This is such a fun series. It has the perfect secrets and the right amount of tension. It kept me guessing and I felt like the characters were relatable. It's the perfect book to read when trying to get out of a reading slump.

What a wild ride!! Six teens on their way to spring break, when they take a wrong turn, and their RV mysteriously breaks down. But this is no accident. One of them has a secret that someone will kill to get to the bottom of.

Filled with unexpected moments, characters you love and characters you love-to-hate, this is a page-turner that young-adult readers will fly through!

I'm not much of a YA thriller type of person as I've gotten older, but this book was interesting and held my attention.
I have read a few Holly Jackson books and her characters are always people that I want to learn more about. The twists were quite intriguing and I would recommend this to someone who has little experience with thrillers.

I loved the main idea of the story. I have not read a book about a roundtrip with friends. I was worried about so many characters.. i may get confused but it was okay actually. Loved the twists. Loved the easy writing. I finished it super fast! Main character was a bit annoying. I did like the secrets made the book more interesting. I would not want to be part of that friend group.lol

Holly Jackson is my queen who won’t ever miss with her books. I will literally read anything and everything she writes at this point. This book takes place over the course of 8 hours. Honestly my first thought was — will I really get that much character development in 8 hours? 300 ish pages? Well she proved me wrong and thank god for that! I had a really great time and I look forward to her next release.

*2.5 stars* Holly Jackson is an all time fave. The Good Girl's Guide to Murder series is top tier. This is not that. This is a hot mess of a book with no likeable characters and no believability.

This book was an ARC for me to review for the author. That being said this is my honest review.

Red is a senior in high school going on spring break with her friends. She can’t afford a plane ticket so she, her friends, and her friend’s brother and girlfriend arrange to take a RV down. It’s all going according to plan until it isn’t. They are stuck in NC after someone shoots out their tires stranding them. What follows is about 10 hours of fear and betrayal.

This book was amazing. I found it a bit slow at the beginning but once I really started reading it, I found the pace quickening. I was terrified for all the characters and think I should have seen that twist coming but I didn’t. I would recommend this book to anyone even if they don’t like thrillers because it’s just that good. I think it shows how different people react in stressful situations and the outcomes. I was terrified for all of the characters (some more than others) but Red’s POV really heightened things because of how much her mental illness caused heightened emotions. I usually hate feeling crazy when reading or watching shows but even though Red had a confusing POV, her perspective wasn’t unreliable just had too much detail.

I couldn't get past the first few chapters. Bland and uninteresting. I wanted to try Holly Jackson but sad to say it didn't work for me. Maybe YA thrillers aren't the right fit for me.

“Five Survive” by Holly Jackson follows the classic teen thriller/ suspense movie plots. Six teenagers are traveling to Spring Break in a RV. They lose their GPS signal and turn on an isolated road in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, the teens are hunted by a sniper, who claims that one of the characters has a secret that has endangered all of them. With only a walkie-talkie, issued by the sniper, as their connection to the rest of the world, the characters need to plan an escape, but their strife and distrust interfere with their escape.

The premise of the novel reminded me of movies like “Wrong Turn”. Jackson was very detail oriented and described ALL the characters’ actions, which really slowed down the narrative pacing and suspense-building. The last 1/4 of the novel is the most interesting.

I would recommend this book to younger teens who like suspense or thrillers.

Thank you to Holly Jackson, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved the Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy, particularly the first book, and was excited to receive a free ARC of Five Survive. I thought the premise of this book was interesting and the pacing of the events was good. I did not want to put this book down, but when the twists and reveals came, I found them to either be unsurprising or unbelievable, especially the epilogue and letter at the very end. I also found the characters in this book to be far more unlikeable than in Holly Jackson's other novels, but that was perhaps intentional.

Overall, this was a quick-paced and exciting read, but one I may or may not recommend to others.

4.5 ⭐
Holly Jackson will never disappoint. I was genuinely flabbergasted so many times throughout the book it was insane. The STRESS I felt omg. It was a very good YA thriller, definitely recommend it if you liked A Good Girls Guide to murder even though both are so different to one another. Didn't give it 5 stars because I didn't get to connect with any of the characters and personally didn't LOVE any of them...

This book was just a little too long for what it was. While the twists were good, I feel like if it had been shortened my interest wouldn’t have wandered on the way to those twists.

Copied from my blog (link included below)

Title: Five Survive*


Author: Holly Jackson


Rating: 2.75 stars / 5 stars


*This post contains affiliate links. If you make purchases after using these links, I will earn a percentage of your purchase without any further cost to you.


Favorite Quote: “Why was he kind to her? And why did that make her want to be un-kinder back?” Jackson, Holly. Five Survive. Delacorte Press, 2022.


