I haven't read a thriller in a while and this one is definitely going to bounce me right back into the genre. This is a great situational thriller that has so many layers to it. I am new to Holly Jackson, I know I know I still haven't read A Good Girls Guide to Murder and I really need to, and I am definitely hooked. I love her writing, it is a great mix of suspense, great characters, and background plot. The characters were all very strong, which is impressive since there were 6 main characters. Red was a little all over the place but I think that added to the chaoticness of the story and I truly enjoyed her character. There were some characters I wish I could have been the one to kill (cough Oliver cough). The setting of the RV trapped on a road is interesting and provided some unique situations for the characters which I thought was creative. Overall, I really enjoyed my first Holly Jackson read and I will be promptly reading A Good Girls Guide to Murder!

WOAH! This book was an absolutely WILD ride from start to finish!!! Extremely fast-paced, super high-intensity! You could read this in one sitting because there’s never a lull and you just have to know what’s coming next!!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat! My suspicions change with every chapter and I have yet to figure out every aspect of Holly Jackson's books. I really enjoyed it! (Besides some of the language, but that's a personal preference).

Five Survive
Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: suspense/mystery
Rating: 4⭐️
Pub Date: November 29, 2022

Synopsis: Red and five of her friends are on a road trip in a 31 foot RV, driving to Spring break from Pennsylvania. Everything is going great, until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere because the wheels were shot out. There no cell reception to call the police and warning shots have been fired. One of the friends has a secret the sniper is willing to kill for.

What I Thought: This was a quick read for me. I loved Holly Jackson’s Guide to Murder series, and this standalone is just as good. The story will keep you hooked and second guessing until the very end. The only thing I didn’t like was the unwrapped ending. I wanted to know what happened to the other survivors.

Read if:
* You loved A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series
* You love a good twist
* You don’t mind the same scene taking place throughout the whole book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I LOVED this one! After the 3rd installment of AGGGTM, you could see that this author was moving darker- well, she continued that way with this book.

It is so fast paced and so full of plot spins- I can’t even count how many times my mouth fell open 😮
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It’s about a group of teens on a trip in an RV. They get stranded in the middle of nowhere…. they think it’s an accident…but then they realize it was all planned, and they are in grave danger 👀
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I love the direction this author is going and can’t wait to see what she writes next!

"Eight hours. Six friends. One sniper..."
Red and her friends set off for Spring Break. Although they have a long trip ahead of them and they are tightly packed in an RV, their spirits are high. Until they break down that is. In the middle of nowhere with no cell reception, and each wheel shot out, they come to realize this was intentional. There's a sniper watching their every move and there's something he wants: A secret one of them holds. But who? With tensions running high and ugly secrets surfacing, the group desperately tries to figure out what the key to their survival. Is everyone willing to let their secrets out? How far is the sniper willing to go to get it out of them?
Overall I really enjoyed this read. It was an intense, claustrophobic thriller and I couldn't wait to see how it all played out. I did find certain parts of the story were a little too detailed and far-fetched, but I still enjoyed the wild ride. The narrator, Emma Galvin, did a great job bringing this story to life. If you're a fan of YA thrillers, check this out!
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and Edelweiss+. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This book was such a wild ride and I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE. Holly Jackson is a QUEEN!!!! For sure a must read. I devoured this book in a day.

I will start off by saying that Holly Jackson is truly brilliant at creating suspenseful page turners. From the very start of the story, the writing style captured my attention and left with me an incredible desire to know more. Though I had a hard time liking many of the characters, they definitely made an already horrible situation even more intense. The main character, Red, was pretty bland in the beginning, but as the night went on, more of her personality came to light and she became a much more sympathetic character. The same cannot be said for all of the other characters. I loathed one of them so much that I wanted to reach into the book and slap him. I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil anything. As I have come to expect with a book written by the brilliant Holly Jackson, this book will stay with me for a while!

This book deals with some very intense situations. Please make sure to check trigger warnings.

