I loved AGGGTM by Holly Jackson and was so excited to get this book from Net Galley. It was not what I was expecting at all. I loved how fast-paced it was. I can't believe all of this happened in the matter of 8 hours. I love Red. She was my favorite character.

What I liked:
-fast paced
-character development
-suspense

What I didn't like:
-too many characters
-the ending didn't make sense and I felt it was too rushed
-too much downtime in the early chapters

Six friends are driving a RV to join their classmates for spring break, but wind up being diverted and the RV disabled in a lonely field. Shot at and trapped in the RV they are commanded by a mysterious voice, over a walkie talkie, to divulge the secret he’s looking for and the others will be allowed to go free.
Of the six characters, most were a little unformed. The story moves quickly, taking place over one night, so there isn’t much time to get to know most of them. Mainly we get to know Red.
Red was a little unfocused and a bit bumbling. Yeah, I get that she’s suffering from the trauma of losing her mom several years earlier and caring for her dad… but she seems so lost sometimes that I wonder how she manages to take care of herself, let alone her mourning father. Despite this, I did like her. She keeps trying, and tries to do the right thing.
And Oliver, who, as the oldest decides to lead this group to figure out how to get free…. I absolutely HATED Oliver. He was pushy and demeaning, and an all-around pompous jerk. He spent most of his time trying to find someone to blame for their situation.
But, I really did enjoy the story. Most of the secrets revealed surprised me, and it wound up being an interesting, fast paced mystery. Not quite as good as the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series (but that’s a hard one to match, honestly). Didn’t see some of the twists toward the end coming, and I always like being a little shocked at how the plot plays out!

Six friends set out on a spring break road trip in a borrowed camper. Five return. Redford (Red) Kenny sets out with her best friend, his brother, his girlfriend, and some classmates to enjoy their week off. But, when the RV breaks down in the middle of a secluded area in South Carolina, it becomes clear that the breakdown is not a coincidence. Someone is shooting at them and threatening to kill. There's no cell service and the six are trapped in the dark night with someone nearby trying to kill them.

Eventually communicating with their antagonist, he insists that one of them has a secret. A secret that needs to be given up or they will all die. Red has a secret. But some of the others do too. Secrets come out and what seems straightforward becomes ever more convoluted, with secrets inside secrets. The killer means business. Two passers by who tried to help are shot to death.

It's a long night with people who quickly stop trusting each other. Each of them tries to save themselves. But, not all are successful.

This suspenseful book will have you glued till the end.

This book was absolutely amazing! I was a little hesitant to read it at first because I don't normally enjoy books that take place over the course of a few hours. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. I loved Holly Jackson's other books, and this one was no exception.

I loved the characters in this book. The main character was delightfully quirky. She was unlike other characters I have read before which was refreshing. I liked how there was a subtle romance subplot, but it didn't take over the whole book. The love interest was perfect for Red and I enjoyed reading about him. Every character I was supposed to dislike, I ended up disliking which is always good. There was a good mix of characters that kept me interested the entire time.

The plot of the book was also amazing. Like I said earlier, I am not usually a fan of books that take place over the course of a few hours, just because they can drag on. This book did not drag on and kept me interested the entire time. It was fast-paced and a good read that I finished in about a day or two. The ending was a big twist and shocked me since I was not expecting it. It was a great ending that kept you wanting more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to readers who love a fast pace book, thrillers, or murder mystery type books.

LOVED this thriller. It definitely had me hooked and was such a page turner. I couldn’t believe that the entire book took place in just 8 hours! This was my first Holly Jackson read and I can’t wait to get into the Good Girl’s Guide series

This was such a great book. It was told if a very unique voice and I felt that made the reader feel much closer to the main character. The story was very fast paced and engaging. I finished the book in two days because I just couldn't put it down. So far I have loved all of Holly Jacksons books and look forward to reading more of them!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a YA revenge thriller? Can you tolerate a traumatized narrator’s perspective? Can you enjoy a book for the ride that it is even though the explanations behind whodunit make no sense?

Pre-reading:
I got this book early and felt guilty because she's a popular author and I hadn’t read her other books, so I just finished her first and really enjoyed it and am reading this while I wait for the next in her first series to come in.

Thick of it:
This intro is confusing for no reason. It’s just annoying. I don’t care if they’re trying to show dissociation or highness. It’s annoying. (Oh, Bestie, it’s the whole book.)

