We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall is an intense, chilling thriller that hooked me from the very first page.

Two years after surviving a mall shooting, Mercy Gray is still haunted by what happened. When she joins a survivalist reality show hosted by billionaire Damien Dare, she hopes to win enough money to send her sister to college. But once the contestants arrive, things quickly spiral. The set is abandoned. The gates lock. And people start dying.

Kate Alice Marshall is the queen of the slow burn. The pacing is deliberate and atmospheric without ever being dull. She layers tension so well that even the quiet moments feel electric. The twists? Completely unpredictable and jaw-dropping. I never saw that ending coming.

This book blends survival horror, psychological suspense, and sharp character work perfectly. Mercy’s guilt, trauma, and drive make her a compelling lead you can’t help but root for.

An absolute must-read for thriller lovers—creepy, clever, and unforgettable.

Mixed feelings about this one. Interesting premise. The characters were interesting. But things slowly began to fall apart.

It was hard keeping track of all the "contestants." I think there may have been one or two too many.

I get the point and the political/billionaire/most men are bad themes running through the story. I guess I've just got fatigue on all of these themes and I just find it all forced at this point.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group for an e-copy of WE WON'T ALL SURVIVE to review.

I rate WE WON'T ALL SURVIVE three out of five stars.

We Won’t All Survive is a fun thriller with contestants pitted against each other and trying to figure out which of them is killing people off. It doesn’t do anything super special with the idea, but it is a fun read and has a nice ending.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s not great literature but it was a really fun read!

This book could easily translate to a movie or show. It was easy to picture the characters interacting and the action evolving. The book actually IS about making a reality show with a group of young adults in a desert ghost town. Turns out they’ve all survived some kind of tragedy prior to the show, which feeds into the shows creators cult like philosophy.

Part locked room mystery, part personal growth story, and a wee bit of romantic tensions thrown in, the storyline just hooked me. I read 3/4 of the book in one night. I love a good whodunnit with a bunch of misdirection along the way.

I totally pictured Dare as Martin Short at the end. Read it and let me know if you agree.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review. I love this author and everything she writes is great,

𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 4/5 ⭐️

We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall is a new young adult mystery/thriller being published 7/29/2025! Eight teens all sign up to be a contestant on a new survivalist show for the chance at a giant pay out. When they arrive at the secluded off grid location something doesn’t feel right and the entire set is empty!

Just my type of mystery and thriller! Gripping and a nail-biter. Mercy was definitely my favorite! I loved her calm cool exterior but we got her inner voice too. Which really showed how much she was struggling. It added a lot of depth to her character. Althea as well! What a well rounded character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this! Loved the plot and the characters! I had wanted a little more from the ending but I still enjoyed it. Overall I would say this is a great YA mystery with a lot of intrigue and suspense! The twists were twisting and had me gasping!

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Mercy, considered a hero in a public tragedy in her past, signs up for a seeming reality show in a desolate town, to earn money for her sister's college fund.

Minutes after arriving, she finds her fellow contestants have also faced tragedy....and now they are pitted against each other for another round.

Lots of twists and turns, made for a quick, thrilling read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Alice Marshall has great concepts, it just seems like they always end up lacking in the execution, and this one was no different. I did like the idea of the teens being placed on a survival show and was interested in seeing the way that they all tied into each other and their backgrounds, but it did not take off, the "trials" weren't really that interesting nor suspenseful. There was a twist at the end that was a little interesting, but nothing to write home about. The entire book was also very slow for a supposed to be suspenseful thriller and was a trudge to get through. I know Kate Alice Marshall has her following, and if you like her books, you may like this one, but this unfortunately was a no-go for me.

This book had me hooked from the first page. The characters are relatable. I could not put this book down. From the start I was invested with each character. Awesome character growth. The plot is amazing. I would come pair to Survivor/Hunger Games but it’s a thriller. There was no point while reading that I was bored. This was a five star read. I cannot wait for everyone to read this book when it comes out.

Thank you to the publishers for an e-ARC via NetGalley!

