Always The First To Die is a highly atmospheric, dual timeline thriller with a killer setting, including an old, rundown hotel known as Pinecrest Estate that was once the site of the filming of the ill fated, some say cursed, horror film Breathless. The film was directed by the famous Rick Plummer who was known to terrorize his actors in order to capture their authentic terror on film. Adding to the sinister ambiance in the present is the Category Four hurricane raging across the island, leaving everyone who didn't get out in time cut off from the outside world. No power. No phone. No help. Jacobs delivers a setting that reeks of danger complete with torrential rain, shutters flapping, wind howling, trees toppling and could it possibly be old ghosts taunting? Rick now owns the decaying mansion and is planning to film the sequel to Breathless there . . . and mother nature has provided the perfect backdrop. He couldn't have set the scene any better if he tried.

Liv escaped the Keys twenty years ago and vowed never to return. As a teenager, her walk-on roll in the horror film was upgraded to a major role when the lead actress became too spooked to continue. When the movie ended in tragedy, Liv left home with the only good thing to come out of the nightmare - she married Cam Plummer, son of Rick. They moved away and had a daughter. Now Liv learns that their daughter Quinn lied to her about a school field trip in order to slip away and travel to Pinecrest Estate to see her grandfather Rick Plummer, knowing she's forbidden to speak to him. Cam had mysteriously disappeared the previous year while at the haunted estate writing a book and is presumed dead. Liv is both scared to death and angry at her daughter's deception, but for the moment her main goal is to get to the island and rescue Quinn from both the storm . . . and Rick Plummer. The story that ensues is a horror film in the making.

Always The First To Die unfolds through dual timelines - twenty years ago at the filming of the original film and now all these years later in the present in Liv's point of view. It's a highly effective way of rendering this story as it serves to keep the musky air of impending doom ever present and hanging over each character's head. In many ways, the past/present stories mirror each other as events spiral out of control. Characters are well fleshed out and mostly believable although I feel like the daughter Quinn presents as younger and less mature than her age would indicate. The tone and pace elevate as the story progresses, building tension and trepidation. There seems to always be a question as to the source of the incidents randomly occurring in the old mansion - are they caused by a real person or something else? And why are events so reminiscent of the original film screenplay? Coincidence? Or set up?

Fans of old horror films with slasher vibes are sure to enjoy the dark, convoluted and twisted Always The First To Die with it's eerily creepy tone and setting. While it didn't have me looking over my shoulder at every creaking noise, I found it to be well written and expertly delivered. In my eyes, the setting is the main character and star of the show. Grab this one if you enjoy a touch of horror with suspense now and then. You may be surprised at who done it.

I loved the slasher movie feeling! Flashing between the past where Lexi being in a horror film and the future as an adult when the past comes back for her in unexpected ways. I love the older slasher films and with lots of references and talk about the tropes, It was so much fun to read. With twists, turns, and movie curses it was hard to put down. The back drop of a major storm and no power gives the perfect back drop for scary things to happen. You can feel that quick thrills, where the rules don't matter only survival.

Thank you to Sorcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for my review copy.

I haven’t read any other books by this author before, but was really pleased to get it after reading the synopsis.
What I got was a wild ride on the back of an exciting, fast paced thriller. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a horror story, but there are nods in that direction which are incorporated extremely well.
This, coupled with characters that are well rounded, all come together to provide the reader with a thoroughly decent book.
Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my arc.

Cast of Characters

Lexi - mother of Quinn, former actress in Breathless

Quinn - daughter of Lexi, granddaughter of Rick Plummer

Rick - director of Breathless


Rick wants to make a sequel to his hit movie, Breathless. Quinn lies to her mother and goes to the Keys to be with him while he is filming. While she is there, a category 4 hurricane hits, and Lexi has to go to pick up her daughter and make sure that she is ok.

When Lexi arrives, she finds Marla. Marla was the star of the original Breathless, the final girl. Marla tells Lexi that Rick tried to kill her. Murder and mayhem ensue, and Lexi and Quinn become stuck at Pinecrest, the backdrop of the movie.

I will say that I was confused in a few parts about the location. Pinecrest is several acres and there is a cottage and an old hotel on the grounds. At one point I thought the story was in the hotel, but it was suddenly in the cottage. There is also a scene where Lexi is running through the grounds at night in the dark. It talks about her running into her car, then it talks about leaving the truck running. Her car is a Volvo and Rick is the one with a truck, so I was unclear if she actually got into a vehicle and what vehicle it was. This book reads like a slasher type of movie, and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks.