I irrationally don’t like when blond isn’t made feminine and blonde.

I cannot read this when I am sleepy. I have already forgotten which characters are which and how many total people are in this RV. Is it 6 or 7? 6 makes sense, but I almost feel like it might be 7. (It’s 6.)

Making myself a quick little cheat sheet:
Red
Maddy- bff
Oliver-Maddy’s bro
Reyna-Oliver’s gf
Arthur-Simon’s friend
Simon

Even typed out, I don’t know what it is about those names, but they seem very hard to keep straight for me. (Simon is fully an extra and mostly serves as comic relief and he didn’t need to be in this book.)

Is Arthur in the mafia or the witness? And is Red working for the mafia to make sure a witness can’t talk? Who is Maddie trying to meet that she doesn’t wanna be late? (It literally is never explained why is she wants to get there so urgently.)

So like the mafia business def got her mom killed.

The family business is flipping houses-that’s the mafia. Love interest is evil. Is Red being paid to pretend to be a witness? (Dear book, if I can guess the ending this early, you’ve done something wrong.)

It sounds like they’ve been shot out. (This one I don’t mind. The characters caught up to me fast enough).

I don’t like how she’s describing Oliver. When your tire pops, you should make sure you’re not about to pop the other ones before you go and get in and try and drive again. I understand they’re setting him up to be abusive, narcissistic, and the unhinged villain, but they’re really beating you over the head with it, and I’m so tired of bossy characters always being perceived as villains.

I’m not a gun nut, but can we count bullets? (Unnecessary.)

They shot the gas tank. (Yup.)

Did they stumble onto a drug field? (Nope.)

Red’s the one who knew they needed that exit and had to go down there. So she brought them there? (There really is no explanation for how they were forced to go this way. These bad guys really relied a lot on chance.)

If I don’t find out the significance of these curtains by the end of this book, I’m gonna lose my mind. (Sighhhhh.)

Is there a camera inside the RV?

Record it with your phones so you extra don’t miss it. (Good job keeping up, book.)

I love listening to problem-solving in books.

That radio has been silent too long.

That was a cringe line.

There are two shooters?

They will shoot the tires. There’s no reason for them not to shoot the tires. (They inexplicably never shoot the tires.)

I had just thought it was like Lord of the Flies. This book keeps up with you.

Why on earth would he tell them how many bullets he has? Is it gonna be a count the bullets story? (Because they are really bad at being bad guys, and no.)

Why haven’t they shot out the tires on the car yet? (Literally still wondering this.)

If you throw a punch like that you’ll break your thumb?

Yeah, she’s the witness. Boring. Predictable.

It’s giving Doctor Who Planet Midnight.

His eye bags are like what?!?!?

I don’t understand why all these people are so passive around Oliver. Like I would never.

Having the same shoe size is so unlikely.

How is there no reaction to cutting her hair? I would lose my mind.

Wouldn’t she also need the passwords for these phones?

I was wondering how they were communicating. That seems like a really hard communication device. So not only do they both have to be fluent in Morse code, but also Morse code takes a long time because they probably just learned the alphabet.

See, it’s so boring if I can get the book from the very beginning.

20k is nothing. A DA definitely has a spare 20k lying around.

What does this author have against best friends’ parents? (Granted, I only have read two of her books, but when I pick up that second book in the series, I am immediately guessing the friend’s family for whodunnit 😂)

But what about the curtains? (Sighhhh.)

Can’t they just do Morse code with the headlights again? (That would make too much sense.)

There’s no way they let them live. They’re witnesses to murder. (The. Worst. Bad. Guys.)

But what about the curtains?

How could she not tell me about the curtains?