3.5, rounded up. Holly Jackson's first book outside the Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy is pretty solid, if maybe drawn out a little too long. Some of the reveals are telegraphed a little too much, and there are a couple of loose strings I'd have liked resolved a little better, but I didn't see the exact ending coming. It's an interesting group of characters, and Holly Jackson is excellent at writing YA characters who feel authentic.

THANKS TO HARPER REACH AND TBR AND BEYOND TOURS FOR REVIEW COPY AND FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO HOST THIS TOUR, RESPECTIVELY.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is one of my favorite mystery trilogy. I knew that I had to read Five Survive, the instance I got to know about it.

This is not the kind of story which grabs your attention from the very first line. It is also not the kind of story that throws you in great turmoil at the start. It is that kind of story that gives you small glimpses of the twists and then suddenly shuts them down, and it is that kind of story that made you yearn for more information. It started so ordinarily and I started to doubt myself as it was entirely opposite from other books of Jackson.

The story happened in 8 hours and in an RV. Six people- some are friends, some are relatives, some are in relationships, some are in unlabeled relationships- who think they know each other and most of all they can trust each other. The writing was so simple and real that it made me feel I was in that RV too. I don't even remember how many times, I forgot to take the next breath as I was way too much involved in the story of a character and I forgot the count of events that made me so angry. It is really a mystery how Holly Jackson penned down 6 main characters and made me feel differently for each of them throughout the book. All of the characters are complex and have so many layers, but you have to wait to witness each of their layers. This book is suitable for those people who are not in rush. I was on the edge throughout the book because obviously there was a sniper outside and you don't know when a bullet will come from any direction. I got so comfortable in the RV that I forgot that there is going to be unexpected development. The story got wild in the last 100 pages, all of the twists and turns blew me away.

I love it when authors don't rush the ending for the sake of the thrill. The author took the time to wind up the story. It gives me immense satisfaction when I know in which direction all of the characters are headed to. Congratulations Holly Jackson. You made me emotional, never thought a mystery will be able to do that.

➽ <b>I have a feeling I might be falling out of love with Holly Jackson’s books.</b> I loved the first two A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books, but the series finale left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. Nevertheless, I had high hopes for Five Survive, Jackson’s newest release. Unlike her previous books, this one is a Thriller and I loved the premise! Six friends are trapped in their van when they are attacked in the woods on their way to Spring Break. With tensions running high and a killer watching their every move, this had the potential to be a chilling and suspenseful read. <b>I appreciate that the author was trying to create a stifling and tense atmosphere within the van, especially once it becomes apparent that one person has a secret the sniper is willing to kill for</b>. So before we get into the negatives let me say that the setup and idea were fantastic, and some parts of the book were genuinely thrilling and gripped me.

➽ <b>Where do we start? I think my main problem was the characters.</b> Apart from our narrator - Red - all of them were lackluster and fell flat. With six different characters and only one book, you need to give them some depth and background information, even if not all of them get a POV. After reading the book, I’m wondering if it might not have been a better idea to include a few more POVs, even just two more would have helped. Sadly, almost all the characters felt stereotypical. I liked Simon’s attempts at humor and Arthur’s gentle support, but I still struggled to remember all the names just a couple of weeks after reading this. Maddie and Reyna sadly barely had any personality and I didn’t see how Maddie and Red were such good friends. A lot of background information was missing here, which would have made the characters feel more authentic.

➽ <b>Oliver deserves his own point because he got on my nerves SO much.</b> He’s supposed to be an unlikable character, I get that but there was nothing redeeming about him. Since none of the characters challenge him much or stand up to him, we’re left reading about him taking charge and doing whatever he wants. It just spiked my anger and frustration. <b>It’s one thing to have a character that’s very selfish, entitled, and condescending. That adds tension and drama. But you need someone to challenge and oppose them in some way, otherwise, your readers are stuck with an unbearable character getting away with all his bad decisions</b>. It was baffling to me that not one of the five remaining characters is willing to call out Oliver’s arrogance and pure incompetence. The scenes where someone goes against him are few and even when he does horrible things, it gets swiftly ignored with no consequences. As a reader that made me really mad and the book a drag to get through, as I’m forced to read through pages of Oliver being a jerk and all the other characters being incredibly passive.<spoiler>I’m glad he was the one who died in the end, but the others don’t even overthrow him in the end!! <b>I was waiting for someone to turn on him and restrain him, as he put everyone in danger. But nothing happened</b>. He gets shot by the police officer by accident and that’s the end of it.</spoiler>

