Megan Miranda does it again! She is a master of suspense thrillers. As Miranda invites the reader to relive the events that led to only nine survivors and how things have unfolded over the last ten years, she keeps the reader guessing with unexpected twists and turns up until the very end. A long time fan of Megan Miranda, The Only Survivors is my new favorite! Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. What happened to this group of kids years ago that they still feel the need to lie and get together every year to deal with it? And yes, sometimes they really are out to get you. But how they went about it was kind of interesting. The final twist was super sad and made me think different of main character.

I was surprised by how much I really liked this book! For some reason, Megan Miranda's books are kinda wishy-washy for me. I have to say that the ending of this book BLEW ME AWAY! I was not expecting it to resolve in the way that it did and I really loved it for that reason alone. This book, as they say on TikTok.: "10 outta 10!".

A decade after a high school community service trip to Tennessee ended in multiple fatalities, the surviving members of that group are still gathering yearly. The question is are they meeting to support one another or is there an ulterior motive to these annual reunions? Cassidy Bent, an outlier volunteer as a teen, who had only tenuous connections to her classmates prior to their fateful trip, is our narrator as we navigate the current state of the survivors and travel back in time to the day of the accident. Even with a blackout and a severe storm that causes flashback-inducing road flooding, the overall tone seems less thrilling and more like an ineffective therapy session.

This was fun - I picked it up because I've been on something of a mystery/thriller kick of late and this definitely scratched that itch. I also grew up near the Outer Banks, where the book is set, and it's always fun to read about a setting you know. There were plenty of twists and turns - some I saw coming, some I didn't. The characters and situation felt probable and the unspooling of the duel connected mysteries was fun to read. There were even a few scenes that got my heart racing and I read the book in a few days. I definitely didn't call the identity of the main antagonist (ok, I sort of did, but I can't explain without massive spoilers). Anyway, so recommend to fans of the genre or folks in the need of something to read on the beach (it's truly the perfect beach/airplane read). FWIW I would binge the heck out of this as a streaming mini-series. 3 stars - I liked it!

I always enjoy Megan Miranda's thrillers and this one did not disappoint. A group of students survive a terrible bus crash that takes the lives of several peers and teachers. Years later they continue to meet each year on the anniversary but it becomes clear that these are not warm reunions. As tragedies befall members of the group, the remaining survivors must figure out who is trying to uncover their secrets and make them pay for the past. This book switches between the current reunion weekend, set during a huge coastal storm, and the details of what happened during the accident. It's clear there is more to the story and it unfolds slowly. I found the plot a bit of a slow burn but I was interesting in finding out how the story would wrap up. I can't wait to see what Megan Miranda writes next. Thanks to Megan MIranda, Scribner, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Only Survivors started strong. The layout of this book was great, jumping timelines from the accident and present day with each character telling his or her perspective of events of that night. That night was a car crash that killed two teachers and several students on a high school trip. The survivors now meet up on the anniversary to remember those who died, but of course no one can be trusted.
I really enjoyed the premise of the book but the twist fell a little flat for me. I think there is a balance between something shocking and something that is flat out unbelievable, and this leaned a little toward the latter for me. All in all, The Only Survivors is a solid thriller, but not my favorite Megan Miranda novel.

I went through a serious Megan Miranda phase around 2018 and then I kind of forgot about her, so when I saw this arc was available, I HAD to request it.
I have to say, I didn’t *love* it like I loved All The Missing Girls, but it was still good. Some of the twists seemed really predictable while others were unexpected. Basically every character in this one was unlikeable for me and though their bond was forged through the trauma of the bus accident, they all should have quietly separated from themselves to save all the trouble. This book gave Yellowjacket vibes from the TV series and I thought the flashbacks to the tragedy and the students’ time in the woods 10 years prior were well-written and tough and real.
It’s a good “closed circle mystery.” The house Outer Banks and their weeks together felt creepy, so the whole energy was good, but overall just kind of unnecessary and I wanted to shake them all. I’d recommend for thriller fans and Miranda fans and now I wan to read some of my backlist Miranda sitting on my shelf.

I really enjoyed Megan Miranda’s last two books, “The Last To Vanish” and “Such A Quiet Place”, but I seem to be an OUTLIER with this one.

The author returns with another SLOW BURN mystery (which I don’t mind) which oozes with atmosphere, and has her signature two time lines-the PAST told in reverse chronological order, and the PRESENT which unfolds in real time.

A DECADE ago, two vans filled with high school seniors, crashed into a Tennessee ravine, killing all but NINE students who managed to escape the raging river, in the middle of a storm.

