Ponder: The Only Survivors

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda ©2024 is a thriller that held me engaged throughout the novel with plot twists that kept me on my toes. The downside of this favorable review is that, since I read for enjoyment and relaxation, this book kept me so tense I could not alleviate the tightness of the muscles in my neck and shoulders. Reading this novel was a constant battle between enjoyment and relaxation. Although there was not a lot of graphic violence, the sense of danger and impending doom was all pervasive. I felt like I was hearing the background music from the movie Jaws with each page turn. 

A pretty accurate initiation into The Only Survivors is provided on the back cover:

A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine. Only nine survived. 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. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has distanced herself from the tragedy. This year, she is determined to finally break ties with the group once and for all. But when Cassidy receives an anonymous text with the obituary of another survivor, she finds herself going to the reunion once more. Tensions immediately run high, and with a storm approaching, the group finds itself facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters... again. When another survivor suddenly disappears, Cassidy begins to wonder if something stronger than survivors' guilt has drawn them back together.

It was challenging to keep straight the personalities of the those who were survivors but those nine were well developed characters. The characterization of those who did not survive was also presented well. The setting at the Tennessee ravine where the accident occurred was frightful but even the beach house for the annual reunion had a suspenseful, not a peaceful, beach theme. It was perched somewhere on the East Coast amidst sand dunes and adjacent to a campground. Several outdoor decks on multiple levels and external staircases contributed to the creepy feeling of maybe being watched or even vulnerable to invasion.

Triggered memories can be random. The house where the survivors gathered annually called to my mind one vacation where Frank, I, and the kids stayed for a week at a resort in Pajara Dunes, a secluded, gated community nestled on the coast of Monterey Bay CA featuring a collection of beautiful beachfront houses, townhomes, and condominiums. We originally had paid for a condo but due do its broken dishwasher and my brazen complaints that it would be no vacation with three kids and having to hand wash all the dishes, the rental agency relocated us to a three story house with a dark gray beach-weathered exterior. 

Robin and Dan loved the adventure of exploring the huge house and being allowed to sleep on the first floor, two staircases away from their parents on the third floor. I was a bit nervous but Frank convinced me it was OK. The third-floor, large bedroom suite was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows on three sides, providing an awesome view of the ocean waves on one side and sprawling farmlands in the opposite direction. We happened to be there during harvest season. Huge machinery paced back and forth in the distance, highlighted in the dark night by spotlights. The situation did not make for great sleeping but watching the operations was certainly fascinating. Ironic how the eerie experience of The Only Survivors conjured up these intense but pleasant memories from Pajara Dunes. Alex was still in a crib so those memories are over 35 years old!

Who should read The Only Survivors? Those who are fans of horror movies may think this novel is too tame. Those who like suspense and a lot of plot twists and turns will like this. The author's unfolding action alternates between two time periods. The first is an hour by hour account of the accident time in the Tennessee ravine with the storm and raging rising waters. The second is the conversation and exchanges during the tenth anniversary at the beach house with the psychological probing of the survivors a decade past their senior year. Both storylines are equally gripping. 

★★★★☆ Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience