Guys, am I starting to like locked room mysteries?! I loved AGGGTM and Holly Jackson didn't disappoint with this one. This book was terrifying and kept me on the edge of my seat. I don't want to give anything away, but if you end up reading this, message me so we can discuss the ending!

Book Review! 📚🥳

Five Survive By Holly Jackson 🚐🔎

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhousekids for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this thriller of a book, it was great! I never saw the twists coming and was genuinely holding my breath the whole time trying to figure out who the culprit was. I enjoyed reading about our main character and liked how unique and flawed she was. It made her interesting and more real. I also really liked hearing and uncovering everyone’s secrets, some were super surprising and I never saw them coming.

For me, this book was a 4 star instead of a 5 star for two reasons. One reason is that I found the beginning of this book a tad boring and slow. The other reason is that I didn’t love the ending. I felt it was a great idea for an ending, but just felt a little rushed.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loved Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series or thriller lovers!

Look out for this book on November 29th and pick it up! It’s worth your precious reading time for sure!

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A riveting story about six teenagers who find themselves stuck in an RV in the middle of nowhere, with a sniper hidden outside threatening to kill them unless one of them reveals a secret. I really enjoyed this book; I thought the pacing was really good (not too fast and not too slow). I also felt like each of the characters was well fleshed out (although it did take me a bit to remember who was who). The ending was--interesting?--I'm really not sure how I feel about it. The story generally makes sense, but I just didn't love the direction it went.

Overall, though, I'd still recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller! I definitely don't regret reading it and enjoyed the experience. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC for review.

Thank you Netgalley and Delacorte Press for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"You can't see me but I can see you..."

Five Survive is, most likely, one of my most intense reads of this year. I greatly enjoyed reading A Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy and when I heard about Holly Jackson's newest release, Five Survive, it became one of my highly anticipated books.

Five Survive is a suspenseful story of six friends, travelling in a RV at night, who get lost in the middle of no-where. After fixing a blown-out tire and trying to retrace their steps, the rest of their tires are shot by an unknown shooter. Stuck in the RV, the panic begins to set in. A walkie-talkie is left on their RV and the six friends are tasked with revealing a terrible secret or they will die...

Holly Jackson knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing until the very end. The story is a fast-paced adrenaline rush with a dash of anxiety. You will truly feel immersed in this wild range of emotions as the six main characters begin to show their true colors and reveal shocking truths about themselves.

I really liked this crazy ride of a book and its well-developed characters - not Oliver though, he can rot. As much as I disliked Oliver to the fullest I enjoyed the way Jackson shows different sides of what panic does to people and what they would do to save themselves and others from uncertain death. I was frustrated for some of the book due to character decisions but I don't know if it was a good or bad frustration. Overall, I had a great experience with Five Survive and I look forward to what Holly Jackson has in store for the future.

4.5 stars

Red and her friends are road tripping in an RV to head to the beach for spring break. The long drive would be worth it for the beach at the end. Everything was going great until their RV suddenly breaks down in the middle of nowhere. No phone signal, no anything.

Suddenly, a sniper shoots out their tires. According to them, one of the six on the RV is hiding a secret. A dark secret. In order for them all to survive, they have to share it. Before the clock runs out. But the sharing of secrets makes tensions run high, and they have to decide what they’re willing to do to survive. If they all want to get out of there alive.

Thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Five Survive to review! Holly Jackson made a name for herself with the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder seres, so I was excited to pick this one up. Always happy to read a new thriller, especially an edge of your seat one like this!

Jackson has a knack for writing a story that’s paced in just a way that you just keep turning the pages. They’re really difficult to put down! In this book, we get a lot of twists and turns that keep you guess at each moment throughout the book. What’s going to happen next? What’s the next secret that’s going to be revealed? I just wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen.

While I appreciated the pacing, I will say the overall story here did seem like a bit of a stretch. It definitely makes for an exciting story, but it wasn’t really quite believable in the way that A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was. Kind of reminded me of the third book in that series, if I’m being honest. I like my thrillers a little more grounded in reality.

Overall, if you enjoy fast-paced thrillers, you’ll definitely love Holly Jackson’s new one!

3.5/5 stars

Oooh man, this novel takes you on a really wild right!

6 friends on a road trip in an RV for spring break. It's supposed to be all fun and games, until secrets catch up with them.

The entire novel happens in a 31 foot RV over the span on 8 hours, which I absolutely loved. I've always loved TV shows that have episodes that happen in real time, so a novel that also happens in real time was really fun. It helped me to feel as if I was there with them, going through the same trauma that they were going through.

This novel did start of a little slow, but once the secrets started pouring out, it definitely picked up the pace. I loved the characters, but I wish that I would have gotten a little bit more background on them. Nonetheless, this was a really fun novel by such a talented writer. I definitely enjoyed the read and absolutely recommend it if you've got an afternoon to just binge!