I honestly wasn't expecting this book to be as good as it was, and that was quite the pleasant surprise! I ended up loving it because it sucked me in from the very beginning, and kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to find out what happened. I'm impressed with the length of the book too, it wasn't stuffed with boring filler, and I respect an author who can avoid that. I would definitely recommend.

This is the dark and twisty kinda writing I love. Nice work, Jacobs! I will definitely recommend this one to friends.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lexi races to the Keys during a hurricane because her 17 year old daughter Lexi has gone there without permission to meet with her grandfather, Rick. Rick is a maker of horror movies, one of which Lexi starred in, in the late 90's. Now he is in the process of making a sequel in the same creepy estate where he made the first one and Lexi doesn't want her daughter around him.

I didn't love this book. It was pretty slow to start and I agree with other reviewers that noted the lack of character development. I just never cared enough about any of the characters to get invested in what would happen to them. I also never watched the slasher films, so maybe I didn't get the full point of the book. Things picked up a bit near the end but not enough to redeem it for me. I really enjoyed this author's previous book. Hopefully I will have better luck with his next one.

Thank you to Netgalley and RJ Jacobs for letting me enjoy this book early in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. For a spooky thriller, it was not too intense so a great place to start with people new to the genre. The setting was great and the nods and references to classic horror films and tropes were my favorite. The ending was nice too. All around good experience.

A fast-paced, exciting thriller that pays homage to classic horror movie tropes. Twenty years ago, Lexi had a small role in a classic slasher film when she was a teen in the Florida Keys. The movie was plagued with problems and accidents culminating in the death of one of the actresses. Lexi ended up marrying the director's son and moved away, vowing to put the whole thing in her rearview mirror. Her husband has gone missing/died and their teenage daughter Quinn sneaks away to the Keys to the site of her father's disappearance and to connect with her grandfather. Of course she does this as a hurricane is barreling toward the area. Lexi has no choice but to go back to the Keys to rescue her daughter and is faced with a desolate, decimated area. It becomes apparent that someone is out to finish what they started two decades ago. This was a fun thriller filled with menace and the hurricane-ravaged, isolated Keys worked perfectly as a setting.

Full disclosure: Always the First to Die is much more of a thriller than a horror novel! While that definitely didn't affect my enjoyment - I wouldn't go in expecting a slasher when there are more homages to older horror movies instead. I absolutely loved the hurricane and the "return to the old film set", but the mystery never fully captured my attention or had me enticed. The pacing holds the reader as the entire novel takes place in a very short amount of time. I think the Riley Sager comparison is pretty fitting, I would recommend it to fans of him.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I will say that I think RJ Jacobs is one of the most highly underrated, hidden gems of an author out there right now, This newest from him is just further proof of the fact that the man can write highly addictive, perfectly paced and deeply interesting thrillers that keep you glued to the pages.

This might be my favorite book from him yet - I LOVED the characters in this book and even more than that, I love that the use of a horror movie/movie producer was the undercurrent of the plot as a whole. Everything about this book was interesting and unique and totally unexpected. I feel like anytime I pick up one of RJ's books I am in for a ride of unexpected drama, and I LOVE IT.

I really enjoyed the flashbacks to the original filming of Breathless and that insider look to how horror movies happen. I loved Rick's deeply insane character and how it colored and influenced everything else in the story. I love the way that each twist was brilliantly crafted and perfectly timed to keep me frantically reading to see what would happen next. Overall it was like watching a super meta horror film play out on the pages and I always want more of that.

This is such a must have for readers who like a mystery, a thriller and lovers of the horror film genre. This is one you are going to love too.

3.5 Stars

A few years ago I read and really enjoyed And Then You Were Gone so when I saw Mr. Jacobs had a new thriller available on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read it. This one is a love letter to horror movies and even though it isn't one of my favourite genres I was really into this book.

This was pretty fast-paced and the setting was plenty creepy. The format of the book is my favourite with a single-person perspective and two different timelines. As is usual for me I preferred the before timeline as we really get to know what the back story is and I like seeing what led to where the characters are now.

This one will keep you focused on flipping the pages wanting to find out what the heck is really going on at Pinecrest Estate. It is a short book and I managed to read it in a single sitting. R.J. Jacobs always manages to put all my favourite elements in his books...mystery, adventure, and strong characters. I also like that there were some surprising twists that I didn't see coming because there were a lot of red herrings along the way. This was an entertaining book that was also a lot of fun.

Billed as a slasher with a twist, Always the First to Die by RJ Jacobs is a take on the horror movie genre that Riley Sager does so well. Sadly, this fell short for me.

Lexi was once in a horror movie by an acclaimed director that has a terrible reputation for torturing his cast and crew. ---Now let's stop here. Many reviews will talk about how Lexi was once a famous actress and returned to scene of her most famous movie---she was in one movie and this was it. She also happened to fall in love and marry the director's son.--okay, proceed.

