Wow! My first Holly Jackson novel but definitely not my last. This was amazing! The characters were awesome and just pulled me into the story. So many secrets, lies and never ending tension.
Crazy great twists and turns. Also super intense.
Highly recommend!
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Characters: 4/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Holly Jackson has done it again. The only other book I’ve read of hers is A Good Girls Guide to Murder, but after reading Five Survive she has officially become one of my favorite authors.

The premise of this book is amazing. Six friends are trapped in their broken down RV with a killer waiting outside. The killer wants a secret from one of them - the other five survive.

I absolutely love books with small casts of characters because it gives us more time with each of them. Red, our protagonist, has such a unique POV that never felt boring. The bonds and tensions between each of the characters really added to their depth and made the book that much more compelling.

This book has SO. MANY. PLOT. TWISTS. I thought we’d reached the climax, Holly said NOPE, THERES MORE. Each twist was believable and mind blowing at the same time. Holly Jackson has such incredible writing, you can never go wrong with one of her books.

I actually thought this was a standalone, but I’m really hoping it isn’t because I will not survive if I don’t find out what happens next. The way this book left off was perfect and absolutely left me wanting more.

Five Survive is out November 29th, and if you’re a fan of mystery and plot twists that will blow your mind, I know you’ll love it.

"Five Survive" is a rollercoaster thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. It's nearly impossible to put down.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson
For me, this was a fast paced thriller that had me hooked from the first chapter. I thought this was more of an action/ suspense than a mystery. There was also some horror and gore thrown in as well. I liked it a lot. The characters are enjoyable and you really can feel their panic and anxiety throughout the book.
Many thanks to Holly Jackson, NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Press for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of the series for A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, I was really excited to read the ARC of this book. Unfortunately, it fell short. Way short.

Predictable. After the first two chapters, I wrote down on a post-it note exactly what I thought would happen for the rest of the book. I was right about everything but one thing (it had a very unsatisfying ending).. Anyone who has watched a horror movie from the 80s and 90s can tell you exact;y what is going to happen next. Really. It's THAT predictable.

In this one, we have 6 kids in an RV, who are driving south for spring break. They get lost in the middle of nowhere and their phones won't work. And then the tires of the RV are all shot out, Who did it and why? That's the big mystery..

Our main character, Red, hints throughout the story that she has a secret and that no-one can know. There's just NO WAY anyone knows her secret. But of course, you know this is the whole focus of the book, so when her secret is finally revealed, I don't think anyone would be shocked. I think even my dead grandfather would notice the clues (but he was an Ellery Queen fan and I'm pretty sure he would;ve been able to solve this after the first 20 pages too).

Disappointing. I hope the next one is better, but has new characters. None of the characters in this book were likeable.

This was my first book by this author and don't be my last. Highly addicting and engaging from start to finish!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for copy!

This is my first book from Jackson so I had no expectations and know nothing about her writing style.

But if I’m going to be honest, the first 70 percentage of this book dragged, some days I only read a few pages to try to get through. I think the author missed the opportunity to give the characters depth. You’re stuck with 6 characters in one space for 400 pages and you still know nothing about them at the end. Every character was disposable and exchangeable. If anyone dies, you don’t care.

The last part of the book picks up and gets very interesting! Were the twists unpredictable? Exciting but no, because one person kept mumbling about “stick to the plan” in their head from the beginning. Also the “ultimate villain” didn’t make sense. We also needed more background on that person decisions.

I would have enjoyed the book more if the first half was summed up in a few chapters and the book started at the last 30% and went from there.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for this e-ARC.

Red is going on a spring break trip in an RV with her best friend, Maddy, their friends Arthur and Simon, and Maddy’s brother, Oliver, and his girlfriend, Reyna. They lose service before they get to their campsite and get lost in the woods. All of a sudden, all four tires are shot out and they are stuck and afraid. A walkie-talkie appears and they are told by a sniper hiding in the woods that someone has a secret on board the RV and he needs to know what it is. Turns out all of them have a secret, and it begins to wear them all down, turning them against each other. Is the danger outside worse than the danger in?
💭Thoughts💭
I do not get easily spooked by books but DAMN was this leaving me constantly on edge. I really loved everything about this book except for Red’s character. She lacked a spine all throughout and was so annoying with her thought patterns. We get it, the RV was 31 feet long. 🤪 The author did a great job though of making you paranoid and keeping you guessing.
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⌛️Favorite Moment⌛️
My favorite moments were seeing how resourceful these kids were. They tried so many different ways to escape and bend the rules. My favorite thing was when they tried to build a stick person out of a mop and beach ball to trick the sniper.
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🎉 Theme Ideas 🎉
All they ate on the RV was chips and tequila. I would highly recommend not going on an RV trip after this book. Maybe watch a slasher film, this book was classic slasher horror.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhousekids for the free book in exchange for my honest review.

If you know me, you know I LOVED Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. It is my number one recommendation to all my friend la that enjoy thrillers or true crime. Needless to say I was so excited to read Jackson’s newest book which is coming out this November.

This book follows Red Kenney and her five friends while they are on their way to spring break. They get lost on the way and get into trouble when it turns out one of their secrets is the reason they got into the mess in the first place.

My favorite thing about Jackson’s writing is that she is an expert in twisting the story so that you are not expecting how the ending turns out. This was a great YA thriller and if that is something you enjoy, definitely pick this up. Five Survive comes out November 29!

4.5/5⭐️

I haven’t read any of Holly Jackson’s other books but this one has sold me on her as an author! I want to read more from her!!

This book is SUPER fast-paced, the fastest i’ve ever read. It takes place over the course of eight hours, you get every single detail of every moment. I loved this!

