Five Total Strangers | A Thrilling YA with a Weak Ending

3.5/5 stars

Mira is desperate to make it home for Christmas. When a blizzard grounds all of the flights, she gets a ride with a college-aged girl she sat next to on her connecting flight. Along for the ride are three other college students eager to make it home for the holidays. As the blizzard gets worse and the roads more treacherous, Mira realizes that none of these “friends” knew each other before the road trip. The group begins to distrust each other and figure out that one of them has more nefarious plans for the holidays. 

I had forgotten this was a young adult thriller when I first started reading, and then quickly reoriented myself in the story. As a YA thriller, this was pretty solid. I stayed up late to finish the book in one sitting. Perhaps it was because I was reading at 1 AM, but the story was definitely spooky and suspenseful. 

The characters were a bit shallow. They each had backstories that provided some red herrings and a bit of depth, but for the most part the strength of the novel was in the creepy aspects. I thought it was wrapped up way too quickly. Everything was resolved nicely without much explanation. I had a lot of questions once the story was over. 

The thrilling aspect was great. It’s perfect for a late night read. However, it felt like most of the energy went into making the story spooky and the resolution was too rushed to make this a really strong book.