Five Total Strangers

Five Total Strangers was a pretty fun read. Mira is on her way home for Christmas and gets stuck in a snowstorm roiling Pennsylvania, and faced with having to spend Christmas Eve in an airport, she elects to join four other young people in a rented car in an effort to get home. That, of course, is a mistake although she couldn't have known that. Naturally things go wrong. And it appears that everyone in the car has a secret- and one of those people may have a connection to Mira that could prove deadly

This was a pretty fast read for me. It starts out pretty quickly- not a lot of padding here- and I liked that. Mira befriends Harper on her flight, and so when things get rough and Harper offers her a ride, she takes it. From there things go from bad to worse and soon Mira has no idea who she can trust. Harper vacillates between being super confident to unsure of things, and before long Mira is flustered. The storm and the icy roads play a huge role in the story as our itinerant travelers are soon forced to abandon the main highway for back roads, with predictable results. 

I thought things got a little unrealistic at times, especially a particular subplot that seemed to be flirting with horror almost. I was not sure where that was going. Also, at a certain point wouldn't you just get out of the car and call the police? I mean, there are so many coincidences and odd happenings and then I'd be like, nope, I'm outta here. But it's a YA thriller of sorts and I was entertained, as well as curious as to who these other travelers actually are and what role they have to play in the main mystery. 

So on balance I would recommend this if you want a fast and fun YA nailbiter. It's a nice read for a cool evening, particularly a snowy one, with a warm beverage to heat you up.