Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am a fan of the author’s previous novels and was not disappointed by this one. A great YA thriller with a strong main character and great cast of fellow participants trying to escape from a game show gone horribly wrong.

KAM is always such a fun time! I don't want to say too much, as I think it is best for you to go in with limited knowledge. If you have liked previous works by her, you will also enjoy this one!

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for my early e-arc.

QUICK GLANCE-
My format: ebook (ARC)
Other formats:🎧Audio (9 hours and 42 minutes) and📖Physical (336 pages)
Spice: 🚫
Language: 🤐mild
Publication Date: July 29, 2025
⚠️I’d recommend checking trigger warnings before reading this one.

MY THOUGHTS-
Just bumped my rating for this one because... I still can’t stop thinking about it! Originally a 4⭐️ read, but the vibes lingered long after I finished — so it’s getting a little upgrade.

Was the ending perfect? Not quite. I had a few lingering questions and some plot points that didn’t fully add up. But honestly? I flew through this book. Couldn’t put it down.

As a longtime fan of Kate Alice Marshall, I knew I was signing up for a twisty, high-stakes ride — and she delivered. The pacing and setting of this book really drew me in. A survivalist reality show set in a deserted ghost town? Yes please. Every character had a layered, messy backstory that kept me hooked.

If you love YA thrillers with a locked room vibe, a cast of morally questionable, flawed characters, detailed backstories, and that edge-of-your-seat race against time feel — this one needs to be on your list. Another solid, stressful, can’t-stop-reading win from Kate Alice Marshall!

READ IF YOU LIKE-
👻Ghost town settings
💨Bingable books
🤑Evil billionaire pulling strings
🔪📖 YA Thrillers (⚠️ definitely has some adult themes & content
🏕️📺Survivalist reality show settings
🔄Lots of twists

🙏 Thank you to @vikingbooks, @netgalley and the author for an advanced digital copy of We Won’t All Survive. All opinions are my own.

We Won’t All Survive delivers a suspenseful and engaging story that keeps readers turning the pages with its unexpected twists and solid pacing. Kate Alice Marshall does a great job with character development—each teen feels distinct, with motivations and flaws that make them more than just archetypes.

The plot is gripping and packed with tension, and while some of the drama feels a bit melodramatic or cheesy at times, that’s part of its charm for fans of the young adult genre. It definitely reads like a YA thriller, which may feel a little light for adult readers, but it's still an entertaining ride with enough mystery and emotional weight to make it memorable.

If you enjoy high-stakes survival stories with moral gray areas and layered characters, this one’s worth the read.

We Won't All Survive tells us a story about a reality survival show for teenagers who have been through and survived horrific traumatic experiences, with most bearing physical scars, and all bearing emotional scars. The prize is $100,000, and our MC, Mercy Gray, really needs that money to pay for her little sister's college education since her college fund was used to pay for all of Mercy's medical bills following a shooting at a mall that she and her sister, Jamie, survived. She is actually still dealing with the guilt she carries around at not being able to save everybody that day, but this amount of money is too good to pass up, so she makes the decision to go even though she has her reservations. Unfortunately, when Mercy and the other contestants arrive at the shoot location, nobody is there to ,meet them, which feels weird, but then when one of them dies, and still nobody comes to help them, they are on their own with a murderer on the loose. They're going to have to work together to try to survive and find a way out of the camp in which they are trapped.

This is the first book I've read by Kate Alice Marshall so I didn't have anything to compare her writing to, which made it easier for me to enjoy and get into. I loved the premise, and I think it was executed very well. The characters were all unique, with great backstories, and the pacing was spot on for the most part. I did guess who the murderer was before the end, but it was still suspenseful letting the story play out.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading more of Kate Alice Marshall's work.

4.5/5 stars

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Kate Alice Marshall for the opportunity to read and review We Won't All Survive.

I am a fan of Kate Alice Marshall’s books so I felt certain I would really like this one and I absolutely did. This whodunit mystery set as a survival reality show was full of surprises and kept me guessing. With cliffhanging chapters, it was a page turner. I love the bonding of the characters and the found family trope. They were all survivors who needed to survive yet again. Kate Alice Marshall wrote these characters in a way that I cared about them. I got to know their background and I was rooting for them. This author is an auto read author for me. I loved this book so much. Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for the eARC.

2 years after Mercy is hailed a hero for saving lives in a mall shooting, she is still saddled with huge medical bills she has no idea how to pay off. So when she is invited to a survivalist reality show, she jumps at the chance, hoping to win the $100k cash prize. However, once she arrives to set to find it empty, she feels something is wrong. Soon, the gates suddenly close trapping them inside and one of the members ends up dead. Can Mercy survive this too?

