Perfect for any fan of reality competition shows! Mercy survived a mass shooting in a mall and has now joined the cast of a reality show in hopes to earn $100,000 to put her sister through college. I almost feel like if I say more than that, it would give the whole plot away. I read this one in less than 24 hours and will definitely be reading more from Kate Alice Marshall in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Publishing for this ARC. Even though this was a YA book I really enjoyed it. I liked the Characters and it kept me guessing until the very end. Of course I hated that some people didn’t get a happy ending or make it to the end. It was good though.

Out July 29th, 2025
Dreadfully Delightful, Deliciously Doomed

We Won't All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall is like being handed a pretty glass of iced tea... only to realize halfway through it’s laced with secrets and existential dread. This book had me hooked from page one with its fierce pacing and characters so flawed and fascinating that I wanted to shake them and hug them at the same time. Marshall plays with survival and morality like a twisted game of musical chairs—only the stakes are death and nobody knows when the music stops.

I won’t lie: I devoured this book like a cryptid at a campfire cookout. The twists are sharp, the emotions raw, and the tension is thick enough to cut with a dagger made of teen angst. It’s part thriller, part moral puzzle box, and part “oh no, not THEM” when things go sideways. Marshall’s writing is taut and atmospheric, and even when the characters make terrible choices (and wow, do they), you can't help but root for them—until you’re left with a lump in your throat and one eye still scanning the shadows.

Sure, not everything felt perfectly tied up, but the messy edges are part of the charm. The ending left me emotionally bruised in the best way, and I closed the book whispering “Well THAT escalated beautifully.” If you love stories where doom and heartache dance together under a blood-red moon, grab this one and prepare to be wrecked—and weirdly grateful for the experience.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Viking Books for Young Readers for this ARC!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Alice Marshall, and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!


Another 5 star KAM book in the bag! I have loved everything I have read by this author and will ALWAYS recommend her books. The premise was great, pacing was done well and the ending was awesome. Kate Alice Marshall has solidified herself as an auto buy author for me & I'm never looking back :D

YA is not my usual genre, but I do love a mystery! This one was also a story of survival in a deserted ghost town, which only added to the suspense and ambience of the novel.

Mercy is the protagonist, and we experience the story through her eyes and thoughts. We quickly learn that she has lived through a traumatic experience that continues to color her thoughts and emotions and calls into question her reliability.

We find out pretty quickly that things are not all that they seem, and the contestants on this survival show might be in for some unexpected issues. All of the young adults have gone through harrowing ordeals and now have to figure out how to use these survival skills and past traumas to make it through this endeavor.

I really enjoyed the cast of characters, and the story kept me interested throughout. There was deeper commentary on the nature of survivalism and the male/female dynamic. I did figure out the villain pretty quickly, and I could see where the author was heading with some of the characters. This can be somewhat disappointing because it's so nice to be gobsmacked by a truly shocking twist in a mystery book.

Overall, thoroughly enjoyable and a quick read. Thanks to Net Galley for the book to review.

This YA mystery has 7 young adults sent to an abandoned mine town for a survival reality show. They have survived something tragic in the past and are there to compete for cash.
Each person’s story comes to light but the one that overshadows them all is Mercy Gray, who survived and saved many people including her sister who the gunman was targeting. Its about toxic relationships that you don’t recognize until its too late and a theory of a crossroad that changes your life.
As competitors start to die, they realize something is deeply wrong, but escape isn’t as easy as they would hope. Its reliance on each other that will get them through not reliance on self alone. In a selfish self-centered and divided world, we need a little reminder that we are better together.
Fast paced and entertaining this is a fun ya read.

This was so fun! I liked Kate's books in the past but this way my favorite so far. It was YA in the best way, took me back to high school. Nostalgia vibes and I highly recommend for adult readers who like YA and all my YA age group readers!

I am a huge fan of KAM, but this one fell a bit flat for me. The set up was awesome, but I felt it didn’t really fully explore the possibilities it had. The end felt a bit disjointed and it felt a little TOO far fetched. It was entertaining enough but not one that I think will last with me too long. Looking forward to giving her another chance with her next one!

