Five Survive
〰️
Five Survive 〰️
I've been waiting to read this book for a while. I had it pre-ordered and everything. I ended up reading Jackson's Good Girl Guide to Murder series first while waiting (loved it so much). And then I read other books in my TBR. But I finally got around to reading it, and it was well worth the wait.
I love love, loved the writing style in this book. Jackson really made it unique and fitting for Red. You could see her past trauma and PTSD over what happened to her in the past and how it still affects her to this day. I know what happened to Red happened years ago, but trauma like this never goes away. I can maybe see how some people may be annoyed with Jackson's writing style in this book, but I personally loved every second of it. (Though now that I think of it, we never did find out what the pattern was in those darn curtains, and I, as well as Red, would love to know, haha).
Because of how this was written, as well as the story premise, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. This book was a real page-turner, and I'm here for it. I never saw anything coming. (Though I'm sure other readers could have. I'm not very perceptive).
However, I will say that only one small thing bothered me. Something the characters should have done but didn't. When Red spilled her secret, and everyone was trying to decide if they should chuck her out of the van, I wondered why they didn't radio the sniper, asking if this was the correct secret and save them all the trouble. I mean, it didn't matter in the end that they didn't do this thing, but I kept screaming at the book because they did it with Oliver and Reyna's secret, and thus they didn't have to leave the van. And yes, Red was the one they were after, but like, you'd think they'd ask the sniper if it was Red who they wanted before voting whether or not to send her out to die. Again, it didn't matter in the end, as it was Red who held the answers they were looking for, but you'd think the group would want to check first before blindly sending her to her death.
Aside from that, the pacing was great, the characters worked well off each other, and I loved learning about everyone's secrets and Red's past. It was a compelling read, and I highly recommend it. I think now that I've read the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series and this book and loved them all, I think Jackson will now be a new auto-buy for me.