Lexi is on her way to the Florida Keys because her little brat of a teenage daughter has lied and gone to her grandfather's estate--the site of the notorious film. A freak hurricane has hit Florida (what! A hurricane! in Florida! during hurricane season!) Because of said freak hurricane, services such as ... police, power, etc are scarce so Lexi is on her own.

Blah blah blah....the movie's star is there....a old high school friend turned cop...weird things....maybe the estate is haunted....Lexi and her daughter maybe see Lexi's dead husband on a video....people end up dead....Lexi has a secret....there's some blood...and fire...

also...ALL OF THIS TAKES PLACE IN TWO DAYS.

It's a fast paced book that switches between one day and the past leading up to a giant confrontation that really kind of came out of nowhere and it KINDA made no sense but it was still kind of a fun ride.

Cast Neve Campbell and get this movie started.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Always the First to Die has a great premise, references made to old school horror movies are always a fun read.

The novel trails a mother driving across Florida to save her daughter following the after-math of a hurricane. After her arrival, she has flashbacks to her time there while filming a horror movie, directed by her father-in-law. Hauntings, a little boy in the shadows, and missing items all led everyone to believe that the Pinecrest Estate was haunted. Will she uncover the truth?

If you enjoy slow burning, popcorn reads then this book may be for you.

This book promised quite a bit but unfortunately for me did not deliver. There’s mention of a horrible happening in the past that just fell flat, the father-in-law was made out to be a “bad guy” but didn’t come off that way, the main character was scarred by past events that weren’t that eventful etc.

The concept was interesting but the book itself was a miss for me.

A thrill ride I wasn’t ready to step off of.. okay, maybe just a little bit. The creep factor was pretty up there, especially towards the end! Heart-pounding. The kind of book that makes you think an intruder is in your home when really your cat just knocked something off the table. 😅 I love how authentic the dialogue was in this book. A lot of times while reading dialogue I find myself thinking, no one really talks like that. This authors writing is very authentic and true to the characters age/gender. I LOVED how much I learned about horror movies from this book! I will admit, I do not watch horror movies but it still was so interesting to learn true facts about some of the older horror movies. The whole plot of a horror film director who instills fear in his cast just to relay a real reaction on camera, is pretty clever. Twisted and spooky? Yes. But also clever. For fans of Riley Sager, this will not disappoint!

I’ve been very selective with my mystery thrillers lately. I blame the genre. It’s long ago done away with quality control in the name of quantity and thus too many mediocrities are floating out there, promising but failing to thrill. But this one…this one seemed different.
Was it the comparisons to Riley Sager? No, not as much as the combination of genres or more like a combination of media formats in the same genre – doing its best to scare you with literary and cinematic at once.
So yeah, impossible to resist a good story set amid the movie making world. Or possible, but why would you?
Florida Keys (playing the setting as a character here) is a place my fiancé raves about but in books I’d read it always seems to be on the verge of obliteration. And here, once again, it’s being hurricaned into oblivion while one devoted mother is desperately trying to get her daughter out of the clutches of her evil/maybe evil grandpa (the woman’s father-in-law) who is just about the most famous director of scary movies there is making a sequel to the most famous movie he’s made.
Something sinister is going on at the movie set, but is it the director, well-known for pranking and terrifying his actors into their best frightened performances or something more? Natural or supernatural, but there’s something spooky in a decidedly haunted estate on the Keys.
So there you go, a fun premise done right. An exciting, well-written and well-paced thriller that competently mingles the wordly with the otherworldly, while sustaining the claustrophobic suspense throughout.
The genre prerequisite twist ending, to be fair, was something of a letdown. Perfectly decent but might leave you wanting more. The plot had so much more than that, it seems, to merely devolve into yet another family situation (can’t say more than that, you’ll just have to read to find out). But other than that, a fun ride through and through. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Interesting, intriguing and suspenseful. You’ll be guessing throughout.

As a lover of classic horror movies, I was a fan of this book. I thought the horror movies references and pacing of the book were well done. This was a cleverly written book with some interesting characters set in a haunting atmosphere. I was there for it all! Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this one so bad. The writing style was ok but I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t care about the characters or the impending storm. I just couldn’t connect with it and after three attempts I DNF’d it at 42%.

Always the First to Die is available September 14,2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks NetGalley for the chance to read!

This is a really fun read especially if you’re a lover of horror films/culture, movie making, and final girls.

I loved how the storyline mirrors tropes but is fresh with the added mystery of hurricanes and s twist on the final girl.