The premise sounded good but I felt there was a lot of characters to keep track of and it was cheesy.
Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first YA read from Kate Alice Marshall and it just didn’t hit for me like the other books I’ve hers I’ve read. I wanted to love it and I did enjoy her writing, but the story didn’t compel me.

I really enjoyed this! I don’t typically go for YA, but I like this author’s other work and the blurb sounded too good to pass up. I’m really glad I gave it a shot!!

The concept of this book is so unique - I’ve never read anything like it. A group of young adults are contestants on this reality TV show where they need to survive in this deserted town by winning challenges for water, food, first aid, etc. But the all have a traumatic backstory. Think the seclusion of Big Brother, but more Survivor coded with a pinch of Fear Factor. Things start to go terribly very quickly, and these young adults, who are practically strangers at this point, have to work together to save themselves. And I had no idea who was behind any of the crazy things happening until it was revealed!

I loved watching the characters all grow individually, I loved watching the friendships blossom, and I thought the ending was so cute & satisfying. A perfect wrap up for a wild ride.

Thank you to Net Galley & Penguin Young Readers Group for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I requested the book based on the author because I’ve really enjoyed her other books but didn’t realize it was YA. It took me a minute to pick it up because that (although I like YA, I just have to be in the mood). But this ended up
Being exactly the kind of YA I like, and was written as well as her adult novels, and just as exciting.

I really liked the concept of this story, and it’s exactly what I would have wanted to read when I was in high school. I had no idea Kate Alice Marshall wrote YA books but would definitely read another one.

Kate Alice Marshall is an auto-buy author for me. This is YA instead of her usual adult, so the content is aimed at a bit of a lower age, but it’s still a great book and worth the read.

I loved both What Lies in the Woods and A Killing Cold, so I was excited to get an ARC for We Won't All Survive. I didn't realize she also writes YA (and middle grade) or that the file is one of the wonky ones you can't send to Kindle. I decided to read it on my phone screen, a chapter or two at a time. Well my eyes will just have to recover because I couldn't put it down!

We find out very quickly that there's a survival contest in the works. The location is Landry's Gap, a ghost town with a Wild West vibe. The brains behind the operation is Damien Dare, a billionaire YouTuber who's obsessed with the "softness" of society.

When all the contestants have gathered per their directions, the lot is strangely deserted. Where is Damien? Where's the crew? It seems like the contest won't go as planned, but then the gates close and directions start appearing on the screens. Will everything be directed by pre-recorded clips?
What if something goes wrong? And when it undoubtedly does, what will they do about it?

Every teen who's been selected has been through something traumatic: a train derailment, getting lost in nature, a vicious attack, etc. These are known as the "precursor events," the wounds that make you stronger in the future. Our main character's precursor event was a mall shooting. She took a bullet to the back but saved her sister and other shoppers.

Will their initial tragedies set them up for "success" at this crossroads and prove Damien's theory? Or is survival of the fittest an outdated notion?

It's been a long while since l've read YA. I'd forgotten how good it can be! (Dare I say I enjoyed this plot more than the other survival game show hit title of the summer?!) We Won't All Survive has it all: action, suspense, violence. Language and sexual references were mild. And most importantly, the underlying theme of female agency was so well done!

Thanks to @netgalley and @penguinteen for adding some excitement to my Sunday!

This was my first Kate Alice Marshall, and brb while I go read her entire back list because I was addicted to this book.

Best way I can describe this is 'Survivor meets Lord of the Flies; with a badass FMC, amazing plot, and literally NO lull midway through which was so nice.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book and I will be requesting all of Kate Alice Marshall's reads for the foreseeable future. I had just listened to her on audio before, but I won't be able to wait!

