Five Survive by Holly Jackson

Five Survive which is written by Holly Jackson. It focuses on six friends who are in a car, and things take a dark turn. They have a van that they are using to move from one point to the other as they explore the countryside; however, the van conks, and they are stranded in the middle of nowhere. As one of the sisters is kidnapped, others carry lots of secrets and hidden tensions, which reveal themselves in the progress of one sister’s rescue.

There are two major forms of narration, and the reader witnesses the interactions among the friends and how their histories play into the events of the present. The countdown turns up tension, and Jackson masterfully explores such philosophical issues as loyalty, betrayal, and survival and only in the denouement of the book the reader is drawn to a breathtaking reveal.