We Won't All Survive

By Kate Alice Marshall
​** Publication Date 29 July 2025**
4 stars
Mass shootings have become all too common in the US. Seems like so many try to solve their problems with guns. In this novel, a survivor of a mass shooting is front and center. Reminding us that even though physical wounds can heal, psychological wounds will remain.


Mercy feels responsible for her sister Jamie’s college fund being depleted. After all, if she hadn’t spent months in a bed recovering from a shooting, the family would still have money for Jamie’s college. But if Mercy hadn’t saved Jamie from the shooting, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.


Still, Mercy wants Jamie to be able to attend her dream school, Stanford. So much so that when she is approached about participating in a survivor-style reality series, she jumps right in. Because everyone of the participants who does survive the challenge will receive $100,000. 


Damien Dare is the brainchild behind this teenage survival program. He is known for believing that certain events cause us to reach our crossroads and pick a path. He also thinks that our society has become soft and that we’re not going to survive any sort of apocalyptical event. His choices for the challenge are people that have experienced some sort of traumatic event Clearly Mercy has. 


When the contestants arrive at the planned location, something seems off. No one is there except the contestants. No cameramen. No producers or production assistants. Just eight young adults looking for a challenge. Then the gates close and they are trapped. The title says it all, they won’t all survive. 


Well planned and thought out, this novel tackles two elements of our society that aren’t necessarily something of which we should be proud. Reality TV and gun violence. The gun violence is not spoken of very much, as it’s only Mercy’s trauma that falls under it. Our fixation with so-called ‘reality’ TV is more the center of this story. 


The characters are somewhat well-rounded. While we get some backstory about each character, the focus is on Mercy. The tension is at a good level to be suspenseful. I did not solve the mystery right away, though I did get a gut feeling about who might be the culprit. I found this to be a fast-paced novel that I didn’t want to put down. 


It was good! Definitely would recommend to YA or others.