SYNOPSIS: A group of former classmates reunite to mark the 10th anniversary of a tragic accident only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy.

The first day was always like this. Like no one actually wanted to be here, and we bumped up against one another in sharp edges and passive aggressions. Survivors’ guilt, Grace would say. But for every face here, there was another missing, a reality we had to come to terms with each time. Eventually we’d settle into it, into one another, and Grace would convince us that See, we needed to do this. We needed one another. This is my 2nd book by Miranda, and as I rated The Last House Guest 1.5 stars, I feel that maybe she isn’t the author for me. If you’re a fan of slow burns though, I encourage you to give it a try - it will be out April 11th! Last I heard, Oliver was living in New York, managing some prestigious hedge fund. Maybe he was used to people waiting for him now. But he still, always, made time for this. All of us did. A DECADE ago, two vans filled with high school seniors, crashed into a Tennessee ravine, killing all but NINE students who managed to escape the raging river, in the middle of a storm. This reading group guide for The Only Survivors includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Featured Reviews

Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, 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? In past years, we had hovered outside or on the beach, until Oliver arrived with the key code for the unit, which apparently either changed each year or none of us had bothered to ask him before, or remember. My favorite part of this book was the atmosphere. This time, MM transports readers to the Outer Banks. With a deadly storm on the horizon, she creates a narrative that mirrors the feelings of the impending storm: trapped, dangerous, risky, and filled with doom and gloom. This element of the novel was immersive. A heart-pumping thriller… Set in the Outer Banks and full of Miranda’s signature ‘it could happen to you so easily’ tone, this one promises to have you sleeping with the lights on.” a b c d "A scientific approach to writing fiction". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Retrieved 2023-04-04.

On a day I was feeling a little out-of-sorts, The Only Survivor was exactly what I needed. It felt a little like I Know What You Did Last Summer meets And Then There Were None. The past/present storyline worked perfectly as the reader tries to figure out what exactly happened in the past while Cassidy and her friends are trying to figure out what is happening in the present. Megan Miranda is a pro at creating atmosphere, misdirection and suspicion with her words. The Only Survivors reminds me (just a wee bit) of her earlier YA thrillers - but with grownups messing everything up instead. The sense of dread keeps building until you just can't put your ereader down. Forget that deadline or the dishes: you gotta know whodunnit!!!

And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they? Megan Miranda's 'Fracture': Compelling thriller and romance is life-affirming". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 5, 2023. Megan Miranda's 'Fracture': Compelling thriller and romance is life-affirming". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2023-04-05.

The upstairs space?” I heard myself repeating, cutting her off. For the first time, everyone looked at me. “You mean Ian’s room. Let’s call it what it is.” Novel Premise: A group of adults gathers together once a year to remember the tragic accident that took members of their school and two teachers. With two of their fellow comrades already dead and another one missing, it soon becomes clear that someone out there is watching and they want "the survivors" to reveal their secrets once and for all. They keep coming to the Shallow at each year: because it’s a place of safety, and retreat, isolated from the rest of the world, and surrounded on all sides by the endless deep. The plot is typical MM --it isn't new or unique, but comfortable and familiar. The pacing is slow and tedious at times. The story revolves around Cassidy-- a part-time event planner who is distant from her family and can't commit to a long-term relationship. We don't know much about her except that she felt invisible in high school.Russ thinks so. He says that his sister Clara was going to go public with the truth about the accident and Ben’s death, but then she died. She always seemed to have a sixth sense, like she knew I’d been sitting at Russ’s kitchen table that morning with every intention of staying put, knew enough to text me—knew what it would take to get me to come. Didn’t mean to scare you,” I said, dropping my luggage beside the bed closer to the window, in the room we always shared. Creatures of habit, all of us. The comfort of routines lingered from our school years, assigned positions and predicted places. The rooms were almost dormitory-style, with identical layouts: two beds and similar furniture in each. Only the color scheme varied, so we called the rooms by their colors: Grace and Hollis in the yellow room; Brody and Joshua in the navy room. The main bedroom on the first floor always belonged to Oliver. Cassidy Bent is one of the survivors of an accident that happened when she was eighteen years old—two vans carrying high school seniors to a volunteer trip veered off the road into a river in Tennessee. Nine people made it out alive. A year later, when one dies by suicide, the remaining survivors promise to meet up every year on the anniversary—so that none of them has to be alone. Ten years after the accident, Cassidy decides to skip the reunion so that she can finally move forward with her life.

The Only Survivors is the middle of the road compared to previous MM books-- it's not her worst or the best. The mystery behind the survivors was engrossing until the end, the characters were forgetful, but the atmosphere was worthy of 5 stars. It had to be Amaya. She was the one who reached out with the details each year. She cared for us deeply, as a collective. She cared about everything deeply. I could have used another chapter from Grace’s POV, or to have her POV chapter later in the book, to answer some of these questions. These open-ended thrillers are aggravating! His name reverberated through the group with a jolt. There was a prolonged stretch of silence before Josh raised one shoulder in a conceding shrug.

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I definitely recommend The Only Survivors. I thought the past/present narrative structure was very effective. I loved the Outer Banks setting. And I found the book really enjoyable to read.