A review by pastry
Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow, this was fantastic. The slow creeping terror the longer it all goes on and the weirder everyone behaves. I had a hunch of who it could be at the end, but I wasn't fully correct. I could never quite settle until right before it was revealed, so this was really well done. I think the one thing that was missing a bit for me was at the start - I never really warmed up to any of the other four characters, so it wasn't hard to be suspicious of all of them. I'd have liked it a bit better if some of that had seemed genuinely nice at the start, but Harper already seemed like a bit much. 
And
ngl, as much as Josh being the creep made sense, I think it would have actually been great if it had turned out to be a woman instead, which is why I suspected Harper for the longest time. I still kinda figured it would be expected for it to be a man, since that does seem to be more common, but it being a woman would have been great to subvert that trope.
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