Cover Image: Five Survive

Five Survive

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Member Reviews

The book follows six friends who are road tripping across the US and find themselves lost and cut off from civilization. It doesn’t take long for them to realize that there is a trained sniper responsible for their isolation, and that they weren’t chosen by chance. One of them is hiding a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for. It’s up to them to find out who and what it is.

As with most thriller/mystery novels, the book has a few twists and turns that it throws your way. It also has a fast pace style of narration, so it’s almost guaranteed to keep your attention throughout. My main gripe with the plot was that I felt a lot of the twists were predictable and I spent most of the book being incredibly annoyed at one particular character. You know how oftentimes with isolation plots, there’s one or two characters that are despicable throughout the entire thing? This book has one of those and I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand why everyone else kept putting up with them. You’re all about to die, have some agency for crying out loud!

Honestly, due to my annoyance at how the characters were behaving, I was set to give this book 3 stars. It was the ending of the book that really got to me and resulted in the higher rating. Holly Jackson is an incredible writer, and she knew exactly how to pull on my heart strings in the final few chapters. This isn’t a book with likable characters, but it is a book that will get your heart racing in some of the best ways possible.

I may not have enjoyed this as much as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, but I would definitely recommend this for fans of YA thrillers, particularly ones with unreliable narrators and plots involving being cut off from the rest of the world.

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Call Jackson is one of my favorite YA mystery authors. Her books always hold your attention and give a little bit of a throwback to a good old fashion RL Stine, teen scream. This book is no different. While the beginning starts a little slow, it definitely ramps up a few chapters in. The main character red her mother was murdered, and since then read has a hard time with warm family dynamics. Rod and her friends go on an RV journey to the gulf Shores for a little fun in the sun, but instead find themselves in the crosshairs of a long range rifle, the man holding the rifle wants to know a secret once again, this mystery thriller rates, right up there with the rest of Halle Jackson’s books!

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When 6 friends get stranded on the side of the road, their RV under attack by a sniper, and someone controlling their every move via a set of walkie talkies, what could possibly go wrong? How about every last damn thing!

As the night unfolds, each character blames themselves for the “secret” their captor is asking for them to share. Each person is pointing fingers at who they think is responsible for their predicament. As morning breaks truths are revealed, lives are at risk, and friendships are put to the test.

At the halfway mark, I thought I had “Five Survive” figured out but holy smokes was I wrong. The ending? Worth the wait.

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I tried to get into this book, I gave it a solid 10%+, but there was just nothing really gripping me. I WANTED to love this and be consumed like I was with A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, but it is a DNF for me right now. I may try again at another time, but after a few chapters and having no desire to continue I put the book down and moved on. With books that are thrillers, students (and adults) want to be captivated from the start. This just missed the mark for me.

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This book kept me up at night! I couldn't put it down and certain parts scared the bejeezus out of me! Five Survive is about 6 young adults headed to spring break in an RV. A series of wrong turns and lacking cell service leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere. Then someone shoots out the tires on the RV and the gas tank, gives them a walkie talkie, and a short amount of time to reveal a specific secret, or they' ll be killed.
Five Survive is a perfect thriller - it's fast paced, keeps you guessing, and an absolute page turner.

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I was a huge fan of The Good Girl's Guide To Murder series and was so excited to see what Holly Jackson would write next. While this did keep me entertained I found that I didn't wholly connect with the characters or the story. One of my fave parts of TGGGTM was Pip and her friends and the emotional resonance of the entire series. For me that was missing from Five Survive so I didn't feel as invested in the characters.

As usual Holly Jackson did surprise me with some of her choices and she doesn't shy away from dark places. I was excited to see her enter a new story world and will continue to pick up books of hers in the future.

I love an isolated thriller so always happy to read new books in the genre. I think this will be a hit for YA readers. For me this falls a bit in the current craze of off the rails stories like No Exit (which I loved). If you want some high octane thrill and suspension of disbelief this book will take you on a ride.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

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I initially found this book to be a little slow, but as it went on it became less slow and way more thrilling. I really disliked Oliver. He was a jerk. I felt heartbreak for Red. She was the type of character you just felt for. I really liked Arthur as well, I didn’t want anything to happen to him, even as the truth came out. I really enjoyed how the author pulled all the characters and the ending together. I can’t wait to read the next book by Holly Jackson!

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Another fabulous offering from Holly Jackson! Holly writes stories that are thrilling, mysterious, and addicting!

The premise of this one is friends on an rv road-trip to their senior trip, there is conspiracies, coverups, corruption, organized crime, snipers, it was a ride that I didn’t want to end!

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Some of the dialogue could use some work. It's an interesting story but feels contrived. The twist isn't twisty enough, the action starts off well but fizzles.

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Red and her friends take an RV on their spring break road trip to the beach. Their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception and no one around to help. Eventually the wheels are shot out and the friends realize this is not an accident. There is a sniper nearby watching them and waiting for one of the friends to reveal a certain secret. As the friends try to figure out who is the real target, tensions get high and each of them has something to hide. The question becomes will any of them make it out alive?

