Book Review: Five Survive by Holly Jackson
By Doreen Sheridan
January 31, 2023
Red Kenny is on her senior year road trip from her home in Philadelphia to the Gulf coast with her best friend, Maddy Lavoy. Simon Yoo, their good friend since middle school, has borrowed an RV from his rich uncle for the drive. Maddy’s 21 year-old brother Oliver is their nominal chaperone, as he and his girlfriend Reyna are the only legal adults present. Rounding out the crew is Simon’s friend Arthur, whom Red secretly has a crush on.
As the friends make their way south, Red finds herself feeling increasingly antsy. She has a hard time concentrating on the road trip games Maddy wants to play, or remembering the questions she herself wants to ask. Granted, concentration has never been her strong suit – at this point, she’s just happy to be graduating high school. As night falls and the friends look for their RV campsite, they find themselves lost in an area with no cell service and, thus, no cellphone GPS.
When the RV’s tire blows, it looks like another unfortunate incident in a string of bad luck. As they work to change the tire, Red realizes she needs to use the bathroom: not a possibility in the RV when it’s jacked up on one side. Maddy isn’t thrilled at the idea of Red going off into the woods to relieve herself:
“You can’t go on your own,” Maddy said, grabbing her arm. “It’s pitch-black.”
“I have my phone.”
“No, but, I mean it might not be safe.” She breathed out. “What if there’s an axe-murderer or something?”
“No axe-murderers in South Carolina,” Simon said. “Only in North Carolina. It’s chainsaws you’ve gotta watch out for. And vampires.”
“Chainsaws. Vampires. Got it,” Red said. “I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”
“Vampires love peeling eyes.”
Spirits stay high as the six friends get the RV back in working condition and hit the road again, on their way to an uninhibited time on the beach. But someone out in the dark has other plans for them. Soon enough, the friends are trapped in the RV, with a strange voice in the darkness telling them he’ll let the other five go if one of them gives up the secret he’s looking for.
Oliver quickly takes charge. He’s convinced that their tormentor is targeting either himself or Maddy, as their mother Catherine is a high-profile assistant district attorney. But as the six terrified roadtrippers work to outwit their jailer, they soon discover that little is as it seems. Each of them harbors explosive secrets, and as the long night passes and tempers fray, relationships will be tested, if not outright destroyed. And, as their jailer has promised, not all of them will make it out alive.
This young adult thriller detailing the road trip from hell is tautly woven and highly suspenseful. The first half of the novel brings to mind classics of the genre from the 1980s and 90s, as written by bestselling authors like Richie Tankersley Cusick and R. L. Stine. Our damaged characters long to taste the freedom of adulthood, indulging in banter, romance and perhaps unwise behaviors as they unwittingly barrel from a teenage rite of passage into a living nightmare.
But Holly Jackson goes deeper. Red has untreated PTSD from the death of her mother when she was thirteen, compounded by her father’s subsequent descent into alcoholism. Worse, Red blames herself for what happened. While she can usually float through life without thinking about her mother’s death and her own role in it, the stresses of this road trip bring them all roaring back to the forefront of her brain:
[B]ecause she was crying, cursing her mom for leaving them and letting the world fall apart without her. Cursing herself because, actually, Mom wouldn’t be dead without her. It was Red’s fault. She broke the world, she took her mom out of it, and didn’t know how to put it all back after. What would Mom say to her now? Mom used to fix everything; found Red’s keys when she lost them, pulled those silly faces in the mirror to make her snort on a bad morning. Red could almost hear her voice now, the way she leaned into the word <i>sweetie</i>, warm and bright, but she pushed it away under the static of all those bad memories. Everything came back to Mom somehow, but Red couldn’t drag her into this, she didn’t belong. Mom was dead.
Red’s struggle to find the inner strength to survive the night with her friends, and her assignation of self-blame, stand in stark contrast to Oliver’s self-serving machinations as the night progresses. It’s rare to find such a brutally honest portrayal of a privileged young man whose arrogance and sociopathy are treated, under normal circumstances, as leadership and drive. Will his plans get them all out unharmed as he claims, or are they merely a stopgap while he works to save his own skin?
There were definitely loose ends that I wish had been better addressed in Five Survive, but overall, it was an absorbing, complex novel that hearkens back to the pulpy golden age of the YA thriller while still holding up against its modern adult counterparts.
I have taken the time to read your essay, and I must say that it is both really educational and useful to me. I am impressed by the wealth of useful information that you provide in your posts. I appreciate you posting that.
The website looks flashy and catches the visitor’s eye.
Your work is truly appreciated round the clock and the globe. It is incredibly a comprehensive and helpful blog.
Wow, cool post. I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real hard work to make a great article… but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though.
thanks for information
Wow, cool post. I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real hard work to make a great article… but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though.
อ่านบทความความรู้ดีๆ อย่าลืมเข้าไปดู คาสิโนออนไลน์ BETFLIK แหล่งรวมเกมเดิมพัน รวมค่าย จากมากกว่า 15 ค่ายเดิมพันออนไลน์
This article was written by a real thinking writer. I agree many of the with the solid points made by the writer. I’ll be back.
This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!.
I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much.
You understand your projects stand out of the crowd. There is something unique about them. It seems to me all of them are brilliant.
You make so many great points here that I read your article a couple of times. Your views are in accordance with my own for the most part. This is great content for your readers.
Great content material and great layout. Your website deserves all of the positive feedback it’s been getting.
I got too much interesting stuff on your blog. I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the good work.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Great content material and great layout. Your website deserves all of the positive feedback it’s been getting.
I’ve read some good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to create such a great informative website.
I’ve read some good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to create such a great informative website.
What is an outstanding post! “I’ll be back” (to read more of your content). Thanks for the nudge!
Thanks for picking out the time to discuss this, I feel great about it and love studying more on this topic. It is extremely helpful for me. Thanks for such a valuable help again.
This is actually the kind of information I have been trying to find. Thank you for writing this information.
Merely a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style.
This is the type of information I’ve long been trying to find. Thank you for writing this information.
Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Extremely useful info specially the last part I care for such information a lot. I was seeking this certain info for a long time. Thank you and good luck.
Wow! This could be one of the most useful blogs we have ever come across on thesubject. Actually excellent info! I’m also an expert in this topic so I can understand your effort.
Your article has piqued a lot of positive interest. I can see why since you have done such a good job of making it interesting.
Thumbs up guys your doing a really good job.
What is an outstanding post! “I’ll be back” (to read more of your content). Thanks for the nudge!
Good artcile, but it would be better if in future you can share more about this subject. Keep posting.
You have outdone yourself this time. It is probably the best, most short step by step guide that I have ever seen.
I just found this blog and have high hopes for it to continue. Keep up the great work, its hard to find good ones. I have added to my favorites. Thank You.
Wow, cool post. I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real hard work to make a great article… but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though.
Cool stuff you have got and you keep update all of us.
Great knowledge, do anyone mind merely reference back to it
I’ve been searching for some decent stuff on the subject and haven’t had any luck up until this point, You just got a new biggest fan!..
Recently, I have commenced a blog the info you give on this site has encouraged and benefited me hugely. Thanks for all of your time & work.
Yes, I am entirely agreed with this article, and I just want say that this article is very helpful and enlightening. I also have some precious piece of concerned info !!!!!!Thanks.
Thanks for the blog filled with so many information. Stopping by your blog helped me to get what I was looking for. Now my task has become as easy as ABC.
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the leisure here! Keep up the good work. I have been meaning to write something like this on my website and you have given me an idea.
All your hard work is much appreciated. Nobody can stop to admire you. Lots of appreciation.