his illness, suspected by wrongdoing by law enforcement, and with very few resources, Nate sets out to take down the man who is endangering his family before his own time runs out.

This was a great story, and the book was very hard to put down. The characters were wonderful, and the villians seemed truly evil. I received this book as an ARC through Netgalley.
(less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Survivor is Gregg Hurwitz's latest book - following on the heels of his previous bestseller - You're Next.

The Survivor is one of the thriller books I love to devour - everyday, little guy put into an untenable situation with everything on the line. Fun escapist reading, akin to watching movies such as Die Hard.

In this case, Nate Overbay is our everyday guy. He had it all - a wife and daughter he loved dearly. Deployed to Afghanistan, he returned a changed man. Five years on, he suffers from...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Jennifer Jensen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Some people have bad days. Some people have bad weeks. Nate is having bad years – several in a row, in fact, which have culminated in a desperate choice. Everything he tries to do works out against him, and since he can’t seem to shake his bad mojo, he decides to remove himself from the equation. Unfortunately, just like everything else, this choice doesn’t work out as he intends – in fact, it goes about as terribly as possible.

From the moment you stand on the window ledge with Nate in the openi...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Best Crime Books rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have only read one of Gregg Hurwitz' books and really enjoyed it, so when I saw his new release out I promptly downloaded it onto my Kindle. Luckily for me I had a few days off work and decided this was a perfect time to settle down and make a start. However, I probably should have known better and realised very quickly that this book certainly wasn't one that would make me settle!

From the very beginning the action is full on, Gregg Hurwitz put the pedal to the metal and the reader has no choi...more I have only read one of Gregg Hurwitz' books and really enjoyed it, so when I saw his new release out I promptly downloaded it onto my Kindle. Luckily for me I had a few days off work and decided this was a perfect time to settle down and make a start. However, I probably should have known better and realised very quickly that this book certainly wasn't one that would make me settle!

From the very beginning the action is full on, Gregg Hurwitz put the pedal to the metal and the reader has no choice but to go along for the ride. The opener of the book (and this is not a spoiler as it is on the main synopsis on the back of the book); starts with Nate Overbay looking down eleven floors whilst contemplating his own suicide. Within seconds he hears gunshots and realises that he is witnessing a major bank heist and that people's lives are at risk other than his own.

From this very first chapter the book is very high octane (LOVE those words together) and Nate decides to put other people's feelings before his own. Nate was a former military guy and his training kicks in and he makes a decision to tray and save these people. What Nate fails to realise is that the one man that got away is also the same person that will make his life hell.

From this point on we see Nate try to keep his estranged family safe. The book takes some amazing turns and at times I felt worn out by Nate's attempts to keep his family safe. This book may be a slight stretch on the truth but it certainly keeps you hooked. The one element of this book that I liked was the fact that Nate was ill with a disease that I didn't know all that much about. It seemed to me by the end of it that Gregg Hurwitz did an amazing job of making this part of the story without overdoing it.

I must say that by the end I not only felt worn out, but was disappointed to have finished a great book. Thankfully I have lots of his other books in my large and ever extending to read list. A definite must for fans of the action packed kinda book! (less)

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May 16, 2012 VaultOfBooks rated it 4 of 5 stars

By Gregg Hurwitz. Grade A.
From the eleventh story of a Los Angeles high-rise, Nate looks out on the city – the traffic, the trees, the beach beyond. He breathes deeply. And then he moves one foot off the ledge and into thin air.
But before he can jump, gunshots ring out from within the building. A robbery is in progress. And Nate, with nothing to lose but the life he was about to give up, decides to intervene.
What happens next plunges Nate into mortal danger…and reunites him with the family he ha...more By Gregg Hurwitz. Grade A.
From the eleventh story of a Los Angeles high-rise, Nate looks out on the city – the traffic, the trees, the beach beyond. He breathes deeply. And then he moves one foot off the ledge and into thin air.
But before he can jump, gunshots ring out from within the building. A robbery is in progress. And Nate, with nothing to lose but the life he was about to give up, decides to intervene.
What happens next plunges Nate into mortal danger…and reunites him with the family he hasn’t known for years - a family he will do anything to protect.
Have you ever seen a person commit suicide – in real life? I saw it once. I was in the mall, hanging out with friends, when a man jumped from the fifth floor right in front of my eyes. There was a loud thud, blood seeped out from his clothes and he was declared dead. I’ll spare you the gory details and jump to the point: some say that the people who commit suicide are cowards, but I say that every person has a breaking point, and he can fight the cruelties of life only so much. Sometimes, the only option is to give up.
That was the moment I decided that if a thought of committing suicide ever came to my mind, I would definitely die while doing some noble job. If you are already wasting a gifted life, you may at least make the sacrifice mean something. That was exactly what the main protagonist Nate did, and in some twisted way, he is my role model.
The book starts with a bang when Nate—a soon-to-be-divorced former solider suffering from PTSD and slowly dying from ALS — is preparing to jump from a ledge down into the dumpster. He is feeling sorry for the people who would witness the suicide and the poor man who would have to clean his blood, when he hears some robbers burst into a bank and start shooting people. With nothing to lose, Nate barges in and manages to kill five out of the six robbers. People know him as the bank hero. But what those people don’t know is that this bank hero was given a deadly warning by the sixth robber: “He [the robber's boss] will get you.”
Nate soon learns what that message meant. He is kidnapped by a Ukranian mobster and threatened to steal a document for which the robbery had been framed or see his daughter killed on a slab of ice, right in front of his eyes. The daughter whom Nate loved very much but lost – when he came back from Iraq a broken man – with his soon to be ex-wife.
The last thing he wants to do is leave the world while leaving the only people he loves in grave danger because of him. He vows to find a way to keep them safe even if it is the last thing he is able to do.
-
Despite reading hundreds of action-packed thrillers in the past few days, I am still taken aback how the threads suddenly come together at the end. Seemingly simple statements are actually obvious clues, and you wonder how you could have missed it. The same thing happened here. And the best part was that the parts which weren’t so action-packed, like where Nate tells his family of the illness or the part when his family finally forgives him and they are re-united are very poignant and been written artfully. Brings to mind some of the works of Baldacci and David Jackson.
The first half whizzes by, so fast that you have no option but to go along with the ride. Things slow down then, and you fall for the characters. His terminal illness is terrifying and despite knowing that there is no cure, you wish for some miracle as the end approaches. His love for his family is very real, and the way he puts them above him would win over many hearts. The book comes alive in Hurwitz’s capable hands, and no doubt I am going to check out the other books in his shelf.
Worth your time.

Posted by: http://the-vault.co.cc (less)

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Jul 11, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 110-books-in-2012-and-do-it-again, action-thriller, advanced-copy-review, family-relationships, free-book-for-honest-review, mystery, read-in-2012, reviewed

Nate Overbay is afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease. He's been told that he has about six months of good health before his body begins to break down. Feeling despondent, he goes to a downtown L.A. building to commit suicide.

He notices that there is a robbery going on in the bank where he was planning suicide. The robbers are in a frenzy and shoot the employees if they don't act quickly enough for them. Nate is someone who likes to help others and he spots a gun on the floor. He creeps into the b...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Gregory Stenson rated it 4 of 5 stars

An excellent read as usual from Mr. Hurwitz, as a writer I enjoy reading but also try to absorb the style, prose and the way a writer builds suspense and carves a story out of characters and situations and this is a masterclass lesson from Gregg.