Whew this book is full of twists and suspense. Add a very unreliable narrator dealing with trauma and secrets of her own, and it makes for a wild ride. There’s tension and drama as the friends start to turn on each other and with all of them being pretty unlikeable, it's hard to guess who might be the one with the secret. I don’t want to give away too much but this one had me hanging on the edge of my seat the whole time and I did not want to put it down at all

Thank you to Random House Childrens and NetGalley for the advance copy..

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This was a really fun mystery that I think my high school students are going to love! It was fast paced and held my attention the entire time.

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This book is good. It was has a lot of twists and turns. This book has 6 different characters which can be a little confusing but the author did a really good job. It was hard to get into the characters as much. I don't usually like books that take place over a short period of time, but I liked this a lot. This book was pretty good. I would be interested in reading books from this author as I have heard they are really good. It was really intriguing and I think this would make a really good tv show or movie.

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Red Kenny and her group of five friends set out on a spring break road trip. The gang consists of her best friend, an older brother, his perfect girlfriend, a secret crush, a classmate, and an unexpected killer.

Their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service to call for help. The group quickly realizes that someone has trapped them here, and that someone wants one of them dead.

As the night progresses, the six friends must either find a way to escape or figure out who the killer is among them. However, they soon discover that there may be a liar in their midst, and buried secrets begin to surface, causing tensions to rise inside the RV.

With only eight hours until dawn, not all of them will make it out alive. The group must fight for survival, and confront the killer before it's too late.

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Five Survive absolutely chilled me to the bone. I had to stop reading several times just to try and shake off the creepy feeling. Holly Jackson is so good at keeping readers guessing. I wish I could start this one all over again without knowing the plot - it's that good! This is perfect for teen readers who are ready to be scared.

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This was not for me. The characters were caricatures, and it felt over-angsty with poor writing. The plot is interesting, but the execution was muddy and befuddling.
This is probably fitting for a new teen who can suspend their disbelief due to being a fan of the author.

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Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of #fivesurvive. I felt like this book was very different than Holly Jackson’s previous books but I still immensely enjoyed it. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I was constantly guessing at what was going to come next. The ending definitely surprised me. I will say, I didn’t find any of the characters to be particularly likable but it certainly didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. For me, this was a 5 star read. I was invested in the storyline and it was a definite page turner.

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This was ok. I never really connected with the characters and Oliver was the worst and the plot didn’t feel too convincing, but overall it was still an ok read.

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I was a big fan of the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson so I was looking forward to reading Five Survive. However this book missed the mark for me.

I did not find any of the characters very likable and felt the reader never really got to know any of them well. The book alluded to a big secret throughout the book as the reason for someone coming after the teens on the road trip. But everyone's "big" secrets leading up to the reveal fell flat and the reveal was just okay.

I do not want to spoil anything but will also say that the ending was not for me.

I feel like there was too much thrown into this book - absolutely everything that could happen, did and it went a bit off the rails.

I will continue to read Holly Jackson's books but this was not it for me.

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Despite being YA, a category that certainly no longer includes me as the target audience, I really enjoyed Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series, so I was excited to get my hand on her new book Five Survive.
Unfortunately this book fell short of my expectations.
While the beginning intrigued me and promised a wild ride, I soon realized that if you are a smidge over 14 and have read more than 2 mystery/thriller/suspense novels in your life, it takes you about a handful of chapters to figure out the what, the who and the why. I only kept reading to confirm that I was in fact right about my predictions and didn't fall prey to a massive red herring after all. I did not. This was undoubtedly the most predictable book I have ever read, but to be fair, I am sure my 13 year old would have not figured the plot out as quickly, and thus surely enjoyed it more than I did. Teens would likely also be more forgiving about characters behaving in unlikely/unreasonable ways, than older readers.
Another issue for me was the characters not being exactly likeable, which made them all rather disposable. I didn't care if they lived or died. Not a good thing if your title is Five Survive... which five? Who cares...
I will say that it was extremely bingeable on audio as there was a lot of dialogue driving the story forward, and I was reasonably well entertained (despite having figured out the plot in its entirety at the very beginning).
I am actually not sure how to fairly rate this title, as this book wasn't written for 40+ year old me.
If you are not the target audience for YA literature, and you found Five Survive because you enjoyed Good Girl's Guide, you probably don't need to read it. If you are a younger reader, or someone fairly new to the mystery or suspense genre, you'll likely enjoy it more.

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Unfortunately, this was disappointing for me. I love Good Girl's Guide to Murder, all three books, so I was expecting to enjoy this too but there were just too many things I wasn't a fan of. The overall plot was just silly and unrealistic. The same things just keep happening over and over again without any real progression. Like why doesn't everyone just tie up Oliver and gag him? Red's memory issues are never fully addressed, I assume we are supposed to take from it that she suffered from trauma, but I'm just guessing. So this was a bust for me, hopefully I like the next Holly Jackson book better.

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