I liked this book, but it was more YA than I am used to reading from her. I thought the pacing was perfect and I enjoyed the main character, but the end did feel a little predictable to me.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Eight teenagers, all marked by traumatic experiences, are selected to take part in a survival reality show created by an eccentric billionaire and digital influencer. Among them is Mercy Gray, who survived a mass shooting at a shopping mall and carries not only the physical aftermath but also the emotional and financial weight of that event. The group is taken to Landry’s Gap, an isolated ghost town, where they quickly realize they’re completely alone and that the game is far more dangerous than any of them expected. What begins as an extreme challenge quickly turns into a real fight for survival, as the contestants start dying one by one.

The book hooked me from the very first page. The writing is straightforward, the pacing steady, and the tension is well maintained throughout the story. The setting, especially Landry’s Gap, adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere that keeps the suspense alive until the end. However, despite being constantly engaged with the action, I felt emotionally detached from everything that was happening. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters not even with Mercy, who, despite her tragic past and determination, always felt a bit hollow to me. Each contestant’s backstory had potential, and there’s meaningful representation throughout, but it lacked emotional depth and humanity. Everything felt mechanical, as if the characters were there only to serve the plot.

The twists weren’t truly surprising, and while the ending ties everything together in a functional way, it didn’t evoke any real emotion in me. It was a story that, although entertaining, didn’t move me. I finished it feeling indifferent. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either it just didn’t leave a mark.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)

Kate Alice Marshall strikes again with another fast-paced, twisty thriller, this time set in a high-stakes survival “reality” show that turns deadly real, real fast. We Won’t All Survive blends a gripping setup with strong character development, and while it didn’t quite top some of her past books for me, it was still a fun, tension-filled read that kept me turning the pages.

The story follows Mercedes (Mercy) Gray, a trauma survivor with her own complicated past, who agrees to compete in a mysterious reality show run by a tech billionaire. But when the contestants arrive, there’s no crew, no safety net- just cryptic challenges, nonstop surveillance, and a growing body count. It’s The Hunger Games meets Squid Game with a reality TV gloss, and Marshall does a great job building suspense as the mystery of what’s really going on starts to unravel.

While the big reveal wasn’t exactly shocking (I guessed the killer earlier than I’d like to admit), what really worked here were the characters. Mercy, in particular, is layered and flawed in a way that makes you root for her. Each contestant has a backstory that feels real, and that emotional weight gives the book more depth than your average survival thriller.

It’s not Marshall’s most intense or mind-blowing work, but it’s a solid YA thriller with a killer premise (literally), some sharp twists, and characters you’ll actually care about. If you’re into stories that are part psychological puzzle, part adrenaline rush, this one’s worth adding to your TBR.

A big thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Alice Marshall writes amazing adult thrillers as well as phenomenal YA thrillers! Even though I am 35 years old, I still love my a good YA thriller. They are like popcorn thrillers to me and a wonderful palate cleanser from dark and gruesome adult thrillers. And We Won't All Survive was the perfect YA palate cleanser I was looking for!

I love me a good reality show and a good murder mystery so I already knew I was going to vibe with this book. I was not expecting to root for the heroine so much! I did feel like this book lacked depth, mystery and twists compared to the authors other books, I still very much enjoyed the wild ride.

Watch out for TW (especially since this is YA and there are talks about active shootings)

This was a new to me author and I was intrigue by the description. Not sure that I would have signed up for the reality show - LOL!! This was a YA mystery/thriller and I enjoyed the read. Very fast paced and I enjoyed the characters as well.

4.5/5

YA is usually not my thing, but I would probably read Kate Alice Marshall’s grocery list, so I picked this one up. So so glad I did. And really, even though it is appropriate for the audience, this didn’t feel like a YA novel at all.

We Won’t All Survive is a fast paced page turner of a thriller. I couldn’t put it down, not that I wanted to.

The cast is large but so well developed that they weren’t blurring together or getting confused as sometimes happens when there’s lots of characters to keep track of. The premise is interesting and the isolated setting ramps up the tension just right.

The ending was a bit brief and I would have loved more wrap up, but overall I LOVED this book.

Posted on Goodreads, Instagram 7/29

this was a solid and enjoyable thriller- great for anyone who loves reality television and survival stories. there was a great sense of danger and moments of vulnerability from the characters that kept me turning the pages. it was a quick read but i liked the parallels the author made between damien dare and people like andrew tate and mr. beast, and the argument for what the group (and society as a whole) needs to survive. i recommend this to anyone who's looking for a quick thriller and likes books with a game/show element!

Kate Alice Marshall is my favorite thriller author, and, as a middle school teacher, I was thrilled to see her write another YA. I think my mature readers will really enjoy! This was very difficult to read, though, as the publisher did not make Kindle an option to read on.

