Five Survive by Holly Jackson Book Review

This is definitely a reading slump killer. No, actually, it’s more than that. It might just be the book that convinces your kid to start reading. 

Six friends are going on this little spring break trip together, meeting some of their friends from school at the beach. There’s the timid and grieving Red and her friend Maddy, their friends Simon and Arthur, Maddy’s older brother Oliver and Oliver’s girlfriend Reyna. They’re all together in an RV, and spend a day of carsickness together before they accidentally take a wrong turn and wind up in some forest where they have no Wi-fi connection.

Then to make matters worse, their tires pop. Then, making it the worst possible…someone is shooting at them. Someone is out there in the pitch black with a sniper, and they snuck a radio into their car, saying one of them is going to die and this person knows who they are, and they need to confess their secret. The problem is (well, the main problem is) they refuse to provide further explanation. Whatever’s going on, they’re trapped, and no guarantee they all will get out alive.

This kind of story is harder than you think to do right. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to do perfectly. A book about a situation that has characters trapped in one place can quickly feel claustrophobic and can force the book to feel repetitive as those trapped keep thinking and thinking and despairing and despairing. Using past stories and exposition to take us out of that place and through the characters’ lives can feel distracting and clutter it all up if it becomes too much. And the longer it goes on, the more it can feel cheesy that they haven’t died yet, because those with enough ferocity to trap someone would probably have no problem just getting it over with. I’ll admit there are a fair few times where the characters talk and think like they’re not on the verge of death. But it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable a story if so. 

Even if there are times where the pace seems to slow down, that things are explained in a very lengthy fashion, that didn’t stop me from speeding through the book. And on the other hand, the RV is basically the only thing in their world anymore during this long night. So anything they do could be the last thing they do, so I guess it makes sense for some scenes to be played out as they think and worry and argue.

This book is full of panicking and disagreements. These six would not do very well as a superhero group. Some want to be cautious and others want to take risks. Which is realistic.

This is Holly Jackson’s most fast and discomforting book yet, a story of six friends put into one of the most terrifying situations in a YA novel I’ve ever read, and the ending has a twist I never saw coming. If this book doesn’t excite you, I’m not sure what book will.

My grade: 4 and a half stars out of 5