Suspense reading at its best. The twist at the end was fantastic.

The Only Survivors is about a group of adults who meet up every year at a beach house after they were all involved and survived a bad accident. Cassidy hadn’t been back for years until she received a message about one of the group Ian had died, she decided to go back.

It’s quick paced, gripping with a twisty ending.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

3.5⭐️

Ten years ago a school trip turned deadly when the vans they were travelling in went over a cliff in to a ravine, only 9 survived. Each year on the anniversary of this tragic accident the survivors take a trip together to the Outer Banks.
Cassidy decides she’s not going to go the 10th anniversary reunion, they aren’t friends and they aren’t in each others lives so what’s the point. She changes her number, sends their emails to spam and cuts them from her life completely. On the morning she should have been leaving she receives a text from an unknown number with the obituary of one the survivors. She immediately packs her bags and rushes to the group but once she gets there everything seems a little off, there are whispers and tension and is somebody watching them?

This story was told in a dual timeline with multiple POVs- the present day was told by Cassidy and the past told in reverse chronological order by others from the group. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever read anything written in this way but I really liked it. It was quite slow in the beginning so it did take me a little while to get in to it but once I was I couldn’t stop reading.

I didn’t particularly find any of the characters likeable but I think that was the point, I really enjoyed the setting and the atmosphere of the house though.

Overall it kept me entertained, I enjoyed the writing style and although the ending felt a bit rushed compared to the pacing in the rest of the book I still enjoyed it. I would definitely read another book by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quercus books for this ARC! This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year as Megan Miranda is one of my favourite thriller authors so I can’t even tell you how excited I was to get this!

This is a thriller/mystery following a group of people forever changed by trauma. When she was a teenager Cassidy was one of the nine people who survived a tragic accident. After one of the survivors ended up committing suicide the rest of the group made a pact to meet at a beach house called “The Shallows” on the anniversary of the accident to make sure that no one is alone during that time. Cassidy doesn’t want to go this year but when she gets a text from Amaya, a fellow survivor, containing the obituary for Ian (another survivor) she ends up going. Soon after she arrives though Amaya goes missing and the group feels like they are being watched. They all have secrets and Cassidy is starting to wonder whether this pact they have is to keep everyone safe or to keep everyone silent.

THIS. This is hands down one of the best thrillers I have ever read and will enter my rank of “God Tier” books. I loved it! We get chapters from the present day but we also see the seven hours of the accident counting down from each character’s POV. You’re constantly left guessing what went down and what secrets everyone is hiding. You don’t know who to trust and you’re suspicious of everyone, even our main character.

The beach house setting was so atmospheric and well described. I could imagine all of the scenes playing out like a movie. I’m not going to lie (this is totally a me thing and a reflection of my weird phobias) but some scenes in this book really creeped me out. Mainly the accident scenes, I couldn’t stop picturing a floating van with its headlights on, full of bodies slowly disappearing below a dark rushing river. No thanks! I loved being creeped out though.

This book depicts trauma in such a raw and realistic way. Through each of the characters you can see how trauma affects people differently and that people respond to trauma differently. Even though these people all suffered through the same ordeal, they have all chosen different paths, have different coping mechanisms and have different symptoms of trauma from that night. I really appreciated that as someone who suffers with PTSD. You can see how the different characters responded to the actual accident as well, how some character’s bodies chose flight, some fight and some freeze. Again I really appreciated this representation.

The twists themselves were layered on top of more twists which kept the story interesting. I also really enjoyed the ending and felt satisfied with the direction it went in. It was very realistic. We’re these characters good people? Not necessarily but you also have to appreciate these guys were teenagers in an impossible situation and they were making decisions fuelled by fear and adrenaline. I was honestly in tears at some points, especially a scene (this is towards the beginning so I don’t think it’s a spoiler) where the characters have to leave injured survivors behind to drown so they can save themselves. My God that was tough to read.

This was an absolutely incredible thriller from Megan Miranda that I think fans of hers (and thriller fans) will really enjoy! It actually releases today (11th April 2023) so you can grab it now!

Ten years ago, a group of teenagers on a school trip were involved in a tragic accident. The nine survivors, Cassidy, Oliver, Brody, Josh, Grace, Amaya, Hollis, Clara, & Ian have met up each year on the anniversary of the accident & made a promise to always be there for each other but is it just survivors' guilt or are they hiding something?. After one of the group, Clara, died, Cassidy decided to make a break from the group by sending their group emails to spam & changing her phone number. She has started to make a new life with boyfriend, Russ, & is surprised to receive a text from Amaya about this year's trip. She is about to ignore it when another message comes through to tell her about a second death from the group, her close friend, Ian. Cassidy feels guilty for not knowing about his death & even more so when she checks her spam emails & realises that he reached out to her before his death. It seems Ian was worried that someone was out for revenge & maybe the others are all in danger too.

