Reviews - Only One Survives: A Novel

271 reviews for:

Only One Survives: A Novel

Hannah Mary McKinnon

3.69 AVERAGE

ellykathryn91's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sarahsbookstack's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious fast-paced

This book grabbed me right away and didn't let go.....I couldn't put it down!

We have Vienna and Madison who after a small rough start become best friends. They form a rock group that seems promising but falls. We then get them adding more to their group to be a band again and big success seems to be on the horizon... Until an accident claims the life of one member right away and only one survivor is found....Vienna.

At first, I thought Madison was a spoiled rich girl who was too toxic of a person. I felt bad for Vienna because of her verbally abusive mom and her jerk of a stepdad. But then the twist comes, and comes, and comes even more and you start to see fractures in the "bad girl Madison" story. We get to see Vienna go through in her mind what really took place and it's pretty chilling. And the epilogue 😱

Such a great thriller and one I'll think of for awhile!

justthatbookishbabe's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tanazbookz's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

kerrig's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cross_a16's review against another edition

2.0

dark 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: Yes

I knew from the beginning of this book that I was not vibing with it. I should have DNF, but I really wanted to hang in there because of all of the good reviews I’d seen of this book.

This story felt very disjointed to me. There was some relevant context given in Vienna’s family history, but it all felt dragged out and unnecessary to the overall plot. The twist mid book was actually very shocking so I enjoyed that, but otherwise, this book felt like ramblings rather than a purposeful story.

I think it’s common that characters in thrillers are devious and deceptive, but not one character in this book was likable. Every single person was a villain in one way or another. It’s really difficult to enjoy a story when you have not one character to root for.

This book was just overall unrealistic. The killer’s motives didn’t make any sense to me. The final twist was over the top. The story didn’t maintain my interest. This book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you so much to HTP books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy!