Five Survive

7/10 on Bookclubs 3/5 on Goodreads 3.5/5 on StoryGraph I have mixed feelings about this book. While the storyline was well put together and the ending was definitely surprising, I felt as though a lot of minor details were expounded on too much, which at times left me bored. I think this is why I went through this book thinking quite often that it would make for a better movie than a book. As I’ve said before, I very rarely feel that way. We all know the book is always better than the movie, right?! 😜 But I felt like all of those details would have gone quicker in a movie scenario and kept my attention a bit better. I did appreciate that every chapter had a cliffhanger ending, I enjoy that and I think that is what kept me going with this book. Ultimately I’m glad I did continue and finish it. The last 25-30% of the book was definitely the best, with an ending that had me in tears- not expected! Another thing that hit me hard was the backstabbing, especially from people who Red, the main character, thought truly loved her and wanted to provide for her and care for her- people who she thought had been very close to her and her mom and loved them as family. It shows you never really know who you can trust and you always have to watch your back. It was hard for me because of backstabbing and betrayal I’ve endured from people who claimed to be my mom’s best friend, who claimed to love her like a sister and me like a daughter- then went and stabbed us in the back during a time it mattered most. This person played a huge part in everything that has happened with my daughter and it will forever hurt and haunt me. So the betrayal I saw in the book just made me plain angry, I’ll admit it. No one deserves that and it brought up painful memories for me, personally. While many parts of this book were difficult for me to read, I’m still glad I read it. I want to explore more of Holly Jackson’s books as this was my first of hers and I want to see how others compare. In terms of mystery/thriller/suspense, this was overall well done in that aspect, hence the higher ratings than I probably would have given had it not met those expectations. Now on to book 4 of the year!

Wow.......... This is my first book by Holly Jackson, and I can't wait to read all her books.

Really fast read, I couldn't put the book down and wasn't expecting the ending at all.
The book would definitely be rated higher, if Oliver wasn't such a annoying character. I have never read about a more irritating character before, he was literally making my blood boil. Why did everyone listen to him, like can they not stand up for themselves? He should have been the first person to get killed :)

I love it when an author sets out to do right and just hits the mark! This book? Chef's kiss. The twists, the turns, the suspense?! I was kept in the dark until the very end and then some because I had to mull it over a few times before I got it. It took a while to get hooked but wow! I wasn't expecting the ending but loved how it wrapped up. All in all: This is definitely a favourite!

No like ability with characters, took a while to get into the book (75% in)