At first, I struggled distinguishing the characters from one another, since there are six main characters in total. It was kind of difficult to establish each of their roles in the story, but once i caught on it all made perfect sense!

The twists are amazing, i was on the edge of my seat the entire time. If you want a fast-moving, YA thriller, with lots of twists and turns, and super suspenseful, PICK UP THIS BOOK.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc, in exchange for my honest review.

Talk about a road trip gone wrong! This novel will have you checking your back, feeling the sensation of unseen eyes upon you, and cringing and dodging waiting for the inevitable CRACK of a sniper rifle. Spring break will never be the same.

Six friends, all with secrets and lies, head out for a Spring Break trip in an older RV. That is until they take a wrong turn, their wheels are shot out, and the hunt begins.

Steeped in lies and betrayals, friendships and foes, this thriller will keep you turning through pages, racing along in hopes of beating a snipers deadly bullet.

This is a fast, fun read, and perfect for anyone who loves YA thrillers and mystery books. I will definitely be recommending it to readers that enjoy a fast paced cat and mouse type thrill ride when released in November of 2022.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley, the publishers and author for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

My full review will be posted to all my social media sites, blog platforms and retail sites upon release day.

I’ve been digging books like this lately, and Jackson’s book is definitely added to my favorites. Engaging p,it and characters, some great twists- overall, a very fun read

Six friends headed on a spring break trip in an RV. One wrong turn leads to being in a dead zone area, then they get a flat. Thank goodness there is a spare, and the kids were able to change the tire (the only part of this book that wouldn’t be real) and they get going again. Then all four tires blow. The next 5 hours are a thrilling spiral that lends notes to lord of the flies, reminded me a bit of If We Were Villains, and was just very good!

When I first started this, I was thinking “where the heck is this headed”? You start getting snippets of Red’s trauma, and start to question who you think the bad guy is. Ooh and the suspense just keeps building! I made many correct assumptions along the way, but they didn’t unfold exactly the way I thought they would. Actually, I’m going to rephrase that and say there were a handful of things I did not see coming until they were happening. VERY GOOD.

I haven’t read anything by this author before, but now I’m going to have to pick up the other book(s) they’ve written!

I am very disappointed by this one. I am a huge fan of A Good Girls’s Guide to Murder series. Those books grasped my attention from the beginning. Five Survive has way too many characters from the beginning and I couldn’t follow through. It seemed a bit immature and more YA than previous novels from this author.

I really, really wanted to like this book since I enjoyed books 1 and 2 of TGGGTM series so much, but it was just okay. The characters fell flat for me, and I really hated how Red was portrayed not only as unreliable, but also just irritating, immature, and overly childish. The "twists" were incredibly predictable (in fact, in my book notes, I predicted things at only 15% into the book), and I grew to REALLY dislike several of the characters more and more as the story went on to the point of not caring whether they lived or died.

I thought that the high-tension aspect was decently well done, but I found the description of EVERY little action and reaction to become repetitive after a while. Also, I can't be the only one who was irrationally annoyed by the fact that we never even get to solve the mystery of what the heck the pattern in the curtains reminded Red of...after all of that obsession with it

This was such a fun read! Holly Jackson never disappoints. I read this in one sitting because it was so engaging. I did figure out half of the twist early on, but the other part was a surprise!

"Eight hours. Six friends. One sniper."

I absolutely love the way this book was set up. An hour by hour account of some of the most horrifying moments in Red's life. It kept me interested and wanting to devour it in one sitting. I found myself still thinking about what was going to happen next when I had to put it down to run errands or finish up some work. It was that suspenseful and compelling. The only reason I am giving it four stars instead of five is because it just was truly an unrealistic storyline. And there were questions that went unanswered about Catherine Lavoy and her involvement. It could have been made a little bit more realistic. But it was an excellent read, nonetheless. If you're looking to escape the horrors of the real world for a while and not have to fear that this is something that could happen to you, this is definitely the book to get lost in.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review and opinions.

📖Arc Review📖
Five Survive
by Holly Jackson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Coming November 29th

Brief Summary:
It’s spring break and Red and her friends are headed to the beach in an RV. They soon find themselves lost and stranded. Now there is someone out in the dark sabotaging their vehicle and shooting at them. One of them has a secret the shooter wants and giving him the information is the only way to survive.

The problem is everyone on the trip has their own secret. Will they be able to escape without giving their secrets up? Or will they be willing to let go of theirs to save the rest?

My experience:
It took me about three weeks to get 20% of the way through this book. I hit that 20% mark today and the rest of the book just clicked and I had a great time with it.

Jackson did a really good job of making you feel like you had this book figured out, only to find you were incorrect multiple times. I did not guess the ending and I enjoyed the ride.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had mixed feelings about this book. The plot was intriguing and I couldn't guess the "secret" and I didn't see some of the twists coming which I enjoyed but I felt that it was just too long which unfortunately made the book drag in parts. That said I am sure I will read any new books of Jackson's in the future as I enjoyed her previous works.

This is a mystery thriller about 6 teens on their way to spring break in a RV when they become stranded in the middle of nowhere with a sniper holding them at gunpoint. The premise sounds really out there, but I decided to go along with it. For me, the characters all fell flat and were unlikeable. The MC, Red, had some nonsensical inner monologues and I still don't understand her obsession with the curtains or why she kept emphasizing that the RV was 31 feet long.

I saw some of the plot twists coming, but I will say there was one that I didn't suspect. Overall, I would have found this more of a tighter read if the characters were more fleshed out and if the ending wasn't so predictable and implausible.