Farshore lands 'explosive' new standalone thriller from Jackson

Farshore has landed an “explosive” new standalone thriller from YA author Holly Jackson, best known for the trilogy A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. 

Lindsey Heaven, fiction publishing director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Five Survive from Kelsey Horton, senior editor at Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books US. It will be published by the Electric Monkey imprint in December 2022 and will be the first Jackson novel to launch in hardback. Another YA title by Jackson will follow in 2023. 

Five Survive is set in real time over the course of eight hours. It tells the story of six friends who embark on a road trip in an recreational vehicle. But when they break down they soon discover that someone doesn’t want them to return from the trip alive.

The synopsis says: "A game of cat and mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to escape their RV. Buried secrets are forced to light and tensions within the group reach deadly levels. One thing is for sure. Not everyone will survive the night."

Jackson said: “I am so excited to finally be able to talk about Five Survive. I wanted to write something that readers of the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series would love, but I also wanted it to feel like a completely different kind of story. Before I had any tangible ideas for the plot, I’d decided it was going to be a book set in real time, unfolding in only eight hours and confined to just one cramped setting – something I’ve always wanted to write. The story and characters had to develop around these tricky obstacles I’d set for myself. However, once all the super complicated plotting and intense time-tracking was done, I’ve never had more fun actually writing a book. I hope readers have just as much fun aboard my doomed RV, but please buckle up – it’s going to be one hell of a ride!” 

Heaven added: “A new book from superstar Holly Jackson is a giant cause for celebration in the YA world – and beyond – and we’re so proud to publish this utterly thrilling, take-your-breath away novel on the Electric Monkey list. Five Survive features all of Holly’s trademark on-point plotting, characters you love (and love to hate) and twists and turns on every page. This blockbuster book will keep you up through the night. It’s the book that everyone will be talking about this winter and a must-have on every teen’s Christmas list!”