Six friends hop into an RV for a spring break road trip, but what they don’t anticipate is breaking down in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, where someone wants one of them dead…

Like a majority of the readers who have their eyes on this book, I loved Holly Jackson’s A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER series, so I was looking forward to picking up her latest standalone novel FIVE SURVIVE.

This one takes place in real time, which makes it unique as a thriller (but also led to some stilted details and repetitive insights throughout the book), it features a “locked room” element, which is ALWAYS my jam, and also features secrets upon secrets upon secrets.

Despite having some moments of high intensity that I really enjoyed, I found this book difficult to get through. Most of the characters were insufferable, things became extremely repetitive, and many of the big reveals seemed quite obvious to me.

This one was a miss for me, but I think there’s a collective of Jackson’s fans who will really enjoy it!

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: November 29, 2022

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I loved most of Holly Jackson’s trilogy, so I had high expectations for this book. I think it started out strong and stayed fast-paced until the end, but there were just too many unlikable characters and the twists were too predictable. It wasn’t a bad read, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite from this author.

Another brilliant book by Jackson! Six friends. One killer. Eight hours to escape. And someone has a secret.

Red is on a spring break road trip with five of her friends: her best friend, her best friend’s older brother, the brother’s girlfriend, a classmate, and a crush. Oh, and someone happens to be a killer.

Their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. No one has cell service. And they quickly learn nothing happened by accident. Somebody has trapped them. Somebody wants one of the six dead.

They have eight hours until dawn. They need to escape or figure out who’s the target.

Read if you love…
✨YA
✨mystery/thriller
✨twisssssts that keep you guessing
✨consistently changing you opinion on “who did it”

This book was an absolute rollercoaster. The twists were curvy and unexpected. The end was wiiiiild!

This story happens over the course of eight hours. And it’s packed with action as the six friends try to figure out a plan to survive the night, no one quite able to trust the other when they know someone is hiding a secret, and things turn deadly between them.

I loved the way Jackson painted each character. Little actions that made the reader constantly question who was keeping the secret, who the reader & the MC, Red, could trust!

The one thing I really wanted throughout the book was multi-perspective. Because there were multiple secrets & no one knew if their’s was the one the killer wanted, I think it could have added layers of depth for why or why not the reader thought each person was guilty or innocent.

Anything more would be spoilers. So I’ll leave you with this: whether you’ve read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or not, this one should be on your list! It’s a separate story with all new characters, so no need to prioritize AGGGTM!

Also, Arthur. Freaking Arthur. I want to hug him.

Trigger warnings: death of a parent, past; grief; murder, on page; gun violence; gaslighting

I looooooooved the authors series A GOOD GIRLS GUIDE TO MURDER, so I was VERY excited to see her come out with another thriller/mystery so soon. This is a locked door mystery/thriller which aren’t my favorite and at almost 400 pages this really dragged in some parts. The twist and turns did keep me engaged enough to keep turning the pages.

✨Book Review ✨

⭐️⭐️🌑🌑🌑

*I was provided this book free of charge by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I was very excited to get to read and review Five Survive by Holly Jackson, but I was pretty disappointed by it.

From the beginning I had a difficult time getting into the book. Honestly, I think part of it is that for whatever reason, I didn’t like the name of the main character, Red. Every time I read it, I thought of Red Foreman from That 70’s Show, who is a grouchy, middle aged, father of 2 and military Veteran. So having the name fit someone who was a senior in high school didn’t quite fit for me.

**Spoilers ahead!**

But the name wasn’t the only thing that was hard for me to get behind. I was curious how Holly’s plot was going to play out because it seemed like it would be difficult to get the characters to be stranded in a field in the middle of nowhere. About 1/3 of the way through the book, I gave up and looked up some spoilers because I just could not motivate myself to finish the book. When I read the spoilers, I knew I should try and finish just to figure out how Mrs. Lavoy could be the bad guy. It wasn’t until about 2/3 of the way through that the book finally started to get interesting. The whole book, I was just begging for the sn!per to take Oliver out because I could not stand him- that being said, I really didn’t like any of the characters. I really appreciate how Arthur was both the bad guy and the good guy. I really want a continuation of the story- more of a happily ever after for Red and Arthur. They seemed to understand each other and want the best for each other even after everything they’ve been through.

Overall, I would read a sequel to see if Arthur and Red end up together, but I don’t understand how this book was voted best book of the year by several retailers. I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

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This was a fast paced thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. It also caused me some emotional damage and yet I want more! There were so many shocking twist that kept me up at night reading. Hoping for a sequel🤞🏾This is my first book by this author it will not be my last I love her writing style. Release date is November 29th! Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Five Survive follows a group of friends who's RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. If that isn't bad enough they learn that someone out there wants them dead. And the RV breaking down was no accident. Six friends must escape before dawn but soon they learn not all of them will survive. But soon the friends might turn against each other.

Holly Jackson is one of my go to YA authors. I really enjoyed this one. It kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time. It felt like you were in the RV with these characters fighting for your life. I highly suggest this book if you are looking for a good thriller to read. T​hank you Random House, Holly Jackson, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Will read anything Holly Jackson writes. This book kept me on my toes and guessing until the very end!

