Review: Five Total Strangers

 Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards Published 2020


I'll be home for Christmas;

You can plan on me.

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents on the tree.

“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” by Bing Crosby


All Mira wants is to be home for Christmas, but when her final flight home is grounded due to an incoming blizzard, she wonders how or if she will make it home in time. Harper, who sat next to Mira on the flight, has the perfect solution - she's renting a car with her friends and isn't going to let a little snow keep her from making it home for the holidays. Harper asks Mira if she wants to ride with her and her friends. She seems nice enough and Mira wonders what could possibly go wrong.


In a last-ditch effort to get home for Christmas, Mira agrees to ride with Harper and her friends. Only, it becomes very clear that these friends aren’t exactly friends. Harper is the kind of girl who immediately befriends anyone she speaks to. Before she has time to second-guess her decision, Mira has agreed to join Harper, Kayla, Josh, and Brecken, as they all take the last car the airport has to offer.


Driving home can’t possibly be worse than waiting out the storm, can it? 

That was the first of what would be many bad decisions. 


Not long into the drive, things start going wrong. As snow moves in, the car companions decide snow chains on the tires would be helpful. What’s not helpful, is the tire chains being far-too damaged to be of any help. A decision to bypass the track of the storm by going through the mountains proves to throw them right into the midst of the blizzard. The mountainous trek slides them right into the throes of a multi-car pile-up in which they narrowly escape being decimated by semis. During it all, the group keeps encountering a strange man at nearly every stop.


On top of everything, personal items start missing. First, it’s Harper’s wallet when the group needs to pay for gas. Next, it’s Mira’s phone. Josh’s book. Item after item goes missing and no one in the car seems to be responsible. Could it be the man that they can’t seem to escape?


Finally, Mira finds a cache of letters from a mysterious admirer? Are they from the mysterious man then keep crossing paths with or someone in the car? What seemed like a short roadtrip home, has turned into the trip from hell. Will Mira ever make it home? 


If you like suspense, Five Total Strangers is the read for you.

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