Reviews - Five Total Strangers

3.76k reviews for:

Five Total Strangers

Natalie D. Richards

3.22 AVERAGE

marck_le's review against another edition

2.75

mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

letslearnsum's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted this book to be great but the pacing was just not all that good! I think the plot is fairly fresh (car mystery) it actually reminds me of 5 survive by holly jackson. I think the book could’ve benefitted from a little exposition on how/when the villain was able to steal the items and recruit his accomplice, as well as how the decision to steal the gas came about.

Feels kinda like whiplash because the villain was revealed and then immediately dealt with

gjs8799's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Flat, uninteresting characters. Unbelievable leaps and decisions. Unsatisfying and unresolved plot points at the end.

Blech. If I could rate zero stars, I would.

kmtheriault78's review against another edition

3.5

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

fullmachine's review against another edition

3.0

This is a classic YA thriller centered around 4 strangers trying to get home for Christmas.
The kicker is, they all aren’t actually strangers. You will finding yourself switching belief on who is the bad guy. The author does a good job at showcasing traits to point out the strange parts of each of them. The depiction of grief is good as well. I found myself relating to Mira in that sense since she was missing her aunt.
We have Mira, the main character - she’s struggling with grief from losing her aunt, and needing to get home to be with her mother.
Harper is your typical smart, preppy put together college girl.
Brecken is the epitome of rich, NYC private school boy.
Josh is the quiet, always reading type guy
and Kayla is the addict we don’t here a lot out of.
The four characters meet at the airport, after flights are canceled due to a blizzard, Harper decides to rent a car in order to get home. We instantly see the strangeness that takes place, and it just grows from there.
The premise was very interesting, I didn’t know if I would like it but I did. I was very intrigued to see how it could pan out. The writing wasn’t bad. It kept me entertained and wanting more. I enjoyed the letter sprawled out throughout the chapters, and the constant flip on who could actually be the dangerous one in the group.
But, the ending was Awful.
It felt like the author forgot to include the actual ending! I mean, who is the man with the yellow hat? What happened to Corey and his dad? What happened to the rest of them? If this book actually had closure, or answers to questions then it would have been a 4 star read.

naho_reads's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Total page turner! I loved this book even tho I saw the ending coming a mile away. Never the less the author is capable of enchanting you with the book so much that every chapter ends in a cliffhanger and you can’t put the book down. I finished at 4 in the morning and I regret nothing.

kennedy_reads_a_lot's review against another edition

2.25

Okay guys. The beginning of this book was a very interesting premise. A girl, trying to get home for Christmas to her grieving mother, ends up getting in a car with 4 strangers and driving through a blizzard. Even though our main character had ZERO survival instincts, her thoughts were fun to read about and I found myself enjoying the plot. But when the end came along, I found myself very confused. Obviously, I thought the guy in the yellow hat was the stalker. I mean, he came around THREE TIMES. That’s suspicious. And then asked for a ride? Yeah I was convinced. But it was JOSH? And normally I would be okay with that but the fact that the man was even there was the reason I was confused. Josh was a great plot twist but why was the yellow hat guy there? Also what did Corey and his dad have to do with the plot? And we didn’t get any fully fledged backstories for any of the side characters. I really liked most of it, but the ending made me so confused.