This started off with great pace & storytelling, although it slows down considerably once they get to the beach house. The present day chapters are told from Cassidy's point of view, whilst the chapters set back at the time of the accident are from her fellow students on the trip. It reminded me a little bit of the film 'Triangle' starring Melissa George where events are seen from slightly different angles & times & each time the viewer learns a little bit more about what is happening. Here the past chapters start from the accident & go back through the events & to what led up to the tragedy & we learn a bit more about these people each time. I liked how that was done & thought it worked well. I wasn't a big fan of the ending though & that's what brought down my rating, I thought it was a bit anticlimactic considering what had happened before, therefore I rated this one 3.5 stars (rounded up)

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Quercus Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

The Only Survivors was a great read that I could not put down. I enjoyed the twists and turns and did not see the ending coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my ARC.

Ten years after a school bus tragedy the survivors meet; however, strange things begin to happen and Cassie one of the survivors begins to suspect that someone is out to expose the truth of what really happened that night. Is the person hunting them a stranger or someone closer to home?

I really liked the plot and the setting of the novel as well as the characters. They were all 'real' with flaws and bad decisions. I really loved the ending and the secrets that were revealed. A recommended read for anyone that likes fast paces, gripping thrillers were secrets are revealed and no one is safe.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda is a book that captivates the reader from the very beginning. As a reader who has had a love-hate relationship with the author's stories in the past, I was pleased to discover that I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The dual timeline was executed flawlessly, making it easy to keep track of what happened and who is who. The characters were well-developed and their growth was apparent with each new chapter.

One of the highlights of the book was the twists and turns that kept me engaged throughout the story. The characters were fascinating and being able to read about what happened ten years ago through each of their eyes added depth to the plot. The author did an excellent job of keeping me guessing where the story was going and what would happen next.
While the ending was a bit predictable and confirmed a theory I had, it did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

The Only Survivors is a great story that many readers will find enjoyable and addictive. It is a gripping tale of survival, resilience, and the power of the human spirit.

Overall, I highly recommend The Only Survivors to anyone looking for a well-written and engaging thriller. It's a must-read for fans of Megan Miranda's previous works and for those who enjoy suspenseful stories with unexpected twists. The book is a true page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Megan Miranda has once again proven herself to be a talented author who knows how to captivate her audience.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy through NetGalley

I loved The Last to Vanish and The Last Guest House, Megan Miranda is an excellent storyteller that delivers gripping stories that keeps you on the edge.
This one was good but not as good as the others. I liked the concept but I struggled a bit and the end seemed a bit rushed.
A solid thriller but not up to the previous books.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Megan Miranda always writes intensely interesting stories, and I have been a huge fan of them for ages. The Only Survivors did let me down a little, as I felt the story was not greatly executed

This was a great story about friendships, loss and long held secrets. As always, it was extremely well.writen and I was sucked right in. Brilliant xx

The Only Survivors was my second book by Megan Miranda and honestly, it was what I hoped it would be: entertaining, impossible to happen in real life, and silly. It wasn't brilliant (I enjoyed The Last to Vanish a lot more) but it was a quick read that I had fun reading. It was the kind of book that you just enjoy the ride and don't think too deeply about. The second half is where it fell a little bit apart from me and stopped this from being a four star read, but still this was pretty solid slow-burn thriller and I look forward to reading more from Megan Miranda!

10 years ago something terrible happened to them. Ever since then they made the pact to meet up at the shallows, a beach house, for the reunion of the event. But this year weird things happen around the event. Will the truth about what really happened that day 10 years ago finally come out?

I am not going to lie this is my third Megan Miranda (or fourth) and I honestly thing it is by far the best. It is so atmospheric. You can feel this tension from start to finish. And although I somewhat had a feeling about 60% through it, it still did not loose in tension and dark atmosphere. The characters were all so different yet went so well together and were developed so well. I loved this idea and the execution of it. Going back to that day 10 years ago through different perspectives yet have the present only from Cassidys’ point of view.
I really did not want to put this down.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this e-arc of #TheOnlySurvivors in exchange for my honest review. This is an absolute 5 star read for me. I highly recommend it.

Cassidy was involved in an accident that killed a lot of class mates and in the process bonded with the other survivors.

I really enjoyed this novel this novel and trying to figure out who was messing with the group of survivors.

Spoilers warning *** I thought it was a great idea to end the atoey ambigiously so the reader were left unsure of who exactly are “good”

I enjoyed 'The Only Survivors', with its gripping story & mix of 'then' & 'now' chapters that had me hooked from the get-go.