Setting out in an RV for spring break seemed like a fun option for this group of friends but things take a turn when the group loses GPS signal and finds themselves lost in a remote wooded area with a flat tire. The group changes the tire but as they try and pull away all four tires pop. Confused the group exits the RV only to realize there is an active shooter somewhere in the trees who not only shot out the tires but also their gas tank. The friends find themselves trapped with no way to call for help. The shooter leaves them a walkie talkie and tells them that one of the 6 has a secret and if they divulge it he will let them go. The problem? Everyone seems to be hiding something and as dawn approaches things get more tense with everyone trying to keep their secrets while also surviving the night. This was a great read and I stayed up way into the night because I had to know what would happen next. This thriller did not disappoint.

I was really excited for another book by Holly Jackson because I absolutely loved AGGGTM series but Five Survive didn’t have that same wow factor. Five Survive is a long drawn out thriller about teens traveling in an RV for spring break only to get stuck in a hostage situation until someone reveals a secret. The story takes place over an 8hr period but at the rate it moved it felt longer; the story didn’t start to really pick up and move until around 75-80% of the way through. I did really like the ending- it saved the story and wrapped up everything and filled in some of the gaps.

All the characters weren’t great but not horrible expect for Oliver- could not stand him. You could tell from the very beginning he was going to be a problem and that’s exactly what he was. This is very much a YA thriller with teens dealing with way more than they should. If you like YA thrillers then I would keep it on your tbr but go in knowing that this is very different from AGGGTM.


Thank you publishers and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I wanted to love this book, as the blurb really caught my eye. However, I struggled to even finish it.

The writing style just didn't work for me, and it could've benefitted from a much tighter edit. Common practice today points toward action beats vs. dialogue tags, and this book was a prime example of why that's the case (way too many "said" uses on each page!). Everything about the storyline felt choppy, and I was never able to connect with any of the characters, who felt a bit unrealistic. The premise was good, but sadly, it failed at the delivery.

This was a wild ride from beginning to end. I never knew what was going to happen next and I loved it. Also I know it's not the point but I need Red and Arthur to be together so I don't appreciate the ambiguous ending.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I received an ARC copy of Five Survive via NetGalley to read and review. I’m giving Five Survive 4.5 stars but rounding up to 5.

Imagine going on spring break in an RV from Philadelphia to Gulf Shores with five other people then getting lost and ending up trapped on said RV with a sniper demanding to know one person’s secret. Do you work together to find another way out or do you turn on each other to find who’s secret is wanted and what that secret is?

I was completely engrossed from start to finish. Jackson did a wonderful job with putting us in Red’s head during this insane situation. The way the characters think and react were all well thought out.

I have two minor issues, I’m not sure if the following are true spoilers so from here read at your own risk.







There are two things I think are a little far fetched.

1. I’m not sure one sniper can take out four tires on an RV….not saying it’s impossible but seems unlikely.
2. The fact the brothers planned where to have the RV stranded and planned for every possibility almost across the country from where they live is again not impossible but extremely unlikely. This one bothers me a little more since they’d have to really scope this area out ahead of time to make sure no one stumbles upon them (although this does happen and helps make the story more realistic).



All in all I really enjoyed Five Survive and would recommend!

A spring break RV trip turns into a nightmare in Jackson’s newest pulse-pounding thriller, firmly cementing her place on my auto-buy list.

I really enjoyed this nail-bitingly tense YA thriller – to the point where I stayed up way too late to finish the book and slept through my alarm the next morning. (And I don’t regret it!) From the immediate empathy for our viewpoint character, Red, to the multilayered of the unfolding plot, every chapter draws the reader closer and deeper until all the secrets are revealed, for better or for worse.

Red is a troubled character, with a clear case of PTSD from various things she’s gone through in her life, and Jackson pulls you into her head and her world with care and precision. The very Red-centric nature of the narrative was very well done, with vivid descriptions and sensory details, combining with the push and pull of the exchanges between her and the other characters to keep me on edge the entire read. I very much appreciated that while there are distinct relationships between Red and the other characters, the focus stayed solidly on the thriller plot and its slowly rising tension.

The nature of the threat that Red and her friends finds themselves facing fits perfectly in the story, yet isn’t one that I would have ever predicted. And even with the outside threat that traps them, the real conflict is as much between the six friends in the RV as they try to save themselves from the situation they’ve found themselves in. There are plenty of twists and turns and revelations, and in the end the story wraps up perfectly. As I closed the book, I felt battered and exhausted, but in the best way.

Five Survive was everything I had been hoping for from Jackson’s next release, and I sincerely thank the publisher for the opportunity to read it.

