I could not put this one down! A group of young people head to the beach for Spring Break in a borrowed RV. What could possibly go wrong? After getting lost in a deserted area, they quickly realize someone outside the RV is trying to kill them, and one of them inside is the key to their escape. While the set up of the story seems contrived, nothing about the story is predictable as events unfold. Jackson explores the themes of friendship, family loyalty, and sacrifice in this exciting book.

This book was very interesting. The plot was intriguing and pulled me in. Some parts seemed repetitive to me and seemed to move pretty slow but for the most part it was a solid read and I was definitely invested in the characters and the story as it unfolded.

➵ 3.5 ⭐️

this book might be my biggest disappointment this year.

i haven't read AGGGTM but i seriously hope it's much better than whatever this was.
we have 6 friends trapped in an RV for 8 hours, held at gunpoint by a sniper - sounds intriguing enough but the execution.......
all of the characters were flat, some more 2 dimensional than others. i have no idea why the mc - Red - was written the way she was, but what i do know is that it drove me crazy. adhd on steroids is the only way to describe her inner monologue, it was just all over the place and i could not understand why. she was also not really fleshed out.

the first 60% of the book dragged out - Red kept repeating how the RV is 31 ft long and wondering about the pattern on the curtain and in the end neither one of those things were relevant but regardless they were constantly repeated. imo nothing really interesting was happening most of the time - the plans to escape the characters were coming up with were just absurd, everyone is supposed to be between 18-21 yo but instead they all sounded like a bunch of 13 year olds.

i liked the plot twists and the last 30% were fast paced and interesing and that's the reason i'm not rating it lower. also Red's inner monologue did get better by the end.
can't tell you what the pattern was, who's the second person to vote "yes" [when u read the book you'll know what i'm talking about], wheather Red shows up at the pier or not but at least certain characters got what they deserved.

eternal gratitude to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. all opinions are my own

Red and five of her friends are on a spring break trip in an RV. They make a wrong turn and end up trapped inside the RV, being watched by a sniper who knows someone in the group has a secret.

I really, really wanted to like this book. I LOVED the entire AGGGTM series and couldn't wait to see what Holly Jackson came up with next. The premise sounded good, but the plot felt really slow and repetitive (especially the incessant references to the length of the RV), and the whole situation didn't end up making a ton of sense. The characters were all sort of meh, and the ending was predictable and implausible.

I will read any and everything Jackson writes and wouldn't discourage anyone from reading this book -- lots of reviewers have enjoyed it, but it was not a great fit for me.

Oh my goodness what a great book! I have loved all of Holly Jackson’s books and Five Survive is even better than ALL the others. The characters, the story, the everything was fabulous! And the ending (don’t want to spoil it) was the best – absolutely perfect for this book.
Highly recommend!!!!!
Thank you NetGallery for my ARC.

Book Review

Five Survive by Holly Jackson
@HoJay92
Pub date: November 29, 2022

First off, big thanks to @DelacortePress for this gifted DRC!

What should be a fun road trip traveling to spring break soon turns into a nightmare for 6 friends. Red Kenny is traveling with her bestie, Maddy, Maddy’s brother Oliver and his girlfriend, Reyna along with Simon and Arthur. The RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere and soon, it looks like this may not be accidental. With no cell service, the group attempts to leave the RV when they discover they’re not alone out on this deserted road. A sniper has them in their sights and their looking for a secret but what secret? Seems like suddenly almost everyone has something to hide.

Told via Red, it gives insight into the story and her perspective of each person’s ability to not only handle the stress of the situation but also, who she thinks is hiding the biggest secret – news flash, she thinks it’s herself but could she be wrong. The sniper manages to contact them and gives them an ultimatum and soon the ugliest of behaviors emerge and more truths come out, separating friends and family.

This is the tensest of stories and really shows just how desperate some will be and the lengths they will go to in order to save themselves … or someone they love. It has the twistiest of plots and gasp out loud moments – the descriptive writing put me in the situation of all the characters – all of them richly portrayed in such a short amount of time. I felt invested and that is what I look for in a page turner. Get me invested in the characters and you’ve got me invested in the book.

I’m highly recommending this one and I’m calling it a psychological thriller because it is just that! It plays on the mind of the reader as much as it does the characters – I love when a book makes me go through a host of emotions – from nervous and scared to elated and sad, so many emotions in this story! Well done, Ms. Jackson!

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the e-arc for an honest opinion.

Please take in mind it’s my opinion, and everyone is allowed to have one.

This was honestly such an intense, intriguing and interesting book. The plot was very interesting. It was quite interesting to see that more people had secrets, and what secrets could do to one person. Every character was unique and all made sense to the story.

The ending though lets talk about that, I didn’t see that one coming. That secret was just wow, never expected it to be THAT! Also the last page had me in tears…

Hope we are going to see more!