All the positives for this 5 star read:
- The pacing was on point. I never wanted to put it down, I thought about reading it all day during work and was so excited to get back to it because we were moving along the story so well.
- The idea of new adults (really still teens) all going to survive on their own in a desert ghost town reminded me of Kid Nation, which was interesting, and then seeing all the twists and deadly turns the book took kept me on my toes.
- I really enjoyed Mercy as a FMC and her growht throughout the book.
- The mix of personalities and secrets of our side characters was surprising and kept me wanted to learn more about them. I cared about each character presented to us that had to survive in the situation, so even when we weren't focused solely on Mercy, I was still wanting to know what happened to everyone. I think there are books where you don't care about everyone, but I certainly did.
- This felt like a standalone with the resolution at the end and I feel like that can be tough to have in thrillers where so many mysteries are laid out, but this one was wrapped up extremely well.

Overally, if you're in the mood for a fast paced, suspense filled, twisty YA thriller, this has to be added to your TBR.

A survival game show with a cash prize of 100,000 might be just the ticket Mercy needs to turn her life around. Being hailed a hero of a tragic event doesn’t exactly pay the medical bills. But with multiple young adults in the spotlight and not a crew member in sight, everyone can walk away with the prize but at what price. it is still just a reality show, right?

Told from Mercy’s point of view with multiple characters, they could be hard to tell apart early on. Except for the really annoying ones. But easier to pick them off I suppose. Some of the characters showed progression and growth, like Alethea, that stood out and was an easy flow of a journey. There are definitely moments of disbanding logic in this one- like why didn’t they find a way to catch water from the rain? And moments that needed a little more explanation to follow the train of thought. This was an easy, fast young adult read and the author creates good transitions to keep the story moving and the paranoia was built up believably. As well as the emotional guilt that comes with hindsight.

As my fourth book by this writer, this wasn’t my favorite in the first half. I feel like I’ve read this story before a little too many times. Mercy’s backstory was a dark, hard read but very well developed. The details are heavy in the backstory, so check triggers on this one, as the imagery is vibrant in description.

A pretty formulaic thriller that played out as I thought it would, but the author is such an enjoyable writer, it was hard to put down overall.

3.5 stars

I am a huge fan of this author but didn’t love this one as much as previous reads. With that said, this is still a positive review. There were unexpected twists, richly drawn, likeable characters to root for and some edge of your seat tension. Overall, a satisfying read.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Books/Penguin Group for the ARC of Kate Alice Marshall’s latest thriller.

We Won’t All Survive reads like a high-stakes survival game for almost adult teens—with a chilling, Most Dangerous Game-style twist. The villain? A easy to hate, misogynistic tech bro pulling the strings. While the premise is dark, the heart of the story lies in its strong characters and the deep sense of found family that forms as the danger escalates. There’s real growth here, and I appreciated the way the tension built and the emotional beats hit. A gritty, gripping read that sticks with you after the final page - one that’s perfect for my high school students!

A quick, nail-biting read, We Won’t All Survive is a YA book perfect for a Summerween fix!
Two years ago, Mercy Gray’s quick thinking saved herself, her sister, and others during a mall shooting. When billionaire-turned-TV-host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down the cash prize that could send her sister to college and make up for the fact that she couldn’t keep the shooter out of their lives. But from the very beginning of the show, things seem off, and Mercy hears the shooter’s voice in her head. Is it a trauma response, or is it a warning? As the gates of the ghost town where the show is being filmed close, Mercy knows in her gut that they won’t all survive.
Kate Alice Marshall understands tension and pacing, knowing when to let characters and readers breathe. But that doesn’t mean anything is boring, even in the breathing time. Marshall is still building a wider story. The world-building is beautiful, or should I say creepy. From the very beginning, you know something is going to go wrong just because the place is dripping with unsettledness. Combining the psychological isolation of the character with the decrepitness of the setting leaves a cloud of horror that is almost a character in and of itself.
There are vicious twists and turns. Marshall kept me on my toes the entire time. While I guessed one of the biggest twists, I didn’t guess why. Plus, there were so many twists I didn’t see coming, taking me on a thrilling ride. Good horror plays with your perception, showing you one thing and then showing you what it really is. Each chapter reveals one new truth after another, adding to the tension that the atmosphere had already built.
We Won’t All Survive is a YA horror that is actually scary and plays psychological mind games. This is a book horror fans won’t want to miss.