We Won’t All Survive - Kate Alice Marshall

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"You can't blame yourself for that," he says, shaking his head. "Blaming myself is one of my other talents,"

Mercy Gray, still scarred from saving lives during a mall shooting joins a high‑stakes survival reality show hosted by billionaire Damien Dare, hoping to win enough money for her sister’s college tuition. But when the contestants arrive at the off‑grid ghost town and the gates shut behind them, they discover someone has been murdered—and soon more deaths follow, forcing Mercy to uncover who among them is a killer before it’s too late.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC. The description of this book was right up my alley: a thriller based on a reality TV show. However, I wanted it more to be focused on the game show which isn’t what happened. I would have loved to lean more into the Hunger Games vibe but I still enjoyed seeing how the twists and turns would play out. This was labeled as a YA thriller but can be enjoyed by adults as well!

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @prhaudio for a free download of the audiobook.

★★★★☆

We Won’t All Survive is a chilling, tightly wound thriller that showcases Kate Alice Marshall’s talent for crafting high-stakes, emotionally charged stories. The audiobook, narrated by Jess Nahikian, adds an extra layer of intensity that makes this already gripping story even more immersive.

The plot unfolds with a sense of creeping dread as a group of teens, each with secrets and shifting loyalties, are forced into a deadly game of survival. Marshall’s writing is sharp and atmospheric, and the tension never lets up. What really elevates the audiobook is Nahikian’s performance—her voice captures the fear, urgency, and emotional complexity of each character, especially the protagonist’s inner turmoil.
The pacing is excellent, and the audiobook format makes it easy to get swept up in the story’s twists and turns. While some character motivations could have been explored more deeply, the overall experience is suspenseful and satisfying.

If you enjoy dark YA thrillers with strong narration and a survivalist edge, this one’s worth a listen. Jess Nahikian delivers a standout performance that perfectly matches Marshall’s haunting storytelling.

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #berkleypub #prhaudio #prhaudiopartner #sponsored #wewontallsurvive #katealicemarshall #jessnahikian

My first read from this author and I did enjoy the twists. This book left me on the edge, major escape room vibes, I couldn't put this book down.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Eight people have been selected to participate in a reality show that tests their survival instincts. Only, when they arrive at the site, there is no one from the cast to greet them. The entrance gate is closed and locked, topped by barbed wire. They have to earn their food, water, and medical supplies through challenges. And their phones have been locked in a secure safe. And then someone dies....

I really liked this book, and here's why:
- YA but reads still relatable on an adult level
- Fast-paced read
- Locked room (well, semi-locked room) trope, one of my favorites
_ Two female characters who are really strong, even though they might be in competition for the final girl
- Survivor/escape room vibes

Each character is well developed as their initial trauma is revealed, known as their Precursor Crossroads Event - the point at which they had to make a life-changing decision. There are quite a few twists and suspects that kept me on my toes - I was so absorbed I read this book in a day!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for an advance reader's copy.

Holy moly! This book was such a thrill. It is basically The Netflix Tv Show, The Society X Maze Runner X Escape Room X The Plot Goes Wrong. Each character has the most descriptive and juicy backstory. The plot thickens and surprise deaths are everywhere. Itt even reminds me of Pretty Little Liars. This book was so nostalgic to read.

Mercy, the female main character, is still living with souveneirs and flashbacks of a mall shooting. She needs the money to pay for her sister's college tuition. Then there's Billionare, Damien Dare. He is a mastermind and crazy freak. When Mercy gets invited to Damien's survival game show, all hell breaks lose. Deaths occur. Tragedies occur out of nowhere to the contestants. Lies are told.


The plot thickens and you have to read to see if Mercy makes it out her living nightmare.

Audiobook/Book Review 🔪🩸📖🎧
thank you so much partner Viking Books for Young Readers and @prhaudio for the free e-arc and audiobook.

We Won't All Survive
by Kate Alice Marshall
Read By Jess Nahikian

About the book 👇🏽

Two years ago, Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that day: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but.

So when billionaire turned TV host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college. But when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, something isn’t right. The set is empty. The gates close without warning, trapping them inside. And then one of them turns up dead. What appeared at first to be a tragic accident quickly transforms as more contestants start dropping like flies.

🔪 My thoughts:

Well I need a finished copy stat! I have loved everything I’ve read by KAM and this was no different. I love that there’s twists I didn’t see coming. With tension building, not knowing who was trustworthy, and the mystery of it all… I just could not stop reading. In fact, that is how this turned into a hybrid read. When I didn’t have a chance to sit and read it, I was listening to the audiobook. I swear PRH audio is a godsend because these hybrid reads are my absolute FAVORITE way to read. The narrator was a great choice to bring this story to life and ultimately that’s how I was able to finish it while putting the boys to sleep! Slashers in the summer are my absolute favorite and We Won’t all Survive hit the spot! If you enjoy twisty, fast paced, not sure who you can trust reads… you need to read this one, and it’s out TODAY 7/29/25!

Happy reading 📖 🔪