The thing I liked most was the premise, it was different & made for a nice change in a thriller book. What knocked off a star for me was that the end twists were a bit too predictable for me. But nevertheless, it was a real-page turner!

Megan Miranda's writing style is easy to read; it's fast-paced, understandable & not complicated, whilst still being intriguing enough to want to keep going with it. The characters were also well-written making it easy to root & empathise with them all throughout!

'The Only Survivors' is a tale about trauma, unbreakable bonds & survival that is hard to put down & well-worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Miranda & Quercus for allowing me to read & review the ARC of 'The Only Survivors'; all views are honest & my own.

The blurb had me hooked but unfortunately I found parts of the story lacking. The switch between present and past was really engaging but ultimately I don't think this story was for me as the ending felt very rushed and a little bit underwhelming

This was just about okay for me. The plot moves incredibly slowly, and the premise is quite strange. Why would survivors have a reunion every year, to mark their survival.
The main theme is 'who would you save?', it's repeated throughout the story.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of The Only Survivors, a stand-alone psychological thriller set in North Carolina.

Ten years ago nine teenagers escaped an accident that cost twelve lives. Every year the survivors meet at a beach house to commemorate the accident and honour the dead, but this year feels different with two of their number now dead and a third missing. The promised to protect each other, but Cassidy Bent, the most ambivalent of them, begins to wonder if it is true.

I enjoyed The Only Survivors in some ways, others not so much. I didn’t find it gripping, like many of the author’s previous novels, and I think it is easy to put down and pick up later.

The novel is mostly told from Cassidy’s first person point of view in the present with flashbacks to the accident, seen through the eyes of each survivor in turn, spread throughout. It makes for a choppy read, hence my comment about being easy to put down, but has the advantage of offering more character detail. It also hints that there is more to the accident story than is publicly available and this is slowly revealed over the course of the novel.

The keyword here is slow as there is little given away for most of the novel. Instead the author creates a creeping sense of dread and impending danger. All the resentments and suspicions bubble beneath the surface until the stress is too much and accusations surface. Secrets are revealed, many of them unexpected, culminating in an action packed denouement where the whole story is laid bare with some neat irony and twists.

I couldn’t connect with the whole scenario of a group of survivors, essentially strangers, gathering every year to mark what, their survival? They obviously aren’t there to remember the dead, because not one of them cares about anything but their own survival. It’s a bit Lord of the Flies and a touch distasteful.

The Only Survivors is slow, but effective in its character studies and atmosphere. I think the author manages the group dynamic well and has produced an interesting read.

A brilliantly crafter mystery, layer upon layer of characterisation and narrative that you cannot put down. I loved the plot, survivors from a fatal crash make a pilgrimage to a house and spend time with each other.

his was my first time reading anything by Megan Miranda, and it’s safe to say it won’t be my last! This was a great multilayered story with so many twists and turns I could hardly stop to catch my breath!

This book follows a group of survivors who survived a terrible accident and are connected because of this forever. They were once nine, now there’s only seven of them and they meet up on the tenth anniversary of the accident, as they do every year, and lots of secrets begin to unravel as the truth about what really happened that day ten years ago threatens to be exposed…

This was definitely a slow burn mystery and there was a lot of information about each character which I liked. It did take me until about half way through to really get into this just because it was quite slow to start, but when it got going I really enjoyed it!

The reveals and twists in this book were so good and I throughly enjoyed my reading experience. I can’t wait to read more by Megan Miranda!
Thank you so much to Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As fast paced as the river they survived, this is a multi layered plot as twisty as that very river!

Told in different parts, the days the group are at the annual retreat to The Shallows, a rented house they all make a pilgrimage to each year for the anniversary of the fatal crash, as well as taking us back to ‘Then’ from each of the survivors points of view this is a multilayered story about how each person deals with the aftermath of the crash, and for some, survivors guilt.

There were nine survivors, Amaya, Clara, Grace, Oliver, Joshua, Ian, Hollis, Brody and Cassidy, but after two of the original group take their own lives, it is just the remaining seven that make the trip this year.

The recent loss of Ian is felt by all, especially Cassidy, so right from the first day something felt off about the house and a quite unease surrounds them all.

As a storm approaches from outside they once again find themselves held captive by the elements, trapped in by rain, whilst inside another kind of storm is brewing.

With frequent hints about secrets and lies, stemming from then and now, the plot forges along at the same rate as the river did back then, sweeping them all along with it.

It accumulates with an unforeseen plot twist and an ending as equally unexpected.

This is the first book I have read by Megan Miranda and after reading this book she will definitely be an author I keep am eye out for in the future!

The Only Survivors is due for publication on the 11 April 2023 in the UK and is available to preorder now from your local bookshops, library or the link below.