➽ <b>Red’s narration and the writing style grated on me from the beginning.</b> I was ready to give the book the benefit of the doubt because sometimes it takes a while to get into the story. Yet <b>Red’s constant repetition of mundane details, the memory loss, and her scattered thoughts grated on me</b>. If the story had more explicitly addressed the trauma of losing her mother and why this might have changed her thought patterns, this would have been fine. But the story only glosses over what I’d consider a possible PTSD. I’m left guessing that her memory problems and scattered thoughts are due to trauma and that’s just not enough exploration for me. Red’s focus on details and cycle of getting stuck in memories made the story drag a lot. <b>Some of the things she keeps going on about are never resolved</b> <spoiler>such as the pattern of the curtains in the van that Red cannot figure out and why she prefers to sleep on one specific side</spoiler> and just felt like they were thrown in there without any thought of relevance to the story.

➽ <b>While I was engaged in the beginning, the story dragged so much, that by the end I was eager to just finish the book.</b> The whole setup is that the friend group is trapped in the van and cannot leave due to the sniper, but I sometimes wonder if confining the story to this setting made it super slow. The tension within the group dynamic is supposed to be the big focus of the story, but since I didn’t care much for anyone, this didn’t appeal to me. <b>I also felt like the ending was very rushed and all the secrets and twists were revealed so quickly, it was hard to keep up.</b> I got the impression that the characters were just monologuing everything, so the reader understood the web of lies and twists.

Thank you so much Netgalley for the ARC!

The premise of this book is really unique, it’s hard for me to really enjoy a mystery/thriller, because I can always somewhat guess the plot twist. But one thing about Holly Jackson, she definitely knows how to keep me engaged. I finished this book in practically two days because I needed to know how this ended. This is a fast-paced thriller that’ll keep you at the edge of your seat, and let me tell you, I was reading this at 2AM, and I was scared. Literally shaking under my covers because I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I did think that the plot twist was slightly disappointing, because of how great the build up was, but I can’t down play how much I enjoyed this book, despite the predictable twist.

I’m so glad I got to read this amazing thriller by holly Jackson !!!! The twists and turns kept coming and I truly didn’t figure it out until the very end !!!

4 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This was an intense YA mystery/thriller about six friends headed to spring break that get trapped in an RV in the middle of nowhere by a sniper intent on learning one of their secrets. The story is told from the perspective of Red. Her mother, a police officer, was executed on the job 5 years ago and her father succumbed to alcoholism. This, as well as having little to no money, set her apart from other teens. Her best friend Maddie and a few others, however, have her back and make sure that she's not left out.

The story was well paced, although it did slow down a tiny bit in the middle. As you would expect, as the teen's situation becomes more intense, some people's characters are challenged. If you've always wondered what would happen if put in a life and death situation with a group of your best friends, reading this book should terrify you. Some will give in to fear, others will problem solve, other will do what needs to be done, and others will be so desperate that self-preservation is their only driving force. It was fascinating to see how the situation played out over the eight hour time period, and how many secrets the friends were keeping from each other. There were definitely twists and turns I did not see coming, and every chapter I kept changing my mind as to who was going to die.

This was a fun, twisty, quick read that I recommend you check out. I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! It takes place over the span of 8 hours which makes it an intense, thrilling, emotional, amazing ride! The characters all have such unique personalities that this book is in no way boring, it keeps you guessing how the characters will handle each thing next. This book was read in one sitting! This is a book to run and get as soon as it is out!!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Childrens for allowing me to read this.

