Five Survive

Holly Jackson, born in Buckingham, England, in 1992, became a best-selling writer in 2019 with the publication of her first novel, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, the first in a series of three novels and a novella. Like Five Survive, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is also a young adult crime fiction novel, in which the protagonist, Pip, tries to solve a five-year-old murder-suicide case as part of a school project. The victim, Andrea “Andie” Bell, and the accused, Salil “Sal” Singh, were both students at Pip’s school.

Jackson has highlighted her fascination with crimes and mysteries in several interviews, noting that A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder wouldn’t exist without the influence of true-crime podcasts. The novel’s structure follows the format of true-crime podcasts as well, with much of the story being presented as diary pages, interview scripts, and other forms of media. In contrast, Five Survive is more linear and traditionally prose-like in structure. The entire plot takes place over eight hours, and apart from Red’s flashbacks of her mom, the narrative is chronological and fast-paced. Jackson explained that on average, her books take eight hours to read, and she wanted to write a novel that took place in real time, unfolding over the same number of hours it took to read it.