This was an exciting book and thought it was well written. The author did a great job with the characters. She always does a great job writing her books. 5 star read!

This was a fun read with lots of action and reveals; however, I did struggle a bit to connect with any of the characters which ultimately leads to a lower rating. Furthermore, the final reveals and the way they are done (based on the reliability of the narrator in a way that didn't feel as shocking as it should be) were not very exciting since the secret was set up pretty early on. It's a great concept though - a group of friends are trapped in an RV by a sniper who forces one of them to reveal a secret - and the tight timeframe also works to its advantage. In the end this is a fun enough and easy read but not a top recommendation for the genre.

Whew! What an absolute ride of a book! "Five Survive" by Holly Jackson was one of my most anticipated thriller reads of the year, after enjoying her earlier "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" series. This stand alone novel is a great, adrenaline-filled follow-up, which I could totally see being adapted into a movie.

The story revolves around Red, an eighteen year old girl, and five of her friends, as they head off on a spring break adventure in a RV. The group takes a wrong turn, the RV gets a flat in the middle of nowhere, and all of a sudden they hear shots fired in their direction. A sniper has them in trapped, and the only way out is if one of them shares a specific secret.

This book is extremely fast faced - the majority of the events take place over the course of a few hours (hence, the movie quality). This makes for quite the enjoyable, page-turning, thriller. In fact, it's very easy to knock this book out over one sitting. This isn't the slow burn, unraveling of clues we got with "A Good Girl's," so I appreciate how Jackson is experimenting with different formats.

Not a full five stars because of the fast-paced nature, we do end up sacrificing some of the character development. So I don't feel as emotionally invested in all of the 6 trapped characters as I might have otherwise.

But, overall, this was a really fun, high-octane thriller and a good addition to Jackson's canon.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I can’t put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this as much as the Good Girl series. I found myself skimming much of it, uninterested in the details of the fight in the RV. I did think the ending was interesting.

Sizzling paced narrative with an intricate well-developed plot. A real spine tingler. Not to be missed and I highly recommend you read it.

The storyline for this book is very intriguing and after loving her first series I had high hopes for this one.
It started off a little slow but built up to some great intense moments and at times had me right on the edge of my seat but that being said it fell a little flat for me overall.
Part of it being that I couldn’t handle the character, Oliver, couldn’t even love to hate him. I struggled with him from the start.
It is also filled with quite of bit of strong language for a YA. I know that doesn’t bother everyone but I thought it worth mentioning for those who like to avoid it.
The last 1/3 of the book and ending were fantastic. I love how she wrote it and felt she wrapped it up perfectly.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

My expectations with this book were really high since I loved ‘A good girl’s guide to murder’, but I can happily say that my expectations were met!
At the begging, I felt the story was a little bit too slow pace, and to be honest I wasn’t a big fan of Red’s personality. I felt like her mind was all over the place, jumping from one thought to another too quickly. But once I dived deeper into the story and learnt more about her background, I could understand her and created a really a strong connection with her, I just wanted to hug her and protect her at all cost. However, I feel she’s one of those characters your either love or hate, with no in between.
And actuallly, the same applies for all the characters in this book. All their personalities were so complex and real, they all had a “good” side and a “bad” side, and each reader will connect more, or less, with different characters. I think the author did SUCH a good job bringing them to life.
That being said, there is one character in particular that I hated with all my heart, and I’m sure everyone will agree with me on that 😂
I don’t think this book is for everyone. The whole story takes place inside the RV, so some people might become a little bit claustrophobic reading it. It is also a very graphic book, so I encourage you to read the TW before deciding whether to read it or not.
I enjoyed this story so so much, and it’s characters will stay in my heart for a very long time (which means a lot coming from a very forgetful person like me hahaha)
4,5/5⭐️

Thank you so much Penguin Random House and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

You know that feeling when you're watching a good horror movie and your stomach is turning with anxiety and your heart is beating smile a minute because some stuff just got real? That is exactly how I felt reading this book.