This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2022! I love Holly Jackson and her Good Girls Guide to Murder series is one of my FAVs! This was just as great! I flew through it and felt like I was an additional passenger on the RV! I was equally freaked out, engaged and surprised throughout the whole story. I trusted no-one and loved the ending! This definitely makes me second guess any RV related trips in the near future :)

Five Survive by Holly Jackson, 400 pages. Delacorte Press (Random House), 2022. $20.
Language: R (41 swears, 110 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Using an RV to drive to Gulf Shores where the rest of their friends and classmates flew to for spring break sounded like fun. But then Red (17yo) and her friends got lost. And then the RV not-so-accidently broke down. Now the six of them need to find out who is hiding a secret the other five are not willing to die for.
Tensions are high from the start, and Jackson doesn’t let up. These desperate characters are up all night, and readers get caught up in the fear and frustration. New chapters bring more complications, not the relief everyone is hoping for – and it was thrilling to read, except for those times when I wanted to reach in and punch that one guy in the face. While the ending is somewhat open-ended, I was satiated by the denouement.
Red, Maddy, and Oliver are White; Simon is at least half Korean; Reyna is Mexican; and Arthur is undefined. The mature content rating is for mentions of drugs, underage drinking, illegal activity, innuendo, and partial nudity. The violence rating is for blood and gore, gun use, and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

When Red and four of her friends take off for spring break she’s excited as Red can be. That’s because she recently lost her mom and because of certain things she didn’t share with her best friend that weighs heavy on her conscious. When they sharp shooting maniac Prince them down in a remote location and shoots out their tires and most of the windows he says he will only let them go if one of them confesses to a secret. Oliver has a humongous ego, he is the big brother two reds Best friend and automatically assumed it has something to do with his district attorney mother in the case she is currently working on. Not only that as time goes by he starts to distrust her and even her best friend Maddie Get over on her making her feel even more isolated. Could she convince Oliver she can be trusted or will his ego get them all killed? This book was pretty good but I found all of her to be so annoying and although a lot of people like this book I found myself getting bored. Having said all that though a lot of people like this book so you may as well this is a teen thriller/horror/mystery and if you like those genres you may love five survive by Holly Jackson. I have read other books by this author and have loved them not so much this one though. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate most of my review.

This was alright. The premise wasn't anything new, and it was sort of a mix of slash thriller meets lost in the woods kind of horror. I was definitely intrigued though, but just felt the premise not anything new.

This book has a slow start and then becomes a real page turner! I didn’t see any of the plot twists coming, and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to get to the big reveals.

The actual mystery was not necessarily my favorite, and some of the characters were SO annoying (but that was probably purposeful) which makes it a 3 ⭐️ Read for me personally.

Thank you to net-galley and the publisher for an e-book in exchange for my review.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

After absolutely loving the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series (controversial ending and all), I was excited for what Holly Jackson would write next. Although I don’t blame her for wanting to write something different after a massive series, this didn’t really work for me.

Plotting and pacing wise, it does deliver. It’s set largely over a single intense night spent in an RV, with the guarantee that one of the six people in it will likely die, based on the title. The suspense builds quickly, and the atmosphere is well-crafted. There’s a real sense of danger for this group of friends.

But this definitely is a plot-focused story, and most of the characters apart from the lead exist for the sole purpose of forwarding the plot along. You get a vague breakdown of the relationships between people in the blurb, but the characters are all so lacking in depth, I can’t be bothered to remember who was who. They did each have a lot of baggage, making this a super busy book, and I got a vague idea of why they’re all likely targets for the killer, even if I didn’t really care for any of them.

Red is pretty interesting, even if it did take some time to warm to her as well. The ultimate twist is centered on her, and it does ultimately feel pretty satisfying.

Overall, while I didn’t care for this, I can see merit in this, especially if you separate it from Jackson’s previous work. I’m not a fan of this style of thriller, but if you are, it may work better for you.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC copy of this book. This has not influenced my review.

Synopsis: Spring Break. Six friends. One broken down RV. One sniper. Eight hours of terror.

Review: Read this immediately. Immediately. Let me back up. I was a bit hesitant to read this. Only because while I liked A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by the end, it struggled to get through and haven’t gone back to read anymore in the series. However, when I read the synopsis of this book and was approved for the ARC, I had high hopes. And boy were they met. Boy were they exceeded. Every time I thought I had the twists figured out, I absolutely did not. Admittedly, the book was a little slow at the beginning, but then I read from 20% to 100% in one sitting. This is everything I want in a thriller. Everything. Five stars, no question.

A drawn out "thriller" that doesn't hit its peak until the VERY end...

Red is on her way spring break on the beach wither 5 friends in a 31 feet RV. Everything seems, except for the constant guilt Red feels for her mother's murder, until the RV leaves the 6 friends stranded in the middle of nowhere with 4 tires slashed and an gas tank emptied...oh and the sniper surrounding them with the intention of killing the one with biggest secret to tell!

So....this wasn't great. I enjoyed Jackson's Good Girl series and had high hopes for this one, but it fell flat.


The book spans 8 hours from the moment they pull out of the driveway to the ending of the book and every moment is painstakingly described. The main conflict wasn't introduced until 25% into the book. The first secret not revealed until about 45% in. It is truly the SLOWEST of burns. And the characters aren't great. Red, our MC, is skittish and obviously harboring something that later feels obvious once revealed.

And my biggest issue besides the pacing is the character of Oliver....truly one of the most ridiculous additions to the story. He was giving Lord of the Flies realness and no one, including his sister or girlfriend, could rein him in? Failed plan after failed plan? Almost caricature-like anger, privilege, and lack of self awareness? Just silly.

I'm sure others will enjoy this more than me, but if you're looking for a YA thriller that moves and has characters that feel and act like normal people, this ain't it.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and Delacorte Press for the eARC of this read in exchange for my honest review.