Over spring break, 17-year-old Redford (Red) Kenny is driving from Philadelphia to Gulf Shores, Alabama, with five of her friends - Maddy Lavoy and her college student brother Oliver, his girlfriend Reyna Flores-Serrano, and two high school friends, Arthur Grant and Simon Jinsan Yoo. Characters are White, Mexican American, and biracial (White and Asian American).įIVE SURVIVE plays out over eight terrifying hours. Most of the time, the six friends manage to work together as a team under terrible and stressful circumstances, and some can be really courageous, even if their courage sometimes borders on the reckless.

There's frequent strong language ('f-k,''s-t,' 'a-hole,' and 'bitch'). Red is haunted by the execution-style murder of her mother and there are brief but graphic descriptions of people being shot ('Her head undone, leaking out and soaking into the road'). The friends never know when one of the bullets fired into the RV might kill them. Violence and the threat of violence are a constant in this story. They've been targeted by a gunman who wants only one thing from them - a secret one of the six has been keeping. And it's not long before they discover they're not alone. In rural North Carolina, the RV breaks down and they find themselves stranded in the darkness with no cell service. Six friends (four in high school and two in college) are traveling in an RV from Philadelphia to Gulf Shores, Alabama for spring break. Parents need to know that Five Survive, by Holly Jackson ( A Good Girl's Guide to Murder), is a thriller that takes place over only eight hours. One of the teens gets drunk on bee and another drinks tequila.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide. The refrigerator in the RV has been stocked with beer, vodka, and tequila.

Holly jackson five survive