A thriller/horror set in an RV spanning the course of eight hours? How could I not say no? When their spring break abruptly comes to a screeching halt in the middle of nowhere, six friends quickly fix their seemingly flat tire and turn back around to find their way out. But all thoughts of having a relaxing break suddenly come to a close when all four of their tires are shot out by someone lurking in the woods around them. The sniper in the woods wants something from the-a secret only they know-and the clock is ticking.

Holy moly, the tension in this book is off the rails. I have this thing about horror movies where anything involving real-life monsters (especially guns) truly gets to me. But I am a glutton for punishment and watch them anyway. This book scared the poop out of me. The red dot of the sniper rifle, not knowing who could be shot next had me gasping for breath. Not only that but the six protagonists slowly begin to turn on each other. With every reveal, the tension grew thicker and thicker.

I'm amazed at how Holly Jackson managed to put all my horror fears into one book and execute it with such finesse. I'm constantly on the lookout for books that scare me (those are few and far between), but I think I found the one in FIVE SURVIVE.

Five Survive is definitely a high-intensity, adrenaline-filled cat and mouse game complete with characters with lots of secrets. As stated in the synopsis, this is a story of an RV full of young people on a spring break trip versus a sniper somewhere outside the RV looking for a secret to finally be revealed. But what information does the sniper want? That is the answer that is searched for throughout the book. The whole book takes place over 8 hours so it is a high action intense setup for the book. I had kind of figured out part of the reveal, but there are several twists that I definitely did not see coming and some aspects of the reveal seemed a bit unbelievable in my opinion.

If I had to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the book because of what I was hoping it would be. I absolutely loved A Good Girls Guide to Murder and I wanted another story like that. That was not what this book was like at all. If you loved the investigative aspect of Good Girls Guide, you won't find it in this book due to the difference in storylines.

If you have ever read my reviews before, you know I am not a fan of language in books especially ones written as young adult novels. This particular story had way too many uses of the f word in my opinion, but I know that is a personal preference of mine and language is not an issue for a lot of readers.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Holly Jackson does it again. Suspense is top notch and does not let up. Great characters and storyline although I never would have guessed the outcome. If you liked her other books, please give this one a try. You won't regret it

After reading "The Good Girl's Guide to murder", Holly Jackson became my favorite author. Her thriller books are my favorite to date. This book "Five Survive" is as thrilling as Holly's other books.

The story takes place in an RV with six friends for 8 hours. I think the timeline makes this story even more interesting. It might seem like a "normal road trip went wrong" story at the beginning. But page after page, chapter after chapter we came to know that everything might not be what it seems to be.

As per the blurb and the title we already know that among six friends only five survive. But not once I guessed right about who would die at the end. There are so many twists and turns that made me stunned.

Red's (the protagonist) pain of losing her mother was expressed so well. Her nature of distracting herself whenever she thinks about something horrible in her life is so relatable to me.

At times I did feel like Red and others should make their own decisions rather than obeying every single word Oliver- her best friend's brother- says. But doesn't that what we do? Do what other says when our mind wasn't on its clear self? Especially when we are at the gunpoint and trapped in an RV or car or whatever. So I don't completely blame them all.

A page-turner, I don't feel like reading a 400 pages book. The story was so engrossing and kept me hooked till the end. The author made me feel the tension in the plot. I am satisfied with the climax.

The Best kept-me-on-the-edge thriller with unanticipated twists and turns.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

I really enjoy books by this author. A Good Girls Guide to Murder series is one of my absolute favorites. This one was solid but it fell just a tiny bit short for me. It was a great ride, locked room type feel but the ending fell a bit flat to me. I listened to this one and definitely enjoyed the audiobook.

Quick synopsis: Red and some of her friends are taking an RV trip for spring break. Along the way they experience car trouble and then encounter a sniper intent in getting revenge on one of them.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Children's - Delacorte Press for the ARC of one of my most anticipated releases of 2022. Holly Jackson quickly became an instant buy author for me after her A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series, and the premise of this sounded like it was focusing on my favorite aspect of the AGGGTM series: the thrill. Holly Jackson writes thrill SO, SO well, and seeing her pursue this thriller/slasher-focused mystery was so exciting.