Setting out on a road trip for Spring Break with her best friend, along with her friend's brother, his girlfriend, and a couple of other classmates, Red thinks her biggest worry is which side of the pull-out sofa her friend wants to sleep on. Just a short time later, as they lose phone service and find themselves lost deep in the woods, she soon discovers that none of them will be sleeping as they become the focus of a deranged madman. Their captor wants just one thing - the secret that one of them is hiding. One by one, the secrets come to light, but which one will be the key to their survival?

There are plenty of twists in this one. I had a hard time keeping the characters and their motivations straight as they all seemed a little underdeveloped, including the main character, but overall that helped keep this a quick read and move the story along. This is a great thriller, recommended for those who love a quick suspense that also answers all the questions and leaves everything with a satisfactory ending. Perfect for fans of Karen McManus.

I received an eARC from the publisher.

this was a thoroughly enjoyable read from Holly Jackson - author of one of my favorite series (A Good Girls Guide to Murder). It was super fast paced (reminded me a little of No Exit) and I read it in one sitting. It fell a little short for me when it came to character development, and since there were 6 people to keep track of, I found that a bit frustrating. But overall, it was a super fun book and definitely reccomend picking it up when it comes out!

While this book definitely had the propulsion that Holly Jackson’s books are known for, I can’t help but feel that it would have been better suited to a short story. I thought the RV setting was perfectly tense and claustrophobic, as was the narration, but around the halfway mark things started to lag. While I can definitely see this story working as a short story or even a short film, I don’t think the format of a novel served the story well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Electric Monkey for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved how fast paced this book went! I felt like I was in the actual RV and the suspense was so good! I hope to read more from Holly Jackson. Her writing style is phenomenal.

Are you ok after reading this book?
[ ] YES [ ] NO

6 friends find themselves stranded in a broken down RV they can’t seem to leave otherwise they will be shot at by a hidden sniper who will only allow them to leave if one of them reveals “the” secret one of them is keeping….

This was an edge of your seat, wild ride. I could not put this book down from beginning to end. There were lots of twists and turns, that just kept getting deeper and deeper into the character’s play into everything. Every time I thought I had it figured out another twist would be thrown at you.

There were some things I didn’t care for in this book which is why I give it 3.75 stars. I felt like it was page after page of the main character just over analyzing and over thinking everything and then wouldn’t even follow through or react in any way so it felt like all the pages of over thinking was for not... We didn’t get much from a couple of the characters which left me feeling like why were they in the book at all? Their roles in the story were very insignificant and I wanted more from them.

Overall it was a very entertaining read and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

A group of teenage friends, traveling in an RV for Spring Break, what could happen?

Well, once the RV breaks down, who would have though they would all be fighting for their lives from...a sniper?

Lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing why and who, a fast read that did not disappoint.

Holly Jackson knows how to write a suspense novel for the teenage audience.

5 stars

Holly Jackson is the queen of YA thrillers. 5 Survive is full of so many twists and turns, it was hard for me to put it down. Red is such an interesting character, and I loved reading the story from her POV. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Wow. Wow. Wow. Gripping. Fantastic. Twisty. Everything you want in a thriller. I was worried it wasn’t going to crack up to Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, but I really really enjoyed it! The friend dynamic. The suspicion of Red and her bad memory. Loved it!

Holy exploding heart rate people! I needed a good thriller that made me shaky & kept me on the edge of my seat. I don’t know about you but I love that feeling when you can feel your heart racing as you’re reading. This one definitely did it for me!

Ok so, in the beginning, I will fully admit, I wasn’t totally sold on it yet. It took me a little bit to warm up to the characters. BUT once we got to the sniper, I blew through the pages like they were on fire. The whole time I was reading I kept thinking how great this would be as a Netflix movie or series. I’m a sucker for an unreliable, untrustworthy character and this one was full of them. At times I felt like it could be a little too YA for some, but I still really enjoyed it. And any book embraces the place where I grew up (and all the jawns, IYKYK), gets extra point from me!

A HUGE thank you to Netgalley, Random House, & Holly Jackson for this e-arc. Check out Five Survive on its pub date 11/29!

It was a book that started off slow, but once the action picked up, I couldn’t put it down! A group was going on spring break in an RV when they were stopped and secrets began to come out. I did not see some of the twists coming until they came out. Overall I enjoyed this book.

I love a high stakes, locked room thriller. But the first half of this book was tedious. The suspense and reveals in the second half of the book made up for it.

Thanks to netgalley + publisher for an arc!!

A definite 5/5! This book hooked me from the start and was just amazing from beginning to end.
I appreciated that it was an actual suspense novel because I held my breath for so many different parts, got butterflies in others and did so many sighs of relief.
I didn't like Red at first but at the end she was my favorite character. I did not see the twist ending and had a jaw drop moment that I really loved and appreciated. Oliver was my least favorite character but he brought a lot of umph to the novel.
I definitely recommend this book and would definitely buy the released copy.
AMAZING BOOK!

This book was a big departure from Jackson’s other works. Much darker vibe and complex characters versus the Good Girl series.

Overall, I liked this book. The plot moved quickly and kept the reader engaged.