The gathering place for the surviving group is a house in which they call “The Shallows” and only this group knows about this house. The Shallows remains vacant the rest of the year until this group arrives. While Cassidy is at the gathering at The Shallows, she starts to learn more and more about the other survivors- things she has overlooked in the past. And has someone been watching them? This slow burn, claustrophobic mystery made me assumptions till I reached the last chapter. Tension slowly builds and when things finally escalated you feel the exact goosebumps, sitting at the edge of your seat, increasing your reading speed to find out the big revelation. The author successfully didn’t give much away and the final twists make you scream WTH! I didn’t see them coming! Cassidy Bent has no intention of attending the only survivors annual reunion at The Shallows, the beachside home belonging to one of them. That is until she hears of the death of Alan. Amaya, Clara, Grace, Oliver, Joshua, Ian, Hollis, Brady and of course, Cass are bound together by the miracle that there are any survivors at all from the 2013 disaster. The story is told Then and Now via which we gradually learn what/how they survive and what they have collectively guarded as secret. However, is the truth genie finally out of the bottle?

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.” There were four cars in a row out front, the last being Amaya’s rust-colored sedan, with a collection of decals lining the rear windshield. It was already late afternoon—I assumed I was the last to arrive. Not everyone lived within driving distance anymore. Bound by this horrific ordeal, the survivors make a pact to come together each year to commemorate it. I have to say, for a group of adults, they sure think and behave like teenagers. Did their emotional development get stunted at the time of the tragedy? Perhaps. Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the 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?

Growing up, Miranda lived in New Jersey [9] [3] [5] and spent time at her grandparents' house in the Poconos. [4] Megan Miranda's 'Fracture': Compelling thriller and romance is life-affirming". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 5, 2023.

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!Consider the structure of The Only Survivors. How do the shifting time frames and point of views impact the story? While reading, did you think that Cassidy was a reliable narrator? Did you think any of the other POVs were ones to distrust? Grace saw Ben arguing with Mr Kates, driver of the first van. It seems like Ben cheated. Ben suggests that Mr. Kates has an inappropriate relationship with Grace. On the morning she would’ve been leaving for the tenth year reunion, she gets a text from an unknown phone number, informing her that another one of the Survivors is dead. The turnoff appeared before I was ready for it, a cluster of uncoordinated mailboxes before a faded street sign, bent from the wind and sun-scorched white at the center. Read more of Megan Miranda’s books! The Last to Vanish and Such a Quiet Place offer unique but similarly satisfying thrillers with a twist.