When this group of friends' RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere and they find themselves trapped, they realize that someone is out to get one of them. They only have a matter of hours to escape and/or figure out their target, and in the meantime, secrets will be revealed. I really think this book delivered what it promised. It was truly Holly Jackson at her best, as per usual. I loved it. It was incredible and I will read anything that Holly Jackson writes. Grocery, shopping, random lists, give me it all!

Another fantastic thriller from Holly Jackson! This book was super engaging from start to finish, fast paced, twisty and overall a good time! This is definitely one of those “unputdownable” books, that you don’t want to miss out on! Holly Jackson doesn’t disappoint and I will continue to check out her works!

Five Survive by Holly Jackson hooked me right from the start. I was intrigued by the 6 teenagers who are friends but seem to have nothing in common. None of the characters are likeable but you don’t really need them to be likeable in this case. It was almost better to not like the characters because then you could speculate about each of them without feeling bad. All of the characters have secrets to hide and it was fun to try and figure them out.

I typically don’t enjoy books that happen in a quick span of time or in one setting but Holly Jackson did an amazing job. The story is fast paced and keeps you intrigued from start to finish. I thought I guessed a few of the twists but in the end I was taken aback by the final reveal. I feel like I can’t go into a very detailed review without giving away spoilers, so you should pick the book up for yourself and read it! I highly recommend this YA thriller for teens and adults.

AHHH I LOVE YOU HOLLY JACKSON

This book kept me up at night. I couldn’t put it down and loved the character development & timing of this book. The plot twists were everything

3/5

This was alright.

Five Survive is a YA thriller about a group of friends out on a roadtrip for Spring Break. When that RV breaks down in the middle of absolutely nowhere, the group thinks the biggest thing they have to worry about is how far the nearest phone is—and they're dead wrong.

Stalked by a terrifying sniper who's hiding out in the woods and communicates on via walkie-talkie, the group needs to figure out what the sniper is after. Well, more like who he's after.

I was expecting this to be full of intensity and betrayal and absolutely have me on the edge of my seat but the story consistently fell flat for me. While there were plenty of moments I appreciated, especially in terms of the prose itself, my connection to these characters and this situation was tenuous at best.

Also, just to be clear, someone needs to throw Oliver into a volcano.

Red's voice was erratic, but I got that. I know what it's like to have your mind running a million miles a minute and it definitely made her a sort of unreliable narrator in that respect, but it could get a little tiresome where she'd just randomly forget something and she would often be reduced to just being the 'annoying' MC who was ignored until she was necessary for the plot.

I did love the ending and that's where the book picked up for me, in the third half. If you can get to that part, you're golden.

I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. This one fell right in the middle for me, but I'm sure a lot of fans of HJ will eat this up.

*My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for gifting me with this Arc in exchange for m y honest review.*

There isn’t a book Holly Jackson has written that I haven’t absolutely loved. The way she paces her books leaves just enough room for doubt and anxiety to weave it’s way in until it feels damn near intolerable—it’s fantastic. I genuinely had no idea where any of those chapter endings were going to lead to and was shocked up until the very last page.

At this point I honestly don't think Holly Jackson can write a bad book! She really illustrates how basic humanity can be lost and turned into something horrifying and ugly in a situation like this that is so frightening and puts a group in such a vulnerable position.

I don't think Holly Jackson could write a bad book even if she tried. There is just something about her writing that keeps me hooked from the beginning & Five Survive was no exception to that. I absolutely loved this book. It was fast paced, but not rushed. It was definitely one of those 'keep you on the edge of your seat" kinda novels. Everything tied up so perfectly at the end, while also leaving an open end for us to decide what happens, which is a very unique way to end a book. I wish I could give this book 6 stars! It deserves it.