GREAT Mystery book that middle school students will LOVE! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Holly Jackson knows how to write books that will appeal to the YA demographic.

“Retrace your steps, Red. When did you last see your mind?”

I love the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series so I was so excited to be able to get an ARC of this one. Holly Jackson is such a great writer and I was anxious to see what she would do with a new cast of characters.

Six friends are on a road trip to the Gulf Shores for Spring Break when they take a wrong turn and get stranded when their RV breaks down. They’re in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, and there is a sniper watching them, demanding one of them reveals a secret. What unfolds is a contentious mystery that tests the limits of friendship.

Red is a really interesting protagonist, and we get the story from her point of view. From the start, we see the disparities between her and her friend group, so once they find themselves trapped by a sniper, the chaos and mistrust unfolds quickly. Someone has a secret, and the sniper will not let them leave until he gets it. The setting is so unique, with the friends stuck together in a 31-foot RV. It’s claustrophobic and cramped, and the tension escalates quickly.

The tension is built so well throughout, and though you can sense who has a secret, it takes time for everything to unfold. You can felt the unease between the friends in the RV as they start to question their relationships with each other and who could have the secret the sniper is after. Olive is truly insufferable and he immediately tries to take charge, but he clearly doesn’t take his time to think things through, causing more problems for the group.

The only issue I had was I wanted a touch more depth. I didn’t feel particularly connected to any of the characters, and I felt like I needed a bit more context between the characters and Red’s history. I was able to pick some of it up as the story progressed, but I still wish I was able to connect more to the characters.

The ending was pretty great and I loved the way everything came together. Once the pieces fell into place I started to put it together, but it definitely didn’t happen early on. I can see how someone may put it together, but there were parts of the ending that I didn’t see coming, and kept my interest.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

five survive is an eight hour account of six teenagers roadtripping one night when suddenly their four tyres and fuel tank are shot out, leaving them trapped and at the whim of a sniper in the woods that they can’t see and is set on tormenting them until one of them fesses up to a certain secret.

overall, this was a fast paced mystery read that did its job. i had high expectations after being a very big fan of the ‘a good girl’s guide to murder’series from the beginning. it’s unfair to do this, but it’s very hard to separate and not compare an authors two works. i think for this book, it downfalls can be attributed to two main reasons:
1. we are literally stuck in one location for 95% of the book, and
2. there was nothing special about each of the characters, apart from the role they had to play in the story. i’d be more scared the entire time about one of them getting shot (please refer to the title) if i actually cared what happened to any of them (maddy i love you though). even though this is only a standalone, so there is less time to connect to the characters, i was a lot more attached to the pip and co. in book 1 of AGGGTM.

despite this, holly jackson managed to sustain my attention for the entire book, and whilst the reveal was a tad underwhelming, i did appreciate the pov switch right at the end. red’s forgetfulness was also very relatable.

*Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a digital copy of the ARC Five Survive by Holly Jackson.*

Six friends. One RV. One killer. Many, many secrets.

It's Red's senior year, and her friends are embarking on a RV road trip to Florida for spring break. Red, her best friend Maddy, their friends Simon and Arthur, Maddy's older brother Oliver, and Oliver's girlfriend Reyna have been driving all day, and are nearing their campsite for the night when they suddenly lose service, and therefore their map. Going off instincts, they drive the RV deeper into the woods. With tensions already high, one of the tires goes flat, causing the friends to get out and change it. But once they're inside again, they find that all four tires have once again gone flat--but this time they've been shot.
The next eight hours are hell. The six find a walkie-talkie hanging from the side mirrors, and thus begins their communication with the sniper in the woods, the man who refuses to stop shooting and let them go until one specific secret is revealed. Of course, rather than talking to each other and figuring out the secret, chaos ensues as they attempt to escape. Oliver, ever the self-preserving asshole, immediately takes charge, refusing to listen to any ideas other than his own, and placing blame on everyone but himself. Reyna, his girlfriend, keeps shooting looks at Red, and seems uncomfortable with Oliver's decisions, despite the fact that they seem like the perfect couple. Simon won't stop drinking, Maddy can't seem to choose to follow her psychotic brother or her best friends, and Arthur is the quiet but protective presence in the corner.
Out of all of them, Red has the most knowledge about the subject. Her mom was a police chief, and Red and her used to play pretend cops all the time when she was little. Before her mom died. But despite Red's expertise, Oliver refuses to listen, and Red can't seem to escape the guilt and traumatic memories of her mom's death.
As the hours increase, the shooter gets more and more impatient, and as the violence grows, so do the tensions. Eight hours trapped in an RV changes people, and the friends will never be the same if they reveal their secrets--or will they?

