A review by brizlee
Five Survive by Holly Jackson

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I found the mystery of this easy to solve yet very convoluted and hard to untangle. However the book mainly focused on our protagonist, Red, and her development as well as the other characters secrets. The suspense part of this was very good for the most part. The start felt very much like every horror movie or game where you have to meet all the characters and learn their relationships which didn’t mind me. The whole middle was great so unfortunately my issues are with the end. Several things are revealed in quick succession and with long dialogue which is stark contrast to the action we had going on. The end felt underwhelming after the rest of the novel. Overall it felt just a little unpolished but I do think a majority of people will like it and it did it’s best for a standalone mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood

Minor: Gore