I really enjoyed his other books but I think this one shades the other's for pure satisfaction. By that I mean after 200 pages you really do wonder just where the story os going, after 300 pages you again wonder how he can squeeze more tension and after...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Jenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

Nate Overbay is a down on his luck guy who is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after his best friend was killed in combat. He is ready to end his life after finding out he has been diagnosed with another ailment. He will be leaving his wife and daughter behind but he has pulled away from them over the years after his return from service. He is on the 11th story edge of the bank building when he hears gun shots inside the back. He peeks into the window nearest him and see six armed m...more Nate Overbay is a down on his luck guy who is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after his best friend was killed in combat. He is ready to end his life after finding out he has been diagnosed with another ailment. He will be leaving his wife and daughter behind but he has pulled away from them over the years after his return from service. He is on the 11th story edge of the bank building when he hears gun shots inside the back. He peeks into the window nearest him and see six armed men taking over the bank. Before he knows it, he has entered the window and starts taking out the bank robbers. There is one man left and he leaves Nate with a warning that his life could be in danger. Nate is confronted by a Ukrainian mobster and told that he must retrieve the item they were robbing the bank for or his wife and daughter will be in danger. Nate now has to focus on keeping his family safe and not focus on his lack of will to live before it is too late.

Hurwitz did not disappoint with his latest book. It started out with an action scene and never let up. I found myself knowing that things could not be so easy for Nate but I had no idea how Hurwitz would add more suspenseful twists without the story getting too unbelievable but he succeeded. Of course some of the situations seem unfathomable to the common person but it was not so over done that I rolled my eyes at absurdity.

There were moments in this book that I was on the edge of my seat and then there would be a paragraph that would have me on the edge of tears. Hurwitz had me on an emotional roller coaster throughout the book. I was rooting for Nate to repair his relationships with his wife and daughter, work through is new health diagnosis, figure out how to deal with his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and fight back against the group of Ukrainians coming after him.

I felt that the characters were well developed. There was enough detail to keep me informed and have a clear picture in my mind but there was not so much detail that I became bored while I was reading. I also liked that the intimate scenes were not too graphic. The interactions and responses from the characters seemed realistic to me and made me want to know even more about them when I finished the book.

Overall, this is another Hurwitz book that I would highly recommend. I find Hurwitz to be a refreshing author. He adds suspense but keeps things somewhat realistic throughout the book, so it keeps you hooked from the very start of the book. He is a creative author and I have not read any of his books that let me down. I look forward to more Hurwitz books in the future.

(Library Book; Read Sept 2012)(less)

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Sep 13, 2012 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

We first meet Nate Overbay as he stands on the ledge of the 11th floor of a downtown bank building in LA. But it is very important that we find out how he came to the decision to end his life. But fate is about to play a very strange role in Nate's situation. Nate grew up in a loving family and attended UCLA with a best friend , Charles Brightbill. One day at the beach a young woman is being pulled out by the riptide. Nate , without hestation, jumps in and rescues her. He falls in love with her...more We first meet Nate Overbay as he stands on the ledge of the 11th floor of a downtown bank building in LA. But it is very important that we find out how he came to the decision to end his life. But fate is about to play a very strange role in Nate's situation. Nate grew up in a loving family and attended UCLA with a best friend , Charles Brightbill. One day at the beach a young woman is being pulled out by the riptide. Nate , without hestation, jumps in and rescues her. He falls in love with her and Janie and Nate get married. They have a beautiful daughter, Cielle and all is well until that never to be forgotten day... 9/11. Charles and Nate are in the ROTC program and they will be deployed to Iraq where an IED will change everything. Charles is killed and Nate blames himself for not acting faster.
Nate suffers from PTSD and memories of Charle's death haunt his every waking hour. And now the final blow, Nate finds out he has the early symptoms of ALS...Lou Gehrig's disease. He cannot face his future and he decides to leave Janie & Cielle and to end it all. But karma is going to play another role in his life. As Nate looks back into a window from the ledge, he realizes that the bank that occupies that floor is about to be robbed by six masked gunmen. Instinct takes over and using his military training , he re-enters the building and one by one kills all but one of the robbers....as the leader runs away he tells Nate ' 'He' will be greatly angered by you' and with this threat, the next chapter in Nate's life in about to begin.
This is not Gregg Hurwitz's first thriller , but it may be his best. Nate will be given 5 days to retrieve the item in the bank vault that the robbers were seeking. If he doesn't.....'Pavlo' will kill, first his daughter, Cielle and then maybe Janie. Nate doesn't care about himself, but he will do everything necessary to protect Cielle and Janie. Honestly, I kept putting down the book not wanting it end ! Definitely not for the 'faint of heart' but a fantastic read.(less)