Amaya, Clara, Grace, Oliver, Joshua, Ian, Hollis, Brody and Cassidy (who is our present day narrator).

They weren’t really friends when the accident occurred but what they survived together has created a bond of sorts. When Clara commits Suicide a year after the tragedy, they decide to meet ANNUALLY at a beachfront rental property owned by Oliver’s family, known as The Shallows, as a way to keep tabs on each other, and to make sure that their pact to keep secret all of the details from that night remains intact.

Yet, ten years after the tragedy, they aren’t really friends now either, and Cassidy has decided that a decade is long enough. She has changed her phone number and deleted all of their contact information, in an attempt to move forward from the Survivor’s guilt and remorse.

On the morning she would’ve been leaving for the tenth year reunion, she gets a text from an unknown phone number, informing her that another one of the Survivors is dead.

Their secrets from the SEVEN hours prior to rescue refuse to let go.

The SEVEN who remain gather at the property, and the charade continues, with sand, swimming, and S’mores over a sizzling campfire until ANOTHER one from the group disappears. Can they really trust one another?

Are they being lured to the Outer Banks each year by someone who isn’t as forgiving as they pretend to be? Will all seven still be alive at the end of the SEVEN day retreat?

I had two issues with this one.

First, it’s a challenge when there is a large cast of characters to really get to know any of them, and with the exception of Cass, that is the case here, as well. As a reader who enjoys strong character development, that is one reason that this one missed the mark for me. We learn the bare minimum about each, so I never grew to care for or empathize with any of them.

Second, the story just wasn’t holding my attention but I was hoping for a huge payout by the end. Unfortunately, the reveal didn’t surprise me.

While this one may not have been my favorite by the author, I am still a fan, and I look forward to her next!

Expected publication date: April 11th, 2023

Thank You to Scribner/ Marysue Rucci Books for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for a candid review!

I love Megan Miranda's thrillers! The Only Survivors solidified this. This book is full of twists and turns, tense, and has the kind of plot that keeps me personally intrigued! If you're a psychological thriller fan you can't go wrong with any of her books!

A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. Cassidy Bent is one of the nine students who managed to escape the river that night irrevocably changed a community and those who survived. This year Cassidy is determined to avoid the yearly remembrance. Until she learns of the death of one of the nine—the one she trusted and cared for the most. What ensues is an untangling of the fragile web of complicated interrelationships and deceits that have kept each of these characters in one another’s orbit but prevented them from forming truly intimate bonds. It is not really a traditional suspense novel but a thriller based on tragic distrust and misunderstandings.

Secrets fester.

They don't have a very long shelf life.

If you've read anything by the talented Megan Miranda in the past, you know that she creates a hazy aura around her storyline. She bends and weaves in and out as her characters make their appearances with the precision of a Swiss watch. Tickin' away and not giving you the actual time.......until it's time.

We'll meet one of the oddest groups of individuals that you've come across in ages. They had a starting point when they were Seniors in high school. Click back to 2013 and picture a gaggle of teens cramped into two vans returning from a field trip in East Tennessee. Some of them won't be reaching their final destination with the others.

A horrendous accident seals their lips. We'll only get snippets here and there of what transpired. But the group vowed to meet once a year at a beach house in the Outer Banks. And it's there, year after year, that they tend to float past one another keeping their personal views more than personal. That night still presses into their memories like poison surging through veins.

Prepare yourself for a slow, lingering, smouldering burn here. It will be frustrating because Megan Miranda is so skilled at this. But the "need to know" is a wicked mechanism. I didn't want sideline bits and pieces towards the end. I was desperate to know the elusive secret. I wanted to shake the jelly out of Cassidy, the main voice of this novel. I wanted the dirt laid out with flashcards and electric beaming lights. It does, and you will, and you'll lean back with a knowing smirk on your face........just as Megan Miranda intended.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Schuster and to Megan Miranda for the opportunity.

Do you think you could keep a big secret from everyone for ten years?

I really don’t. I just prefer to get everything out in the open so we can discuss it and figure out a way to more forward. Keeping things a secret or hidden, is not my preferred method.

A group of classmates reunites ten years after a tragic accident – except this year one of them is missing. With one of them missing, they all start wondering about the original accident and what really happened that fateful night all those years ago when two vans filled with high school seniors crashed into a ravine. Each of the nine students who walked away was changed but they vow to keep each other safe and hold each other accountable. On the day of the ten year anniversary they realize another member is gone. With every amiss they all begin to wonder if they will survive the reunion intact.