I LOVED the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy. I really connected with Pip and found her to be a very compelling protagonist and storyteller. I loved the romance and ongoing, connected mysteries, and the small town it was set in. However, this book didn't have the same magic as AGGGTM. I didn't find Red to be as good of a narrator, and the single setting "locked room" scenario made for a somewhat repetitive plot. I didn't particularly like or connect to any of the characters, and while the story was terrifying, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and the twist to happen. Nevertheless, I did really enjoy this book, and I do hope Jackson writes a sequel or makes this her next trilogy, purely because the ending left me wanting more of a conclusion (which I hope indicates her plans to continue). I think Red and Arthur have potential to be a good pairing, and would love to see where the rest of the mafia plot goes.

Overall, Holly Jackson continues to be one of the best YA mystery writers, and I will always read her work with a vengeance. I'm excited to see where this premise goes, and would love a trilogy, as I think the sequels would have a great opportunity to build on the mafia plot.

Let me start out by saying I don't love thrillers, but I did like Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, so I decided to give it a go. It's YA. How scary could it be? Answer: Very scary. Reading through my fingers scary. I knew what was bound to happen, but I really didn't want to see it. This is billed as a YA book, but I would say that should be aimed at older YA and maybe even New Adult. All the characters are Seniors in high school or older. The narrator is 18. So yeah, definitely older YA.

I don't love thrillers, but I also couldn't stop reading. I put it down to go to bed at 86% and then just picked it up and finished it. The plot is tight as a drum and the twists elicited actual gasps that worried the people in the room with me. The ending is told in mixed media format, and I can''t tell you what or it would spoil it. The characters are well done, particularly the narrator, Red.

Red is an 18 year old girl living with the guilt of her her last words to her mother being "I hate you," before she was killed in a mob-style execution. Her father fell apart afterwards and has not climbed out of the bottle he climbed into. She and five of her friends are on a road trip to Florida in a borrowed RV when they get lost and end up in a woody area in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. Then someone starts shooting at them.

The title of the book is Five Survive, so you know someone doesn't make it, but you don't know who it is until the very end. It could be anyone.

Fair warning, it is pretty bloody; not just in the events in the current timeline, but throughout the story, Red is thinking about how her Mom died by gunfire, so those scenes are gory too.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Six teenagers are in an RV headed for spring break. A few wrong turns and some unforeseen circumstances lead to them being trapped in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t take them long to realize that someone wants them dead and as the title suggests, they are not all making it out alive.

I had a hard time keeping up with the characters at first. There wasn’t much of an introduction to each character and it was confusing. As I continued to read, the story got better and I was able to figure out the different character connections. It was a fast paced thriller with high tension that at times made me feel anxious. Holly Jackson does a good job moving the plot along and having everything come together at the end. Although a little graphic, I think middle schoolers will enjoy it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5104887428

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Holly after how much I LOVED the GGGTM series, but I am happy to report that this was such an amazing follow-up.

It was a little slower at parts than Pip’s story, but it definitely still had my heart racing. All in all, absolutely loved this, and Jackson is an auto-buy author for me.

Wow! That was an experience of reading. I like Holly’s writing style. I really can’t believe that ending. It was so good.

Date reviewed: November 24, 2022
Publication date: November 29, 2022


One of the best books I’ve read this year! What a crazy ride! This is an intense thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole entire time. You keep guessing and trying to solve the mystery but when you think you know the answer another twist happens. There’s not much character development and you learn just little pieces of everyone’s life so most characters are not very likeable. So don’t approach this book hoping to like or relate to any of the characters. But if you like a fast paced, intense thriller I highly recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Children’s and the author for free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was the most wild ride. Holly Jackson knows how to write a thriller! I really loved Red’s background. It was written so well. Even if you haven’t had that trauma happen to you, the pain felt so real. So raw. Absolutely fantastic characters, a nonstop plot, and so much more.

thank you so much underlined for the arc!

4/5 stars

this book will keep you on the edge of your seat! Never in my life have I had so much anxiety reading, a murder mystery! The entire book takes place in a night, and the chapters are highlighted by timestamps, which is such a fun way to read this book. When I tell you, I never would’ve guessed the huge plot twist, I’m usually someone who has pretty good intuition and can smell a rat where it is. But this book genuinely had me shocked, I never expected all the twist and turns I never expected, the end to happen the way it did. I will say I did guess who the mole was from the jump, but that is all, and the story is so deep. Being inside Reds’ head felt like I was inside an unreliable, narrators head, I never knew if what we were reading in her POV was what was actually happening. She’s a very chaotic person and her mind catches onto things that seem unnecessary but in the end really add up. And I think that was a really fun experience. Honestly, this book deserves all its flowers.

I was a huge fan of the first two books in Holly Jackson's, A Good Girls Guide to Murder, series. I was eagerly anticipating Five Survive and it did not disappoint. The first chapter felt very discombobulated and I was worried that this book wasn't going to be for me but once you get past that and get used to the writing and Red's quirks and understand who all the players are, things come together nicely. I appreciate Five Survive being YA because the book was shorter and the pacing was steady and kept me on the edge of my seat. My only real issue is that some things were repeated which seemed unnecessary. I think fans of No Exit by Taylor Adams will enjoy this book as the vibes were the same.