So good! So, so good! I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see how this all played out! The pacing was perfect. The dialogue top notch! The setting was out of my nightmares! I do not like the idea of being trapped! With each new secret revealed, I found myself more and more invested! I didn’t see the twists and turns coming! Go in blind, you’ll thank me later!

One of my favorite books this year! Can’t wait to dive into Holly Jackson’s backlist!

I was super stoked to see that Holly Jackson wrote a stand-alone YA crime thriller! I loved her Good GIrl's trilogy! You will love this fast-paced novel packed with secrets. Six friends are on their way in an RV to enjoy a spring break on the beach, but they end up in the middle of nowhere with no cell service and a sniper lurking in the darkness with demands.

The novel takes place within a span of eight hours. Each character has some degree of unreliability and you will find yourself second guessing their integrity. Everyone has something to hide, and by the end of the novel, you will find out a little dirt on each one of the six main characters. The sniper is only interested in ONE secret, and he's not afraid to take down anyone that stands in his way of uncovering that secret.

Red is my favorite character, and my heart just truly hurt for her. Her mom was executed five years prior and she carries the guilt of her last words to her mother just mere minutes prior to her death. She blames herself for her mother's death and she is still having trouble coping five years later. Her dad is a drunk, so she's pretty much been on her own. Her friends are more like her family, particularly the Lavoy's.

My least favorite character was Oliver Lavoy. He is controlling, smug and just plain crazy. He really cared about no one but himself and preserving his family name so that his mother would become district attorney, a position she's been working toward for a while.

If you're one of those readers that can read a whole book in one sitting if you're invested from the very beginning, then prepare yourself to cancel all of your plans the moment you pick this one up.

Special thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Did you know that the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series is one of my favourites ever? No? Why not? I talk about it constantly because I absolutely adore the world that Holly Jackson has created there. The original UK editions are set in my home county of Buckinghamshire and mention places that I’m intimately familiar with, which is probably why I’m so connected to the series. Five Survive is a little different in that the original version is (I think) set in the US. There were no rewrites for this one!

Due to the setting, Five Survive has a bit of a different vibe to it than AGGGTM. At least, I think so. I’ve not read the US editions of AGGGTM so I can’t say how American readers will feel about the vibe in general. Something about it felt very strange in the beginning and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I was a little disappointed at first because I was expecting to want to devour this book from the start, but instead it took a good fifty pages to grab me.

Once I was grabbed, however, I was grabbed. I read the entire rest of the book in just one sitting because it was so enthralling and it had me on the edge of my seat. I was racing to find out what was going to happen to Red, the main character, and her friends. I figured one of them would be a bit dodge and I had theories on who it could be, so I had a lot of fun trying to sus out the story and figure out what was happening and why.

While I was disappointed by the change of setting, I can see why this book is only set in the US in both versions. There is absolutely no way in hell Jackson could have set this book in the UK and pulled it off. Can you imagine snipers shooting at a caravan in Buckinghamshire? I think not.

Five Survive is certainly not my favourite book by Holly Jackson because there’s no way it could beat her original series. I was very attached to Pip and Red didn’t have the same charm. I was actually a bit confused by Red’s characterisation for most of the book and I do wonder what the edits did to her character. By the end, though, I was quite worried about what was going to happen to her.

I really enjoyed my experience with Five Survive and I can’t wait to see what Holly Jackson comes out next. I will keep hoping she returns to writing books set in Buckinghamshire because I truly believe that’s what she does best, but this book and setting certainly had its place.

I could not wait to read this new novel by Holly Jackson. I am a HUGE fan of her DGGTM series. This title was different than her previous books, but I still loved it! So suspenseful! I cannot wait to recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC.

This book kept me thinking. I thought I knew where it was going and some parts I did get but most of the twists I didn’t see coming!! Why did you put those kids through so much, Holly? Oh, and by the way, I really didn’t like Oliver one bit!

Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break.
The RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone reception. And the realize it isn’t just bad luck but a sniper has shot out all their tires. The sniper knows who they are and someone has a secret he wants and no one is leaving until he gets that secret.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for allowing me to read and review this work.