God, I did not like this book


Post-reading:
If Holly Jackson doesn’t post what the curtains were supposed to be, I’m gonna lose my mind. I had to hear about it all book and I don’t get to know? Um, this book is bad. It’s not badly written, but it is a stupid thriller. Let me explain. The writing itself is good. She always does good dialogue. They always sound like real people. The story choices this book has taken are asinine. It’s not even a quirky narrator
this time. She’s insufferable. It’s such floaty observations that I’m sure are supposed to be some form of mental illness, but I hate it. When I read a fast thriller, I need it to keep up with me and mirror my thoughts to keep me engaged not meander around. The ending is comically obvious from the very beginning. If anyone sees this book as having twists, they need to check themselves. And I say all this having loved her first book and thinking it was genuinely so twisty. Also, the bad guys are horrible? It’s like they’re more concerned with creating drama than actually executing their plan. By giving them a walkie-talkie they’re basically having the villain do a villain monologue. That doesn’t happen in real life. That’s a bad bad guy. They never shoot out the tires of the other vehicle. They tell them how many bullets they have. Why wouldn’t they get more bullets? Also, this is the mafia. Why are they afraid of killing people? They’re clearly not. There’s no real explanation for how they forced the RV to be where it was. Sure Arthur was the last one with a signal, but there was no way to force them down to that exact location. They could’ve decided to turn around or to go a different way. They could’ve missed the exit. The bad guys left way too much to chance. I also don’t understand their light switch communication. It just doesn’t make practical sense. Morse code takes a long time. I can’t imagine them knowing more than the alphabet, and you’re telling me someone was able to Morse code out, during a timed encounter, the exact wording on a note, and the fact that a note had been passed. And again, leaving so much to chance that none of the other characters would go up on the roof of the RV to see if anyone was nearby.

The characters also all feel a bit cardboardy. Oliver is too over the top. Arthur’s a horrendous villain. Somehow they’re all supposed to be children, but none of them act like it or like adults. Simon is just there. Maddie is also kind of just there. Like her big distinguishing feature in the story is being Red’s best friend and being Oliver’s sister. That’s it. She doesn’t really have a personality. Reyna is pretty heinous as a human being. I don’t think we’re spending enough time on that. Cool, she’s premed and can do basic first aid, but like you’re a cheater who provoked your boyfriend into murdering someone, knew that it was the man she loved who was hurt and still didn’t get him help, and somehow manages to play the victim? You are not a victim here, sweetie.

I don’t know, I think you could be entertained reading this if you can stomach the narrative style. But like why do you want to have to put up with a book? It will not have any payoff. The ending is stupid. The explanations are stupid. You can read better.

Who should read this:
YA thriller fans
Revenge thriller fans

Do I want to reread this:
No

Similar books:
* No Exit by Taylor Adams-blisteringly fast, smart thriller
* All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers-essentially true crime fanfiction
* Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison-revenge thriller
* No Home for Killers by E. A. Aymar-family drama revenge thriller
* Influencer Island by Kyle Rutkin-revenge thriller

Not what I was expecting at all. This is very different from Good Girl’s. But I’m not totally complaining. It was definitely a wild, fast ride!

I'm going to keep this brief.
This was so different compared to Jackson's previous books.
I get that it's a standalone thriller so we aren't supposed to necessarily get too much about the characters but I was hoping for a bit more.

It was a fast paced thriller but also a little over the top. I didn't even find myself scared of these sniper guys because of how silly it seemed at times.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy!

In this young adult thriller we find six friends who are on their way to spring break in an RV that suddenly has all four tires shot out in the middle of nowhere. They're forced to try and work together to get out alive, revealing who is holding a secret that is obviously worth killing over. The story was gruesome, fast paced and definitely a thriller. I felt like the thing that was lacking the most in this story was the character development. I truly didn't feel any kinship to any of the six characters. In fact, I despised Oliver. While it is important to have characters that don't resonate with everybody all the time, of course, most were just almost like a non-character because we knew so little about them, specifically Simon. It was an unbelievable story and chain of events, and I'm not sure that most young adults would be able to handle such gruesome acts that were involved in the story. I had a hard time reading the horrible things at times and I'm definitely not a young adult. While it was interesting and kept my attention, I don't know that it is one that I will come back to and think of often, unfortunately
.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. This review is comprised of my own opinions.

Fantastic book! This is one of my favorite books I’ve read in a long time. I was already a fan of Holly’s but this cemented her into my auto-buy list!

It was definitely hard to match her debut and series. I enjoyed the stand alone thriller/mystery. I think a lot of the dialog could have been taken out and added more context to understand the issue surrounding the actual ending. Overall though it’s a great YA story!

This book was unique, interesting, and fun to read. While I enjoyed reading it for personal reading, I will not be adopting it for my classroom. Thank you to the publisher!

this book was so incredible!! i can't believe i got to read this one early! it was so much fun and such a delight! i truly hope every one of you picks this one up. and soon!!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I tore through it in one day, on the edge of my seat the whole time. I did not see where this was going and never would’ve imagined I’d be so hooked by a story that took place entirely in an RV!