This reads a lot like Hide by Kiersten White, and unfortunately that is not a compliment. The first half was spent trying to remember whose name was whose, since there are eight characters to care about, and watching them all bicker and try to find supplies. I will admit I'm glad they, for the most part, went with the "GTFO method" as soon as they realized they were unsafe there and stuck with it the entire time, like they spent every minute just trying to leave, which is refreshing in a locked-room-type mystery as opposed to sticking it out and wandering aimlessly.

Honestly I was pretty lukewarm about this book until the last third or so where, along with other grievances, we get not one, but TWO villainous "here's what I did the whole time" stories? The clues toward the mystery were all very heavy-handed (pointing out "this guy feels suspicious" in every conversation with Milo, or "damn why do I recognize this person" every time we look at Eli, which this "reveal" wasn't even relevant to anything so why wink-wink-nudge-nudge at recognizing him so many times) to where once we're actually told what's happening, like yea I saw that coming 100 pages ago?

I also think having Mercy get with Harrison at the end undermines the whole moral of the story - she spends the whole time like "both these boys keep flirting with me but I'm too busy trying to not die" and has decided anyway to trauma-bond with this boy, even after spending 300 pages basically saying "every time a man is involved, you need to be super suspicious", which in general I'm not necessarily disagreeing with but Dare? Suspicious. Milo? Suspicious. Jamie? Suspicious. Spencer? Suspicious. Colby? Suspicious. Eli was a decent guy but still lying about his backstory for no real reason. So of course, the ONE guy in the whole story that isn't some flavor of awful, the FMC has to have a happily ever after with. Yea sure.

Also, considering the e-ARC had a special letter from the editor in the beginning saying "I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did", it is pretty laughable how many typos I found in this book. Like you made it obvious an editor read it, but still spelled "there" as "ther" and left out many a quotation mark?

I can't tell if I'm just growing out of YA mysteries, or if this was just not very good.

Sadly, this one missed the mark for me. I do believe it’s because it’s geared towards YA readers. I do recommend it to younger readers but it wasn’t my cup of tea. I still love her work!!

Ok I know this is YA and is supposed to be an easy read but holy crap! I could not stop reading this. Escape room with survivor vibes and the contestants are all final girls/guys I’m in. Seriously non stop page turning action from page 1. Loved loved loved this book!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group for my advanced digital copy!

Good grief. What a story.

Mercy has a well known history because she saved some lives at a mall shooting. She was left with chronic pain and heaps of medical bills. Now she is invited to compete on a survivor-type reality show, she has a chance to make some money to replace some of her sister’s college fund. So she accepts.

From the time that she and other contestants arrive on the site, she realizes something isn’t right. The gates close and won’t open again, and no one else is there except them. And then one of them is found dead.

The mystery was just that for awhile, and then I began to figure it out, but I didn’t know how in the world they could escape from all this. What a mess!

It was intriguing and well-written and held my interest throughout. I’m now a fan of the author and I want to read more.

Four bright stars!

I received a copy of the digital ARC via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

I read this very quickly! Mercy Gray, along with a handful of other participants, arrive at a sketchy location in the desert to be on a reality competition. There, they will compete and do challenges for the chance at a 100k prize. The beginning of the book was the most gripping, but when things change to a mystery, it doesnt flow as well. The person putting on the competition reality show is Damien Dare, a tech billionaire and essentially is a survivalist. Although it was a quick read, the story could have been a bit more focused on a flowing plot than working in more twists and turns.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

3.5 ⭐️s

This new book by Kate Alice Marshall was ok, it was fast paced and I did really love and isolated feeling of this book. Not knowing if it was one of the contestants or someone hiding and picking them off,

I did find the characters to be a bit annoying. This is one book that I struggled to remember this bob was young adult as it read older to me.

I think for people who enjoy Holly Jackson this book really could be for you. I have read so much by this author that it just didn't have the same writing style and story telling that I have come to love with this author. Typically her YA is some of my favorite books.

***This didn't impact my rating, but this is the first book I have ran into that didn't have a kindle option or read aloud. This made reading this book really challenging and a burden.****

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

4.5/5 ⭐️
Okay, time for me to get back to making my way through Kate Alice Marshall’s backlog. This was not my first book by her, but it is my first time reading one that was more murder thriller and less paranormal. And I really enjoyed this one.

