Reviews with content warning for Violence - Five Survive

Six friends have borrowed an RV for a roadtrip when they find themselves stranded on a remote road with no cell service, shot-out tires, and a sniper threatening their lives unless one of them steps forward with a secret he wants.

Five Survive comes together as an exciting thriller with sordid secrets and fracturing relationships, but it does drag its feet for the first 50% or so. I found myself bored and yearning for the constant bickering to stop so that the actual storyline could move forward but, once it did, Five Survive moves fast and has all of Jackson's trademark twists and last minute reveals. I still prefer the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series but Five Survive stands solidly as a standalone thriller with summer slasher vibes, untrustworthy characters, and a narrator who feels unreliable at times. A buried romance subplot helps provide some levity. I definitely recommend Five Survive, my only two criticisms that it can feel painfully slow and I think we're meant to want everyone to survive the night but Jackson succeeds a little too well at making one particular character so repugnant that I was actively begging to see him take a bullet by the end of the story.

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the_llewbrary's review against another edition

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annamwallace66's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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jessboyd05's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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echo_chamber's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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cheekylaydee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Considering the premise of the book I thought it would be much faster paced than it was. 6 teenagers rent an RV to go to spring break in California. They take a wrong turning and blow a tyre, only to find after replacing it that all their other tyres have blown too. Coincidence? Of course not! It turns out there's a sniper outside and at least one of them has a secret that is worth killing for.
The main character is Red. We spend a lot of time in her head which I personally found slowed the narrative down, as we deal with her inner turmoil as she battles with not only the guilt over the death of her mother years ago as well as the secret that she's been told to tell no-one.
But her friends lives hang in the balance, and it turns out she's not the only one with a deep dark secret. Would have been a 4 star read if we had had switched perspectives a little but other than that a solid read.

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cecilie_allison's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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kcohrs19's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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