Review: Thank you to the publisher, Delacorte Press,, and the NetGalley platform for the free e-ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.


Five Survive is a young adult novel that follows protagonist, Red, and a group of other young adults as they begin their journey to spring break in an RV. On their first night, they are forced off course and then held hostage throughout the night by a sniper intent on discovering the deadly secret held by one of the passengers.


Let’s talk about what’s working - Once the initial chapters were over - once the characters knew they were trapped - the pacing of the book was fantastic. This book takes place over (mostly) a single night, and it kept up the fast paced energy necessary for that to seem realistic given the length of the novel.


Now let’s talk about what’s not working - the character development was lacking, to say the least, and the plot was a bit slapdash. [SPOILER ALERTS INCOMING] - It was clear from the start that Red had a secret and readers are meant to wonder whether her secret was the secret. But, of course it was. And then having a member of the mob be in the bus and meant to pretend to get close to her but ultimately developing feelings is a trope that may work in romance novels (and don’t get me wrong, I do love a good romance novel), but seemed out of place in a thriller. And then there was the final climax - that the mother figure who convinced Red to lie in the first place is also the person who murdered Red’s actual mom and then sought to orchestrate Red’s own death as well. There was just a lot and if fiction asks readers to suspend their disbelief, this book was asking readers to do a bit more suspending than the average book.


About that Quote: Despite the flaws in this book (and please know I desperately wanted to love this book because I am a big fan of The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), one aspect of the novel that Jackson does capture is the complicated nature of grief and shame. Following the death of her mother, Red was forced to reckon with her death while her father spiraled into his own dysfunction until Red was carrying the household on her own. She, understandably, became guarded. And this quote is one that captures the complexities of her feelings and identity. She necessarily has to keep people at arm’s length and that is confronted when someone shows her kindness.


Have you read Five Survive? Share your thoughts below!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

An entire generation of people, both young and old, are experiencing shorter and shorter attention spans, largely due to the entertainment options available on phones. As such, a book that starts fast and moves rapidly toward a thrilling conclusion is perfect. Add award-wining author Holly Jackson to the mix and the Tik Tok book crowd will soon be going crazy.
A Spring Break trip. Six friends, One killer. You won't be able to put it down!

As an avid Holly Jackson fan ever since the popularity of her first YA thriller/mystery series, FIVE SURVIVE could not have come at a better time for me as a reader. I was hooked from the very beginning.

Following six different characters through such tense and suspenseful plot lines makes for a very intriguing and entertaining time. Their dynamics, their perspectives, and the way they all dealt with the impossible situations they were in throughout this book made it utterly compelling. I felt like I was on the road with this group staring straight into the action itself.

This is Holly Jackson's first novel outside of the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series and it did not disappoint.
6 friends are heading to the beach for Spring Break when their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. When trying to figure out how to get home, a snipe shoots the tires out. Now the group is stranded with no way out, no cell service, and someone is after them.
This was a twisty thriller that's perfect for fans of YA mysteries.

I love the way Holly Jackson writes! She makes me forget I’m reading a YA story and I become so invested. I think she writes character development so well and keeps you guessing. This book is the perfect example of that! I found it really exciting that we only got one setting with this story, I was more intrigued as the plot went on. The middle lost some of my attention, but it all came together well.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson. Pub Date: November 29, 2022. Rating: 3 stars. This YA thriller takes place during a spring break trip in which a group of friends end up stranded in the middle of nowhere in an RV. Pretty quickly, the characters realize they are trapped and someone on the outside is out to get them. The story is fast paced, happens over the course of 8 hours which allows for the story to keep moving along. At times, I felt it was repetitive and boring and none of the characters are likable. In my opinion, it is a decent YA thriller but forgettable. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #fivesurvive #netgalley

There were things I loved about this book and things that, well, I didn't love. First, I thought it was very fast-paced, which was interesting because it only takes place over the span of less than half a day. While some of the secrets were a bit obvious, I definitely didn't guess all of them, so that's always the sign of a good book. It didn't wrap up in a perfect little bow (it should be obvious from the title that at least one of the kids dies... when there are six on the trip and the title is five survive... no spoiler alert needed).

The character of Red, I just didn't quite get. Was she supposed to be autistic? There was a lot of repetition and hyper-focusing on things, so that was my assumption, but it wasn't clear. The pattern in the curtains was constantly brought up (and never resolved). The drifting away within conversations. The forgetting things. It all seemed a bit strange and wasn't explained in any way.

I also didn't understand a few plot points - why would one character speak through the walkie talkie about their potential secret... but no one else? That bothered me throughout as well.

I wanted to get to the end and see what happened, so that makes it definitely worth reading, but the plot points stuck with me.