Five Survive by Holly Jackson
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Published By: Electric Monkey on 20th July, 2023
Format: Paperback
Source: Gifted (Instagram)
Add to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon (not affiliated)
Book Synopsis:
Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break.
It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident.
There’s a sniper out there. He’s watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.
As a game of cat-and-mouse plays out, the group desperately tries to get help. Buried secrets are forced to light and tensions within the group reach deadly levels. Only one thing is for sure. Not everyone will survive the night…
Book Review
I’ve been a fan of Holly Jackson since I read the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series a couple of years ago, so I was curious to see if I would enjoy this one too—and I wasn’t disappointed! One of my Instagram followers kindly gifted me this book earlier this year. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it.
This book definitely did start off slow and it had me worried for a little bit that I wasn’t going to enjoy it… Once it started picking up the pace it had me hooked. The book splits into hourly segments to follow the premise that the characters have only 8 hours to survive, and I really enjoyed this approach. The whole story takes place in the close proximity of an RV which I thought was a quite unique setting for a book to have. It gave the right atmosphere for the plot.
In the book we follow six VERY different characters and I found it so interesting to read about the group dynamic, how they interact with one another, their hidden secrets and how they cope/change from being under the pressure of a life or death situation. I will admit there was one character in particular that I disliked from the start. However, their portrayal was effective and purposeful, enriching the story’s tension.
Some of the big reveals felt obvious and predictable, but other plot twists shocked me, and the balance between the two made the story incredibly enjoyable.I did not expect the ending which is always a good sign within a mystery/thriller book. To be honest, it made me a little emotional…
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the AGGGTM series as that is hard to top for me. Nonetheless, it was still a fun time! If you’re a reader who enjoys YA mystery/thrillers or a locked-in/cornered kind of scenario then I would definitely suggest giving this one a try.
Leave a Reply