Megan Miranda is back at it again with a super atmospheric suspenseful novel. This was a slow suspenseful book and those are hard for me to like, but this one was pretty good. The buildup, however, didn’t really seem worth it to me in the end. I expected a bigger reveal of sorts. However, the writing is amazing and wonderful and pulls you in. I appreciated the dual timelines of present and past and how they merged in the end. In all, this is a wonderful book, and I would recommend it to those who love a good suspense novel.

Check this one out April 11th.

Thank you to the publisher Scribner, @scribnerbooks, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Miranda’s newest book is a solid thriller about a group of survivors from a horrible bus crash. The story takes place between two timelines. One in the present day, told from our main character, Cassidy’s, POV, and the other in the past when the accident occurred. I personally preferred the part of the book in the past, as it was told from each of the survivor’s POVs, and a bit more interesting to me. I loved piecing together what really happened that night! The present part of the story picks up when the survivors meet on the anniversary of the accident, and one goes missing.

Overall, I feel like this is what Miranda’s fan would expect her to write. It’s true to her style. While I did figure out the ending, I enjoyed the ride. It’s a fun mystery, in a great setting. Thank you to NetGalley, and the publisher, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The story centers around a group of high school seniors on a school outing, when their two vans crash into a river gorge. Nine of the students survive, and meet each year thereafter on the anniversary. 10 years later, one of the survivors has died by suicide, one has overdosed and the remaining seven have secrets to keep.

The book is told in alternate timelines, then and now. Narration is primarily given by Cassidy, one of the survivors who wonders if it is time to stop their commemoration meeting. The chapters dealing with the accident reveal just a little of the tragic night before moving back to the present. However, the story isn’t a slow burn, it was just long and boring. Cassidy is a strange person and none of the survivors is especially likable to me, or to each other. I couldn’t understand why they continued to meet when they don’t really like one another as it didn’t seem they comforted or supported each other. A week of kayaking, sailboating and sunning on the beach didn’t seem an appropriate way to mark the tragic event’s anniversary either.

When the remaining seven survivors meet, it’s clear that someone is determined to find out what really happened that night. But who is watching them? And who do you trust? While the plot drew me in, it was such a long and slow execution I struggled to get through the book. While there was one twist at the end, the conclusion was still a disappointment.

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Wow! I held my breath through this entire book!! I could not put it down & stayed up all night reading! #bookhangover

Megan Miranda is a must read for me. I will always read anything she writes.
This one starts off a little slow. Ten years ago, 9 students survived a terrible tragedy. Two vans, filled with high school seniors and teachers, crashed into a river. Only these 9 survived. How they did it has remained a secret between them.
On the first anniversary of the crash, one of the 9 committed suicide. The 8 that were left made a pact, spend the week leading up to the anniversary together, to take care of one another and make sure this never happened again.
Cassidy has tried to leave this behind. She changed her number. She ignored calls and emails. She was adamant to skip this year. Until someone sent her an anonymous message that one more has died. She has to go.
Once she gets there, everything seems off. And she is certain someone is watching them.
Has someone learned the truth about how they survived? Are they seeking justice?
I enjoyed the setting, the Outer Banks, and the story picked up a little, but there were a few loose ends that were never tied up. Not my favorite by this author.

Anytime I see a Megan Miranda book, I know it will be going on my To Be Read! I really enjoyed The Only Survivors. It was just what I needed in a good, page turning, thirller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for a review.

Ten years ago, on the way back from a high school service project, two vans were in a tragic accident and only nine students survived. Yet none of the survivors feels like a hero, each ashamed of a decision they made that fateful night. Every anniversary since, they have met at a North Carolina beach house to check up on each other. Cassidy Brent has tried to distance herself from the other survivors, but when she finds out one has recently died, she finds herself drawn back in. When the group realizes that someone has been talking, they begin to suspect each other, and Cassidy wonders if one would go to great lengths to keep them all quiet.

The Only Survivors is an excellent slow-burn mystery, emanating a tense atmosphere as Cassidy suspects each classmate in turn. Slowly, Miranda reveals the true story of the accident, exposing how the weight of their secrets has influenced each of their lives. The high-action climax was a bit overdone, but I absolutely loved the final twist in the story. A solid 4 stars for me, The Only Survivors is my new favorite of Megan Miranda's thrillers.

I really enjoyed this book! We are given clues to an accident. And there were only nine who survived. We are introduced to the survivors and told they would keep the member's safe. They keep information to themselves and protect the group. The group meets every year at a house called The Shallows. Cassidy didn't want to come to the Shallows this year, but learning of one of the nine died she goes to the house. Soon, someone goes missing and at the same time, the survivors learn someone is telling their secrets.

Get ready for thrill ride!

The only part I didn't like was the ending. It seemed a little rushed!