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Feb 09, 2013 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

big spoilers ahead so stop reading if that bothers you...

ok this book is filled with the most contrived characters and situations..like the hero lost his family due to his PTSD and now is dying of a disease so he's got nothing to lose in his efforts to save his family from Ukrainian bad guys (because all the baddest bad guys are Ukrainian now.)

The hero's daughter is overweight because NO ONE TELLS HER ANYTHING - and the bad guy's daughter cuts herself because she doesn't have a mother..what's m...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-stars, thriller-mystery-suspense

A thrilling, engaging, action-filled adventure that you will lose yourself in immediately. A journey of courage, reconciliation, love, and relationships. Oh yeh, and crazy Ukrainian mobsters!

PTSD from war has Nate estranged from his daughter and soon to be ex-wife. He has Lou Garrett's disease and six months to live. We meet him on a 11th floor ledge outside of a bank. Before he can jump he sees a robbery in progress and decides to help when they are about to kill a child. Only one robber escape...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Anita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense-thriller, psychological-thriller

Recommended to me by a neighbour who assured me there was lots of action packed into this one - and he was right! Not only does the hero fight against the Ukranian mob, but he also fights his own body as it shuts down from ALS (Lou Gehrig disease) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). There were some unbelievable parts to this book. 1) Really - a bank on the 11th floor of a building? 2) Nate risks his life for a piece of paper in a safe deposit box - and this is the only list there is? Come...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Mrs Mommy Booknerd http://mrsmommybooknerd.blogspot.com rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-for-mmbbr-s

Would you intervene in a bank robbery in progress if you thought you had nothing else to lose? Well, that is precisely what Nate Overbay did after stepping off the ledge of a high rise building in LA where he was about to kill himself because he was not only dying from ALS, but also lost his family due to PTSD resulting from serving over seas. He felt like he had nothing to lose so he jumped into the middle of the robbery becoming a hero to many and a target of the Russian mobster, Pavlo. Overba...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Judi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, jan, thriller, suspense-action, new-to-me-author

I bought this book for my dad. He enjoys the thriller, “guy-lit” action-packed, suspense genre. I do too but I usually like a like romance added to my suspense. But something about the blurb on The Survivor called to me so I decided to give it a go before passing it off to Pops.

The story was compelling. A man determined to end his life one day ends up being the hero at a bank robbery. Now the men behind the foiled bank robbery are out for revenge and they are determined to make Nate pay the pri...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sep-12

This is my second book by Gregg Hurwitz and he is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. After reading, "You're Next", and loving it he does not disappoint with "The Survivor".

Nate Overbay, an ordinary guy with a beautiful wife and daughter, is deployed to Afghanistan where he witnesses the death of his best friend. Upon his return he suffers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and is then diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The book begins with Nate standing on the ledge of the 11th floor...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Carmen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-and-thrillers

Reading this book is like being on a roller coaster that seems to have no end. The action dipped and soared, went around corners, and yet just like you know that you will be safe at the end, I had no doubts that the good guys would win. A man diagonized with a fatal disease goes on the ledge to kill himself. Suddenly he hears noises and realizes that the bank is being robbed and the thiefs are randomly killing people. He comes down and is able to kill five of the robbers with his military traini...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Roxanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, first-read

