Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards
"When Mira flies home to spend Christmas with her mother in Pittsburgh, a record-breaking blizzard results in a cancelled layover. Desperate to get to her grief-ridden mother in the wake of a family death, Mira hitches a ride with a group of friendly college kids who were on her initial flight.
As the drive progresses and weather conditions become more treacherous, Mira realizes that the four other passengers she's stuck in the car with don't actually know one another.
Soon, they're not just dealing with heavy snowfall and ice-slick roads, but the fact that somebody will stop at nothing to ensure their trip ends in a deadly disaster."
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Aside from the fact that this book is an amalgamation of: What Not To Do When You're Caught In A Snowstorm/Blizzard (ie: 'What Not To Do At A Red Light' a la Spongebob Squarepants) our Main Character follows the concept religiously.
Taking rides from strangers, trusting four individuals she does not know with both her life and property, not going immediately to the police during a hit-and-run, not informing the police of a robbery/giving information as to why a robbery occurred, taking a mountain pass during a blizzard, not looking for the nearest emergency station when their safety is threatened, the list goes on unfortunately.
Excluding the innumerous times I wanted to headdesk, and had thrown my hands in the air while mentally screaming 'What the heck, Richards?' I continued reading; wanting to know if my belief in the 'stalker' was correct or if the author would throw in some bizzaro ending just to shake things up.
Altogether, it was not the worst thriller I've read, and it did in fact keep my attention as I wanted to know "What else could go wrong to this collective group of weirdos?" So if you're looking for a decent thriller with collective 'Why would you do that' drop-ins, and an ending that's kind of 'eh?' give 'Five Total Strangers' a chance.
Rating:
(2.5/5) Two and a half out of five functioning brains in that vehicle