Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

15 reviews

librarymouse's review

5.0

I came into this book understanding it to be a thriller. I finished it in tears. This book is a thriller with the most tender human aspects, and shows the sheer variety of reactions people can have to life threatening situations.
Red and her lack of trust in her own memory makes for very interesting narration.

Holly Jackson has a wonderfully immersion way of telling a story. I didn't want to put the book down.

Spoiler

I hated Oliver and I'm glad he's dead. He's so well written. If someone I love was dating someone like him, I'd do everything in my power to remove them from that situation, up to and including doing physical harm to him. The whole family deserved to be knocked down a peg, possibly with the exception of Maddie. I'm glad she's the only one of them to survive. The first read through, I thought the cop shot him, not Arthur's brother. The w iting does a great job capturing the confusion of the situation. Red running at the cop to keep another version of herself being made makes for fantastic full circle character development.

Red's healing moment as she's on the brink of death ending with "...but mom stayed with her, right here in her hand. At the end of all things, mom stayed and so did the stars." had tears rolling down my cheeks.

Having the woman who stood in to be a mom to Red be the person who killed her mom is somewhat expected, but the twist was very well done in this book.

Overall, this is a fantastic book with terrifyingly round characters, fun tropes, and fun twists on tropes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Car accident, Gore, Grief, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

jcaron43's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

hancaavdic's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

meganreadsbook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child abuse, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Murder, Grief, and Death of parent

chloek608's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 I recommend this book if you like: 
-YA thriller 
-YA mystery 
-good audio listen 

I highly anticipated the release of this book as I have loved all of Holly Jackson’s books so far. I actually listened to this book via BorrowBox which suited me best for this type of book. I would say this storyline is the darkest and scariest yet of hers and at times I was nearly afraid to listen on! But I was too curious to stop. 

I think the book could definitely been made shorter but there were important clues dropped throughout and the ending was super clever how the author tied all the connections together. 

There are six friends heading on spring break and they get lost in the RV. RV gets the tyres shot out and fuel tank shot. It is a planned attack. Someone in the RV is in on it. 

Spoiler

Red was comforted by Arthur and I was shocked to discover he was the traitor. He had been infiltrating Red’s life for months to try and learn about the shooting she had been eye witness to involving Arthur’s father. It turns out Red was being paid to say she witnessed a murder by Oliver and Maddie’s mother, who was high up in the police. Secrets unravelled, Oliver’s mum was responsible for killing Red’s mum who was later shot by Arthur. Oliver was shot but no-one liked his character anyway. It left on a slight question mark on whether Red will meet up with Arthur on the date he told her in a written letter. I think she will as there were true feelings between them both even after the betrayal.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Death

haleybre's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Car accident, Death, and Grief

alliekb17's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Cursing

anangelscry's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Good story if your looking for a quick mystery YA read, but it is fairly predictable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Confinement

Minor: Toxic relationship

tash_rose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Wtf. SO MANY PLOT TWISTS. 
This book made me despise a FICTIONAL character. 
Holly Jackson, I’m scared of you. Where did the inspo for this come from? Did you actually kill someone?  Were you stuck in an RV? Maybe a sniper shot a you? I MUST UNDERSTAND! LIKE HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THIS!?

Spoiler

despite Arthur being in the Mafia and manipulating and lying to everyone… I still love him. With Red. you can’t change my mind. HE HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR HER AHHHHHHH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism

skyegbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Another great realse from the best author on Earth 🌎 🏆👏

Spoiler

Why didn't Oliver die?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Death, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gaslighting and Grief