Book Review: Five Survive by Holly Jackson

 

Title: Five Survive

Author: Holly Jackson

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publishing Date: November 29th, 2022

Read: June 24th, 2023

Pages: 388

Audio Length: 10 Hours 32 Mins

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller

TW: N/A

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

What it's about:

Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: Her best friend - the older brother - his perfect girlfriend - a secret crush - a classmate - and a killer.

When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, they soon realize this is no accident. They have been trapped by someone out there in the dark, someone who clearly wants one of them dead.

With eight hours until dawn, the six friends must escape, or figure out which of them is the target. But is there a liar among them? Buried secrets will be forced to light and tensions inside the RV will reach deadly levels. Not all of them will survive the night...

Eight hours. Six friends. Five survive. A road trip turns deadly in this addictive YA thriller from the bestselling author of the worldwide phenomenon A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER.

What I thought:

I absolutely love Holly's books. Good Girl's Guide is always a comfort read that makes me laugh. I was really excited when I found out that Holly wrote another book that wasn't part of Good Girl's. I didn't like this one quite as much, it was as if the humor was missing and that's a huge part of what I love about her other books. I know this one is supposed to be like an edge of your seat type of book, but I think a little bit more humor would've been the perfect thing missing from this book.

Cover:

I am IN LOVE with this cover. I feel like it fits the book perfectly and I love the colors of it.

Story:

There's a horror movie on Shudder that I really love called Downrange. And this book is just like that except the shooter in this one had a reason. The movie they were just there at the wrong place and the wrong time. 
Besides that there isn't a lot of books/movies out there with this premise so it's definitely a unique one... And if we're being honest a terrifying one. Imagine being stuck somewhere unable to move in fear that you'll be shot by someone you can't even see. Ugh shivers.

Pace: 

I feel like this book has a pretty steady pace. It starts out a tad slow, but really it's just trying to build up before the sh*t show starts. Once it starts it's very go go go. 

Writing: 

Holly's writing is always great. I always feel like I'm right there with the characters. It felt mostly realistic too except in some part the characters were taking to long to reply or do anything and I think the shooter would've gotten impatient if this was real life. 

 

Characters: 

Here is why this book isn't a 5 star book. I did not like a single one of the characters. Red was whiny and kept repeating over and over about how she always forgets everything, almost like it's supposed to be endearing. I get she just lost her mom and stuff, but I was like ma'am you need to calm down. Her friend Maddie seemed superficial. Oliver was annoying and just pissed me off, his girlfriend was just kind of there and I felt like didn't do much for the story. The other two guys names I can't even remember. 
I just didn't care if anyone died and I almost feel like the book would've been even better if there was a single final girl. 

 

World building: 

They were in a camper. Can't do much world building there. 

Ending: 

I had to rewind the book because what happened I was like "Oh sh*t okay then" And I'm glad the person who died... died...

Narrator:

The narrator did a fantastic job in portraying all the emotions and there was a lot. 

Overall:

It's not Good Girl's Guide, but it wasn't a horrible book. I just had high expectations because of her previous books.

A little Snippet:

“Real shame was killing your mom and having to live with it, knowing that she died and the last thing you ever said to her was that you hated her. If Red survived that, she could survive this.”
― Holly Jackson, Five Survive

Possible books of likeness:

Author's info:

Holly Jackson was born in 1992. She grew up in Buckinghamshire and started writing stories from a young age, completing her first (poor) attempt at a book aged fifteen.

'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' is a YA Mystery Thriller and her debut novel. She lives in London and aside from reading and writing, she enjoys binge-playing video games and pointing out grammatical errors in street signs.