Five Survive

 YA chiller 

      "'He shot out the gas tank,' she said.

     'Why?' Maddy asked.

     Red had an answer.  The others probably did too, but Simon was the one who gave voice to it.  

     'So we can't leave.'"

     If you're a fan of Holly Jackson's Good Girl's Guide to Murder series you're in for a real treat.  Five Survive is even more chill inducing.  You get to join her characters on a spring break journey to basically hell on earth.

     Protagonist Red lost her police 🚔 officer mother to a gangland style shooting when she was only thirteen.  She's harbored guilt over that.  They'd argued on the phone ten minutes before her mother was shot.  She wonders if things would have been different if she hadn't hung up on her.  Maddie is Red's best friend--the one who pays for her lunch when she doesn't have the money and helps her stay organized.  She and big brother, Oliver, are the children of Catherine, an assistant DA looking to move up her career ladder.  Reyna is Oliver's seemingly devoted girlfriend.  Friends Simon and Arthur round out the ill fated cast.

     They're headed to a spring break destination to meet up with their friends for a week of 🥳 and relaxation.  Unlike the others, they're driving instead of flying.  It's so that Red can afford to go.

     Driving through the pitch dark they get lost as the roads devolve to dirt and worse.  They can't get onto a directions app.  In fact there is zero reception, something they attribute to being way out in the boonies.  Suddenly all four tires are flat and the gas tank is leaking, shot out by a sniper.  Trapped in a suddenly fragile seeming recreational vehicle, the group scrambles to figure out a way to escape or call for help.  A group of friends devolves into fighting factions, rife with sudden distrust of one another.

     It turns out that the sniper doesn't want all of them--just the one who harbors a particular secret.  They all harbor secrets.  Probably few people these days don't.  In exchange for handing that person over, the rest will get to leave alive.  Will they figure out who the target is?  Will they be willing to give this group member's life in exchange for promised safety?  And what if the sniper, who is rapidly losing patience, decides to end the stalemate by taking them all out?

     Jackson's narrative is so skillfully crafted that you aren't just looking on from the safety of your home.  You are there...

     ...which is why I read the book 📖 before darkness fell.  

     If you're a true blue chiller affecianado you owe it to yourself to get your hands on Five Survive.

On a purrrsonal note, this continued heat wave accompanied by humidity is taking a toll on the fam.  Eugene who has to work outside all day in long pants comes home short tempered.  I feel exhausted and have trouble breathing when I have to be outside any length of time despite my doctor vouched for excellent lung 🫁 function.  Tobago wakes up meowing at all hours of the night and I take her to the studio so Eugene, who has to be up at 4:00, can get his sleep.  And this is Maine where we're talking 80s.  I can't imagine what it's like in the parts of the country that are passing 100.  (Jules)

I sure feel sorry for the Texas and Florida cats 🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️ (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all who are working to stop and reverse climate change.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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