Holly Jackson's work is pretty hit or miss for me, as she has the ability to build a fast paced, shocking thriller, but her characters usually leave much to be desired. Both of those things were true in Five Survive. I had a hard time loving this due mostly to the fact that I didn't like any of the characters. There is almost no character development until nearly the end of the book. This was extremely fast paced, taking place over a span of about 8 hours, but still somehow had me bored until the last 1/4 of the book. Everything exciting basically happens at the end, with a few other exciting scenes happening before then. The lack of character development made it really hard to care about what was going to happen to these characters. I did think all of the secrets that were revealed and intertwined with each other made for an excellent ending, however. The reveal of the intertwining secrets really saved this for me. I'll continue to read whatever Holly Jackson writes, but I hope she works on improving her characters especially when her books consist almost entirely of dialogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit I'm not usually one for thrillers but I guess I was feeling brave when I applied to review this one, I probably thought "oh it's YA, it shouldn't be too scary!" lol I'm an idiot.

What was supposed to be a fun Spring Break trip for Red and her friends quickly turns into a suspensful nightmare. Red and her friends rent and RV and plan on driving down to the coast, but when a flat tire forces them to make a stop they figure out that it didn't just pop on it's own it was shot by a sniper and this sniper is after a sercret and won't stop until the truth is revealed!

Although this book was highly suspensful and anxiety inducing, the plot was easy to figure out fairly early on and I felt the characters did not have much depth to them...perhaps every one of them except Oliver...but he was just a straight up psychopath! Yikes! I also felt the story dragged towards the middle.

Even though I'm not the target audience for this book, being that I hardly ever read thrillers, I believe any Holly Jackson fan could overlook the character issues and pacing problems and really enjoy this one.

Thank you so much to Random House Children's for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Six teens, an RV stuck in the woods & a sniper. What could go wrong? While some parts of this book kept me on the edge of my seat, it took a LONG time for me to truly get into the story. While the protagonist, Red, was definitely dealing with PSTD, the character Oliver was an obnoxious, self-centered jerk from the start. The other characters were interesting, still couldn't figure out Simon's connection to them all...other than friend? cousin? And what was with Red's father? She was stressing over him and while it had been years since the horrible death of her mother, I couldn't figure out what the story was there. I just couldn't connect with the characters much less the storyline. Hopefully HJ's next book will pique my interest.

Five Survive really did surprise me. I love Holly Jackson's previous books, so I was really excited to read her new upcoming book. And, this book definitely surprised me.

I'm not really into the horror genre. It's really not my thing, but I was willing to try because I loved Holly Jackson's previous books. And I have to say that the horror genre or thriller horror is still not my thing. I can't read it. And after finishing Five Survive, I won't read anymore horror or thriller horror genres.

But if you are a fan of any type of thriller or horror genre, then you will enjoy reading this book. It keeps you on your toes. And there are so many secrets unraveling throughout the book.

I'm a huge fan of the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series but found this book not to be as fun. Five Survive starts out with six friends in an RV heading toward a beach for spring break. Red, Maddy, Oliver, Simon, Arthur, and Reyna drive down south for Red, Maddy, Simon and Arthur's spring break. Red is having a difficult time on the trip because she cannot stop thinking about her finances, dad's drinking, and her police captain mom's murder years before. Slowly the group realizes the danger they are in, and things start to get out of hand among the group as they fight to stay alive, even if it means sacrificing each other.

I did not like the mafia plot. Much of the plot sounded cliché down to the last names of the mafia characters. I liked the concept of friends in an RV trying to survive and figure out why someone wants to harm them, but the mafia storyline took away from the original plot details. Because of the use of names from real and well-known crime families, the story became too unbelievable and generic. There were aspects of the story that sometimes overshadowed the mafia story enough that it helped create a more authentic plot. In those moments, I feared for characters and was eager to find out what happened next.

The story doesn't take off until the halfway point when all the friends stop guessing about why someone wants to harm them and realize that they're targets because of something one of them knows. I did not find many of the twists shocking because they follow most mafia story plots. There was one twist near the end about one of the six that surprised me. I really felt invested in the characters' survival during the second half of the book, especially knowing one of them would die.