*3.5 stars*

Holly Jackson’s ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ series was thriller-y YA at its finest. Pip and Ravi were a dream team and the wild murder cases at the heart of the saga had me rushing to read each one. So when I heard about Five Survive, Jackson’s latest foray into YA crime — a thriller about a group of friends who go on a roadtrip only to end up being hunted by someone — I was so pumped. And when I got the ARC, I dove in, eager to be drawn back into Jackson’s engaging writing and fictionalized true crime genius.

Now here I am, truly disappointed to report Five Survive has absolutely nothing on Jackson’s debut series. Instead it’s got a lot less of everything that made AGGGTM sparkle. Less mystery, less plot devices that drive tension, less who-done-it overall bewilderment and less investment in the characters themselves.

Everything starts out promising. Red, our MC, is a shell of her former self, her family life in shambles as both she and her dad are still reeling from the unsolved murder of her mom a few years back. Her best friend Maddy has convinced her to come on a cross-country road trip to meet their classmates for a spring break getaway. The two girls are making the trip via RV, accompanied by Oliver, Maddy’s pompous older brother, his sweet girlfriend Reyna, Simon, Red and Maddy’s childhood friend, and their newest friend Arthur. But the group never make it to their destination, instead finding themselves stuck in a broken-down RV in the middle of nowhere, forced into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious, armed stranger that wants something from them. And of course, it’s worth killing for.

Just like AGGGTM, Five Survive is well-written and fact-paced. Jackson knows how to keep her readers turning page after page, wondering what will happen next. But unlike AGGGTM, she gives up the clues to the core mystery too early on. No spoilers here — I would never— but it was frustrating to figure out what was going on and what the stranger wanted from them halfway through. Also, that antagonist? I am no true crime sleuth, so I hated that I worked out who it was and why already at the beginning.

Another crucial element that’s missing here is what’s below the surface of the other key characters. Aside from Red, we never get much of anything about most of them — dimension, motive, what makes them who they are — which results in little attachment to their survival. Still, Red’s inner dialogue alone was interesting and complicated enough to keep you invested — I just wish the other characters were as developed, too.

Five Survive was good, but it had the potential to be great. What would have pushed it to that next level would have been a major plot twist, or at least an ending that made me go ‘wait WTF!’ Instead, everything was relatively predictable and the stakes too low throughout.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

HoJay has done it again! Six kids on a road trip in an RV. Several secrets. Four shot out tires. One knife. One walkie talkie. Eight hours. Only Five Survive. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

wow wow wow.

this book was absolutely gripping. it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! i haven’t read agggtm, so i was expecting this to be more of a ya mystery but NOPE. this is 100% a thriller and i loved every last bit of it.

the setting was so creepy and claustrophobic. it added an extra layer to the story to make it even better. i was worried with 6 characters that it may get a little redundant, or i might mix people up but NO. the characterization for each and every character was so well thought out and sculpted. it felt every emotion reading this book.

i did have high hopes for this book, and it completely soared past every hope. it was so much better than i was expecting it to be.

the plot twists were So good. i genuinely had no idea where the story was going. around the 60% mark i thought the main conflict had been resolved - i was so wrong. this book keeps giving until the very last page.

it’s tough to give specifics because i think it could possibly give too much away honestly. i think this is a book you need to go into blind.

overall, 5/5. loved loved loved it.

4.5 stars

Exactly what I want and expect from Holly Jackson. A good solid thriller, with high tension and suspense. This one felt a little darker than previous ones, but in a good way. I definitely recommend!

This one is pretty creepy for a YA thriller but I really liked it! Six friends take a relative's RV on a Spring Break trip but no one could have predicted what would happen when they never make it to their destination! Secrets, lies, fractured relationships...what could possibly go wrong? Well, in a word EVERYTHING! And what if you were put in the position to decide whether to kill or not to kill one of your friends you thought had betrayed you? Enough questions. Now go find the answer in this fast-paced, tension-filled novel that will have you staying home on your vacation!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Holly Jackson did it again!

Ever since it was announced that the queen herself was releasing another book, I knew I had to read it.

This was a good tension book that kept me on my toes the entire time! I was hooked from the very first chapter. The title Five Survive tells you so much about how the story unfolds and it was exciting to see exactly what the title meant.

I did a mistake at the beginning and that was comparing this book to a good girls guide to murder. this is nothing like that and I was a bit disappointed at that. But I put agggtm away and tried enjoying the book, which I’m glad I did.

This book was absolutely amazing. The writing style and the suspense it on another level. There’s plenty of secrets and plot twists as well and they’re all shocking.

Thank you to Holly Jackson and Penguin Random House for this advanced reader copy. Never been happier about an arc in my life

Six teenagers go on spring break driving one RV. The tires get shot out on the RV and they realize they are stuck with one crazy sniper outside. the sniper tells them that all he wants is a secret that if one person shares the rest will go free.

The small confines of the RV have them turning on each other. Finally the shocking truth is revealed.

One person has been the puppet master pulling all the strings. Will they get away with it?

Loved all the drama and not sure what is going to happen next.

A mob thriller with a lot of gun violence is just not something that is enjoyable for me, so this was a real letdown after Jackson's first book series. I also thought the ending being in the form of police reports and letters when the rest of the book wasn't like that felt like a copout - when books do that, it seems like the author just didn't know how to effectively write the ending to the story.

Agatha Christie like book with an interesting cast of characters, and of course a delicious mystery. Perfect plot, you are absolutely going to love this book.

Great character development and tension. This book was really thrilling. I enjoyed the varied themes including guilt and shame and the reocurring symbols including the color red and the static.