Five Survive, a book written by Holly Jackson, begins with a group of six friends traveling in an RV on their way to spring break. We follow the perspective of Red, throughout the book and meet her as an anxious person due to her lack of wealth. While they are traveling they lose connection and get lost as they are driving in the woods. Then on a narrow path one of their tires pops, causing them to be stuck, lost in the middle of nowhere. They are able to fix the tire, but as they attempt to drive off again all their tires blow out, causing them to realize this is no accident. They go out to explore and Red sees a red dot on the side of the RV and a shot goes off. The group then runs back into the RV as they discover a sniper is situated outside, waiting for them. More shots are fired as they wait in the RV, creating fear among the group. But eventually the shots stop, and they find a walkie talkie left hanging against the RV. Through this the sniper lets them know one of them has a secret he needs and the rest of them will only make it out alive if the secret holder tells him.
It was interesting to see how the dynamics of the group changed once it was revealed a secret existed among the group. Tensions rose between everyone, with much accusing with no real basis, especially by Oliver, as they had no idea who the secret could have belonged to. Despite the threat, it was crazy to see all the characters remained willing to keep their secret for their own protection. I also enjoyed the fact that many had secrets, but I didn’t enjoy the fact that the secret actually did involve the mafia and Maddy and Oliver’s mom’s case so directly. I thought it would be more interesting in the end if no relation was proven, leading to a bigger twist, but the ending was turned in a way so it wasn’t that bad. One fact that was annoying was that once Red revealed her secret the group automatically believed that to be what the sniper was looking for. After Reyna revealed her secret, right after they checked with the sniper to reveal what happened which proved that not to be the secret, but they were ready to throw out Red to the sniper while still unsure if her secret was the one the sniper was looking for.
Although saddening, I liked the fact that the risks in the book actually had consequences. I feel in most books, the situation usually ends up okay for the protagonist no matter what. The characters actually had consequences for their actions in this book. After attempting to signal visitors of their danger, despite the snipers warning not to say anything, the sniper shot the couple on their attempt to leave despite no involvement in the situation. After discovering the sniper wouldn’t shoot red once she was thrown outside by Oliver, against the vote to decide, Maddie goes out to the car disguised as her, leading to her being shot as the sniper realizes. These consequences though we’re all due to Oliver, making him the most annoying character. Aashka Shah agreed, having said, “Everything Oliver did was problematic.” He could never believe he was wrong, despite all his actions creating more problems for the group, and refused to listen to others, unless he actually liked the idea, which he then took credit for. Although it was interesting to the plot at the beginning, he just became frustrating to hear as the book progressed.
After hearing of the book BHS junior Khushi Gujral said, “I am definitely interested in reading this book.” Although this book had some annoying parts, overall it was very engaging and enjoyable, causing me to recommend it to anyone that likes mysteries and thriller books, or fans of Holly Jackson’s other series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
