Riley Sager is the pen name of American author Todd Ritter, a best-selling author in the psychological thriller genre. Before adopting the pseudonym Riley Sager, Ritter worked as a journalist, a background that taught him some of the narrative techniques—including close observation and rapid pacing—that he uses in his fiction.

Sager’s journey into fiction began with the release of his debut novel, Final Girls (2017), which quickly established him as a fresh voice in the world of psychological thrillers. Reflecting on the creative process which brought Final Girls to life, Sager remarked:

Five years ago, I was laid off from my job [at a newspaper] and had a year of unemployment. During that year, I wrote Final Girls. So something great came out of it, but it was just this year of constant worry. I knew that if I put on the page how I felt at that time, a lot of people would be like, I hear you, I’ve been there (Castellitto, Linda M. “Riley Sager.” BookPage, 2020).

That sense of realism and palpable anxiety has since become a trademark aspect of Sager’s novels, along with his tightly plotted narrative

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