I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Eva has never felt like she belonged . . . not in her own family or with her friends in New York City, and certainly not at a fancy boarding school like Hardwick Preparatory Academy. So, when she is invited to join the Fives, an elite secret society, she jumps at the opportunity to finally be a part of something.

But what if the Fives are about more than just having the best parties and receiving special privileges from the school? What if they are also responsible for keeping some of Hardwick’s biggest secrets buried?

1962:

There is only one reason why Connie would volunteer to be one of the six students to participate in testing Hardwick’s nuclear fallout shelter: Craig Allenby. While the thought of nuclear war sends her into a panic, she can’t pass up the opportunity to spend four days locked in with the school’s golden boy.

However, Connie and the other students quickly discover that there is more to this “test” than they previously thought. As they are forced to follow an escalating series of commands, Connie realizes that one wrong move could have dangerous consequences.

Separated by sixty years, Eva and Connie’s stories become inextricably intertwined as Eva unravels the mystery of how six students went into the fallout shelter all those years ago . . . but only five came out.

Short and Sweet Review

Present day: Eva doesn’t feel like she belongs not with her family or with her friends back at home, so she definitely doesn’t feel like she belongs at Hardwick Preparatory Academy. When Eva has the chance to join a secret society called the Fives she jumps at the chance to finally belong to something, but the Fives are hiding some of the school’s biggest secrets.

Past: It’s 1962 and one of the biggest worries is a possible nuclear war so when Hardwick makes a fallout shelter and gives six students the opportunity to stay in it for four days Connie volunteers. But the only reason Connie volunteers is Craig Allenby the schools golden boy. The fallout shelter isn’t what any of the students expected, it ends up being more of an experiment and six students went in but only five make it out.

Both of our main characters go to Hardwick Preparatory Academy but during different time periods. We see Connie during the 60s and Eva during the present day. Connie is more timid and the thought of a nuclear war freaks her out. Connie only agrees to volunteer to go in the fallout shelter because Craig Allenby is also planning to go and she likes him, problem is he has a girlfriend. While in the fallout shelter we see the students go through scenarios and drills that their teacher who is running the fallout shelter is making them go through. Over the course of the four days we see the students make questionable decisions which one student questions. In the end Connie starts wondering if she made the right decision signing up and how she’s going to make it out.

Eva is more sure of herself than Connie so when she gets an invite to join the Fives she’s all about it. After doing all the initiation stuff and being accepted Eva learns that the fallout shelter is an off limit topic. Eva also meets Erik during track and learns that one of the students who was in the fallout shelter that died was a relative of his and that sets of the mystery. While trying to avoid getting caught by Dean Allenby (yes that Allenby) and the fives, Erik and Eva sneak around and try to find as much information about the fallout shelter and the people in it as they can.

I liked how the two stories intertwined. I got a creepy feeling while reading this book and I loved it! I felt so bad about what happened in the fallout shelter it did seem like an unfortunate accident. The ending was great and I’m happy that everyone seemed to get some kind of closure.