Pages: 389
Published: 29th November 2022
Genre: Young Adult Thriller
Content warnings: Injury detail, coercive control
Eight hours.
Six friends.
One sniper . . .
Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.
A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night.
All the evidence from this book points to an author who derives a certain glee in placing a hapless bunch of fictional characters in torturous, life-threatening situations. The result is one of the most intense things you will ever read as tension and claustrophobia reach fever pitch, many unwelcome secrets are uncovered, and a high stakes plot punctuated by unsettling moments.
In regards to Holly Jackson, this is quite a departure from her A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series, and not just due to the fact it is set very emphatically in the United States. Although those previous novels contains some progressively dark themes, there is a fair amount of light relief. Here, the story is about as far from cheery as you can get. No laugh out loud moments, just pure terror.
Some of the things that happen in the plot are really upsetting – particularly a rather graphic scene around halfway – and the characters are in such a state of panic and discord that the intenseness of it makes you feel like you need a lie down. However, it still emerges as a very good book, largely for the way the twists are revealed and how it throws the reader headfirst into the atmosphere of what is a genuinely frightening concept.
This concept is simple in many ways and takes place on an intriguingly low scale. The RV (which stands for recreational vehicle, as the book mysteriously declines to mention) is literally the only setting and that contributes to its success. It is such a confined space and as the characters see their situation become ever more desperate, they are forced into rash decisions with some displaying their true colours.
After the initial build-up, the plot is always fast-paced in the sense that there is always something happening and there is an ever-present danger. In all honesty some of the descriptions of how the characters assessed their options at first could have been a little less long-winded, but gradually it picks up and when we get to the point where the twists start to arrive, it is gripping stuff.
We soon learn that one character has deeply held secret, one they are keeping from everyone. But of course, several of them turn out to be hiding something and you are left to speculate, while there is also the question of whether one of them is working with the sniper. Looking back, a few subtle hints are dropped in terms of the main twist and you discover that it involves a lot of groundwork. Then, when the full picture emerges, all of that backstory falls neatly and impressively into place.
Another thing that you have to keep in mind as all of this is going on is that, like the title says, only five of the six teenagers in the RV will make it out alive. That thought keeps you on edge, even when none of them could be described as especially likeable, as they range from merely flawed to the very extreme end of the spectrum to rank as truly unbearable.
The character with that dubious honour is Oliver, who made my blood boil. He decides that he is in charge and his behaviour grows more and more alarming as the ordeal continues, showing a toxic level of self-importance and exerting a coercive control over the rest of the group. When his blind confidence proves unfounded, he develops an even unhealthier streak, spitting out all of his scornful words.
Maddy is at least much more well intentioned than her brother, and Reyna likewise in spite of her many misguided choices. Arthur is more passive yet is the one who stands up to Oliver the most, while Simon begins the story drunk and has similarities to Argyle from Stranger Things – complete with RV – before arguably turning out to be the most rational one of them all once no longer intoxicated.
The main character though, is Red. Written in the third person and with a narrative split up into hourly segments, the entire story is told from her perspective. The way this is done is not only unique but very intriguing indeed, as it often draws your attention to certain little details and offers a real insight into her coping mechanisms. She is hiding trauma and is at times elusive, which all plays a big part in her character development.
Red’s depiction underlines the fact that there are several important topics explored here underneath all the crazy goings-on. The writing has a permanently unsettling tone, and Holly Jackson again shows her outstanding resourcefulness for thinking of every possible scenario, letting each one play out with a grim inevitability of the outcome.
Overall, the title and the tagline tells you a lot of what there is to know about this book, but for the most part the execution is of a high standard. The unrelenting scariness of the premise, the strength of the twists towards the end, and the paranoia evoked by both sniper and setting ensures that it makes an indelible mark. You could even say, it is more horror than thriller.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted, but in terms of tension and high stakes, it is a knockout. Overall I really liked it, even though there were parts I found unsettling to read.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stephen Reads Books 