Book Review: Five Survive by Holly Jackson

I wanted to look back on this standalone book by Holly Jackson because of her new novel, The Reappearance of Rachel Price, that was recently released in the US and the UK. Since I’ve enjoyed Jackson’s previous work I hope to be able to read this new novel of her’s at some point. I've read the series that she's most famous for; A Good Girl's Guide To Murder. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to read KillJoy, the prequel to this series. That series was a hell of a ride and when I finally got to read her new thriller, Five Survive, my expectations were high. Therefore I'm glad to report that Five Survive did deliver an entertaining reading experience.

This novel is divided into eight chapters, each representing an hour passing, which enables the reader to follow along with the time stamps throughout the story. I think this is an interesting concept, though I unfortunately didn't manage to read this novel in one sitting. Nevertheless, the book is fast-paced, making it perfect for a reading slump and is also impeccably well-written, as expected from Jackson.

In the novel, we follow seventeen-year-old Redford Kenny and her five friends while they’re travelling in an RV from Philadelphia to the Gulf shores for spring break. The friend group consists of Maddy, Simon and Arthur, who all go to school together. They are escorted by Maddy’s older brother, Oliver and his girlfriend, Reyna. They all get along but Maddy is Red’s best friend and has a sweet spot for her. Arthur is the outsider, a new friend of Simon’s but he quickly becomes close with Red. Simon is the chill and relaxed one of the group. They are an odd pairing but they come together to help Red go to the Gulf shores because she can’t afford to fly there.  They are six but as the title indicates, only five survive.

After only a few pages, Oliver takes a wrong turn and gets stranded in the forest. Suddenly the phone signal disappears and then one of their tyres gets punctured. Oliver fixes the tyre but as they make a U-turn to find the exit, all the tyres sag. As they go out to investigate, Red notices a red dot by the gas tank and suddenly a shot is fired. Everyone scrambles to get inside the RV in a complete panic. There seems to be a sniper out to get them.

The shooter plants a walkie-talkie in the RV and informs the passages that one of them has a secret. Their mission is to figure out who has the secret in order to prevent the sniper from hurting anyone. In the remaining hours, the so-called friends accuse one another and it becomes clear that Oliver is only looking out for himself. He goes as far as willingly sacrificing his little sister and betraying his girlfriend. It’s eventually revealed that the secret is intertwined with the mafia and the plot deepens as the hours tick by.

I enjoyed the depth of each character, though I've heard many mixed reviews on this aspect of the novel. I think that everyone was well written except for Oliver - the selfish, immoral and horrible fool. A book needs an antagonist and it's hard for the reader to hate the sniper because of its distance to the protagonists. Therefore Jackson instated Oliver to be the villain. To me it’s clear that he is only written that way to induce hatred. I think this was wise but not executed in a good way. He didn't have any redeeming traits and therefore the character just felt extremely flat. I can not analyse him since there is no three-dimensionality to him. Therefore my hatred for him has little meaning and he just ended up being an annoying character overall.

"Footsteps crashing. Screams. The RV shook. But it was too late. The door was open into the wide-open nothing of outside. The black night ready and waiting. Oliver's arms were crushing her, and then they weren't. He let Red go, shoving her forward, out through the open door." (page 290)

This quote describes when things didn’t go Oliver’s way and he decides to take matters into his own hands. He suspects that Red is the one with the secret and wants her out of the RV. When people disagree Oliver viciously attacks and throws her out of the RV. This just goes to show how unlikable and ill-tempered he is. 

Objectively, I didn’t find the plot very good and using the Mafia to drive it forward was kind of a cop-out. The story overall was quite idiotic and typical. Nevertheless, this novel was extremely entertaining to read, much thanks to the writing style that in my opinion rescued the reading experience. Jackson creates a brilliant atmosphere that infatuates me. I also liked how she kept the end loose. She tied it together only slightly so that the reader could still come up with their own conclusions. However, I do find the ending a bit anticlimactic and I remember speeding through it because I found it quite boring.

At the end of the day, I did enjoy the book very much despite the silly plotline. I believe that one should read a myriad of genres and authors, and this book was definitely in my comfort zone. It might not have been the best use of my time and I could have read something more profound but sometimes it's easier to just read for the fun of it. All in all, I think that Holly Jackson wrote an alluring and entertaining standalone which I very much adore.

"But I'm sorry, I hope you know that. I guess none of us - the five that survived - will ever be the same after that long night" (page 388)