The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda.
Thank you to Simon And Schuster Canada for the advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and “master of suspense, Megan Miranda” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl), a thrilling mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a tragic accident—only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy.
A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night.
To keep one another safe.
To hold one another accountable.
Or both.
Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy and from the other survivors. She’s changed her mobile number. She’s blocked the others’ email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion.
Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn’t raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they’re facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters…again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they’ve been through, she wouldn’t willfully make them worry. Would she?
And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they?
My Review
The Only Survivors is definitely a slow burn mystery. There are a rather large group of characters in this novel. There are two different timelines in this novel and the writing alternates back and forth between the accident and after when the students get together to mark the tenth anniversary of the accident.
I found the characters to be underdeveloped and this book relies more on the setting of the novel to propel the story forward. I found this book to be a slow read with characters that were not particularly memorable. The Only Survivors was not a book that I was particularly eager to return to. I kept reading so I could gather my thoughts at the end.
Overall, this was a moderately entertaining read for the atmosphere and the mystery, but just didn't hold my attention like I had hoped. The ending wasn't particularly surprising and left me feeling mediocre, partly due to the lack of clearly defined characters and introducing characters without providing a foundation for their importance and relevance to the story being told. The parts of the novel set back in time before the reunion was the most interesting parts to read. Of all the characters, I found Cassidy to be the most interesting. I feel like I would have been more invested in the reading, had there been more defined characters and more plot development.
My Rating: 3/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book Details
Author: Megan Miranda
Publisher: Simon And Schuster
Publication Date: April 11, 2023
Genre: Fiction. Thriller. Suspense. Mystery.
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 339
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