The big scary monster of this story was this billionaire dude who gives off Elon Musk & Joe Rogan vibes and I loved it. It honestly terrified me more than probably an actual monster. The way she captured the misogynistic dude who thinks civilization is too weak now and the epidemic of “nice guy” and the way we all have to bend over backwards to not hurt their feelings, to be nice, but they don’t get the memo and when you finally make it clear, they turn nasty. That tapped into my instinctual fears.

The backdrop of this story feels poignant with the reality show and billionaire man child, while simultaneously heightening the tension and fear because of how one handles trauma and how one interacts with others. Overall, highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Young Readers Group for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

This book is marketed towards fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson and I think that is accurate.

YA/NA survival story/murder mystery/thriller, this one kept me engaged till the end. Having just watched Adolescence on Netflix I was surprised to find we once again have a character arc that brings into question masculinity and survival, not quite so much as the Netflix show, but the underlying premise is there under Damian Dare's message and the root of Mercy's trauma. As a middle aged woman, I didn't realize this was such a thing, but I'm seeing more and more attention drawn to this notion, so here we are. More than any other we have the question has present day society made us soft? If forced into a survivalist situation due to apocalyptic circumstances, how would most of us fare, would we survive or would we crumple? These teens/young adults are put into that exact scenario and left on their own.

I though the idea of the story was interesting and the execution well done. The pacing was good and I stayed engaged with the story. Lots of talk about inclusion and diversity these days and the author attempted equal representation among races and sexual orientation...so much so that it seemed obvious to me that was what was happening, but again, I'm old and maybe this is what society demands of authors these days.

Overall I enjoyed it and would read this author again.

Thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy. This book will be published on July 29, 2025.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3 stars because I really had to sit and think about this book for a while.

This book follows Mercy (FMC), a mall shooting survivor, who gets invited to join the cast of a new survivor show hosted by a famous survivalist named Damien Dare. As seven people arrive to an abandoned mining town, they realize that the game is not what it seems. Day after day, people begin to disappear and/or die. Will Mercy make it out alive?

**Spoilers ahead**

The premise of this book had me super intrigued and to be honest, I flew through this book wanting to know what would happen next. I really didn't know if Damien was behind everything or if it was total coincidence. I had a hard time believing that Milo was the one to orchestrate all of the events.

I felt like the ending was wrapped up too quickly and we didn't get much explanation for how everything played out. I could have used another 50 pages or so of detail.

Overall, the writing was excellent and like I said before, I was engaged throughout the entire book. I'm wondering if because it's a Young Adult novel, that maybe the ending was bit of a let down for me? I was expecting maybe only one person to survive or for there to be a huge turn of events.

I would recommend for someone looking for a quick thriller read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for sending me an ARC of this book.

After surviving a mall shooting and saving her sister’s life in the process, Mercy auditions and is chosen to compete in a new reality show created by billionaire Damien Dare. The premise is simple, win the game, win a large cash prize. Who wouldn’t be lured in by the promise of walking away with that kind of money?

But upon arriving at Landry’s Gap, the remote location chosen for the reality show, something feels off. There’s no one around other than the 8 contestants, and then the gate closes, trapping them inside. They’re told to put their phones, wallets, and keys into a safe until filming is finished, or they’ll be disqualified. And then their numbers start to diminish as one of them is found dead. Was it an accident, or is there a murderer in their midst?

Now, they’re deserted in a remote location, trapped by a locked gate and a fence topped with barbed wire, with no way to contact the outside world. How will they survive this?

Overall, this book was a fun read with suspense, mystery, and it keeps you guess until the end. I gave it 3.5 stars.

This review can also be read on Goodreads.

The story revolves around Mercy, who survived a mass shooting two years ago and has been living with survivors guilt. Marcy and several others are recruited for a 6-week survival reality show. When they arrive at the set they become trapped and locked in. From then on, things get crazy quickly.-games, murder and mystery. Each character has their own backstory and experienced trauma. It was well written, enjoyable and had several twists.