While I enjoyed the twists and turns, I found several of the characters to be annoying and the organized crime angle to ring untrue. The main plot twist was planted well. Overall entertaining but a little too long, thought it stands out as Holly Jackson's best work thus far in her career.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
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Title: Five Survive
Author: Holly Jackson
Publisher: Random House Children’s
Publication Date: November 29, 2022
Themes: Friendship, road trip, human monsters,
Trigger Warnings: gun violence, claustrophobic setting, betrayal

Red and five of her friends are going on a road trip in an RV. They’re going to the beach for spring break. However, their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Naturally there’s no cell reception and they soon realize that this was no accident. Soon, all six friends are involved in a struggle to survive a sniper that seems to know them. The sniper claims that one of them has a secret that could save them. Who is it? What is it?

This was a fun one. I really liked Holly Jackson’s “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” series so I was excited about this one. While it wasn’t as good as AGGGTM, I very much enjoyed the tense nature of this one. It took me a little bit to get into but I’m glad I persevered because the payout was good. I really love edge-of-your-seat books.

As enjoyable as this was, I have to say that I would have enjoyed it more if I was more emotionally invested in the characters. For the most part, I found them unlikable. This may have been by design. It did make it harder to figure out the ending. It also, however, made me work a little harder to care about the ending. I wanted to punch several of them throughout the narrative.

All in all, I did enjoy this one. It’s no GGGTM, but it’s worth a read, especially for the reader who enjoys tense and claustrophobic books.

THAT ENDING! Holly Jackson has become an auto buy author and this book is one of the many reasons. I always forget I am reading YA because the way it hooks me from page one and doesn't let me go until that very last page is unreal. This wild ride in a movie in the making, all the POVs and secrets I thought I figured out but was so wrong. I cant recommend this one enough.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for an ARC of Five Survive. As a big fan of a Good Girls Guide to Murder, I was thrilled to receive this! Unfortunately Five Survive was a miss for me. I was not engaged in the plot or super surprised with the twists, which is what you need for an amazing thriller. Will continue to seek out Holly Jackson books though!

While this book had its moments, I found it a little boring and repetitive at times. That said, it’s a quick read with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. And the ending? Totally worth it! It tied everything together in a satisfying way and made up for the slower parts. If you’re looking for a fast-paced story with a strong finish, this one might be worth a try.

Holly Jackson is truly the queen of YA thrillers. This is the fourth book I have ready by her and she truly keeps her books unpredictable. In fact, I almost couldn’t finish this book because of how anxiety inducing it was. It felt like being trapped in a fish bowl. I can’t wait to get my hands on whatever she chooses to write next.

I have loved some of this author’s previous work so was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. I struggled to get through it and didn’t find myself caring about any of the characters. Additionally, the characters all blended together.

I have been a fan of Holly Jackson's mystery books and Five Survive is no different. Her writing style is engaging and she keeps you on your toe's until the end.

A really good YA thriller! I wasn't sure how it would compare to a Good Girls Guide to Murder series but it was a wild ride!

The five survive was excellent book by Jackson. I've read all her books this is probably why my favorite ones that she has written. The character development and the plot was very well written. I would give this a five out of five stars.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson is a gripping and suspenseful thriller that will captivate fans of fast-paced mysteries and dark, edgy stories, making it a perfect fit for readers who crave a fascinating ride filled with twists and turns, and are eager to uncover the truth behind a deadly road trip.

It took me two years to finally get to this book, but I'm so glad I read it when I did. What a wild ride; the fast pace left me glued to it the whole way through, and as more and more details were revealed, I was in total shock. Holly Jackson has an addictive sort of writing style that cannot be replicated.

Wow!! The ending of this one left me speechless. It took me a bit to get through the beginning, but once I got to a certain point, I breezed through it. Love the drama and twists.

I’m looking forward to sharing this read with YA reading club. Many things I liked that will make great discussions. The story took place over an 8 hour period in an RV. However, the majority was dialogue which helped the reading go fast. Most of the characters were well developed. Someone has a secret and when the group needs to confess more than one secret gets told.
However, as a rural community, my students will be making fun of some of the actions. Like the girl that went outside for the bathroom. Country girls just drop their pants behind the RV. They don’t walk a block to get out of site. Also, the one character was calling all the shots. Why didn’t the others step up?
Few things left me with questions: what was the pattern in the curtains (mentioned multiple times) and who voted yes/no???
Good YA mystery read with group discussions.
Thank you NetGalley and Ransom House Children’s for the ARC read in exchange for my review.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series comes a new blockbuster thriller about a road trip that turns deadly.

Eight hours. Six friends. Five survive.

Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: Her best friend - the older brother - his perfect girlfriend - a secret crush - a classmate - and a killer.

When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, they soon realize this is no accident. They have been trapped by someone out there in the dark, someone who clearly wants one of them dead.

With eight hours until dawn, the six friends must escape, or figure out which of them is the target. But is there a liar among them? Buried secrets will be forced to light and tensions inside the RV will reach deadly levels. Not all of them will survive the night. . . .

With edge-of-your-seat tension and a gripping mystery, Holly Jackson has written another instant classic!

And don't miss Holly Jackson's latest mystery thriller, The Reappearance of Rachel Price!

I really enjoyed this one. Thank you, NetGalley for sharing this with me. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more.

Another strong Holly Jackson novel. Definitely kept me interested through the end. Not my favorite by Jackson, but it will still be one that teens and ya readers will pick up.

I loved Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. The premise of this one didn’t intrigue me as much but I got it anyway since I loved that series so much. This ended up being a cool premise that was poorly executed. None of the characters were likeable. The plot was far too long. Red seemed to have some kind of mental health issues that were unexplained and had disappeared by the end of the novel. This could’ve been great but it totally missed the mark.
P.S. American publishers - if a book is British, just let it be British. There is no reason to change the setting but leave everything else the same.

My students love Holly Jackson so I was excited to get approved for this title. Another great mystery. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review!

Holly Jackson knows how to craft a deftly written suspense mystery. Five Survive doesn't compare to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, but was still suspenseful and a fun ride.