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway! Nate Overlay the main character is overwhelmed by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after seeing his men and best friend Charles killed in action. Upon returning home, this impacts his interaction with his wife and daughter to the point that he leaves. He is now, in addition, diagnosed with a fatal condition ALS. He decides to end his life by jumping to his death from a 11th-story ledge. This is cut shut by a gruesome bank robbery that he witnesses and invol...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Evelyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: highly-recommended, thriller

Ex-soldier Nate Overby, suffering from PTSD and Lou Gherig's disease, is out on a ledge comntemplating suicide when a bank robbery occurs right in front of him. His soldier instincts take over and he ends up thwarting it, killing 5 of the robberts, and unwittingly setting himself and his family up for the revenge of a Ukranian mobster who needed important papers from the bank vault.

I tend to enjoy the ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances type thrillers, but this one is at the top of it...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Joyce rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, audio, crime, adrenaline

Based on what I enjoy, I should love these books. Excruciatingly fast-paced, compelling stories and characters, lots of plot twists, nightmare tone. But somehow neither this nor the two previous have really worked for me. I'm not opposed to violence and over-the-top characters and plots. To appreciate this book, you really need to buy into the hero, and I seem unable to do so. (Did I mention that the ghost of his army buddy, killed in a skirmish, keeps chatting with him? Reminded me of Charles T...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Akeiisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-thriller

Nate Overbay hasn't really had a good day since losing his best friend while they were deployed in the Middle East. Separated from his family, diagnosed with ALS, and tired of shuffling along, Nate decides to end it all. Except his suicide attempt is interrupted by a bank robbery. With nothing to lose, Nate lets his military training take over and stops the robbery. The man behind the robbery demands Nick gets the item he was searching for, or Nick will be forced to watch his family die.

While so...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Johnnie Gee rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am a slow reader and when I am reading something that I am not really enjoying it seems like a very very long read. This is the second book I have read by Gregg Hurwitz and while I find them entertaining to a point you have to keep reality in mind. Some of the things that take place in the book are just not realistic and a real person could not pull it off. His books are not suppose to be of the James Bond type where everything is possible; his stories are suppose to be a regular people.

I am n...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Mari Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-reads-of-2012

4.5 stars for this VERY exciting thriller and character study. This is the kind of book that makes you neglect all the things you SHOULD be doing (like laundry, dishes,etc.). From page 1, Nate Overbay is a complicated and gripping character. He isn't all together likable but that didn't stop this reader from falling in love with him. His story will grab you by the throat and not let you go until the very last page. While a tiny bit predictable, this is one of those books that you can easily see...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Naomi rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is my 5th or 6th Gregg Hurwitz book. Although, I find his books to be kind of formulaic, at this time, his writing really works for me. I find his books are like old bathrobes. You know what to expect, but it is still worth shimmying into. The Survivor was no different. Predictable, yes, but well worth the read. I have to be honest in saying that I found this to be a "guy's guy" kind of book.

To sum it up...great writing, engrossing storyline, likable main character

If I had a complaint abou...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Dan Bell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won this book during a goodreads First Read giveaway.

This was a great read. Right from the start, the story sucked me and I had trouble putting the book down. The book is well written, and is about the life-altering decision of one man to stop a bank robbery and the consequences such decision has. Full of unexpected twists, you feel you are standing alongside the main character as he unveils new clues as to why the man who set up the bank robbery is after him and his family.

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Book Haven: Win The Survivor by Gregg Hurwitz (giveaway hop)	1	5	Sep 01, 2012 08:04am
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Thriller

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Suspense

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Mystery

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Thriller > Mystery Thriller

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Mystery > Crime

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Family

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Adventure

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About Gregg Hurwitz

AKA Gregg Andrew Hurwitz

Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of The Tower, Minutes to Burn, Do No Harm, The Kill Clause, The Program, Troubleshooter, Last Shot, The Crime Writer, Trust No One, They’re Watching, and coming soon, You’re Next. His books have been nominated for numerous awards, shortlisted for best novel of the year by International Thriller Wr...more

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