49 pages • 1 hour read
Natalie D. RichardsFive Total Strangers
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Mira is flying home from California to Pennsylvania to spend the Christmas holiday with her mother. On the flight, she meets Harper, “an international relations major at Pomona” (6), who believes Mira is also a college student. Mira actually attends an art high school in California that her now-deceased Aunt Phoebe encouraged her to go to. Mira was close to her Aunt Phoebe, her mother’s twin sister, and is still grieving her death from cancer a year prior.
Upon landing, Mira and Harper learn flights from Newark have been cancelled because of an impending snowstorm. Harper announces she’s going to rent a car to get home and invites Mira to join her. Mira refuses. However, when she calls her stepfather, Daniel, to let him know that she might not make it home that night, he tells her that he and Mira’s mother separated. Mira reflects on her mother’s profound grief a year ago and worries about her being alone on the anniversary of Phoebe’s death.
Mira finds Harper and learns that Harper has rented a car. Harper again invites Mira to travel with her, informing Mira that she has invited three others—Brecken, Josh, and Kayla—all college-aged people who were on the same flight. Anxious to get home, Mira decides to join them.
Chapter 2 Summary
Mira calls her best friend, Zari, to find out what Zari’s mother—a coworker of Mira’s mother—might know about Daniel and her mother’s separation. Mira feels unhappy as she realizes she is the last to know about the separation. Harper invites everyone over to the rented white SUV, and Brecken loads all their baggage in the back. Mira sits next to Josh, who wears a knee brace and is walking with crutches, while Kayla sits on Mira’s other side. Harper drives and Brecken takes the front passenger seat.
As the road trip begins, there is a little conversation between Mira and Josh. Josh is a quiet business major who finds Mira’s artistic aspirations unimpressive. Mira avoids opportunities to tell the truth—that she is not a college student and is still in high school. Mira notes that the roads are clear and there are only a few flurries. However, the radio warns that a blizzard is expected later in the afternoon.
Chapter 3 Summary
The SUV hits a few patches of black ice on the highway. The windshield wipers become clogged with ice, making them useless. As Harper and Brecken discuss the situation, Mira looks at her phone and finds text messages from her parents wondering about her whereabouts. Mira texts her mother to let her know she got a ride home with a friend, but she lies and says she’s with Harper’s family rather than a group of college-aged strangers.
Josh points out a potential accident on the road ahead, indicated by red on his phone’s map. As they discuss it, they come across a small accident on the side of the road. After they pass, Harper again complains about not being able to see out of the windshield. She and Brecken try to break the ice off the windshield wipers while the SUV is moving, but it doesn’t work, so Brecken instructs Harper to pull over. Harper cuts her finger while trying to clear the windshield wipers. Brecken treats it with bandages from a first aid kit in Josh’s bag. As Brecken and Harper continue to stand outside the car, a Mustang loses control on the ice and spins toward them.
An anonymous letter dated December 26 is addressed to Mira and talks about a day in the hospital coffee shop when the writer paid for Mira’s cups of coffee. The writer feels like there was an instant connection between them; the writer never forgot this and plans to make sure Mira never forgets.
Chapter 4 Summary
The Mustang doesn’t hit the SUV but comes to a stop against the concrete barrier. Brecken checks the driver and then returns to the SUV, taking over as driver at Harper’s request. Mira is unsettled by the episode. They stop at a gas station, and get out to use the bathrooms. When Mira emerges, she finds Josh alone. He points out Brecken, Harper, and Kayla at the back of the SUV. Josh says Brecken wants to put snow chains on the SUV, to which Mira responds that it isn’t snowy enough yet. Josh agrees.
Mira steps aside to call her mother, assuring her that the weather isn’t too bad. Mira tries to change the subject by asking about her mother’s well-being, but her mother is focused on Mira’s safety. Mira manages to soothe her mother’s concerns. Mira then checks her text messages and learns from Zari that Zari’s mother refuses to discuss Mira’s mother, increasing Mira’s anxiety. Mira puts her phone away and goes to get a drink from a vending machine.
Chapter 5 Summary
There’s a man in the vending alcove with a yellow hat, old work boots, and what looks like a burn scar on his hand. The man smells of disinfectant, reminding Mira of the hospital where Aunt Phoebe died. Mira speaks to the man, but he doesn’t respond. Josh finds her and rushes her back to the car. At the SUV, they learn Brecken hasn’t put on the snow chains because they are broken. Brecken tells them the chains look as though someone purposely used a tool to damage several of the links.
Brecken tells everyone that the line of storms appears to be heading south and that they should go north to Interstate 80. Mira argues that I-80 goes through the mountains and that the roads will be worse there if the storm hits. Josh argues that the roads are better maintained in the mountains because it is a major transportation corridor. In the end, Brecken convinces everyone but Mira to take I-80. The conversation leads Mira to realize that none of these people know each other. She’s embarrassed by her naivety in believing some of them did and unsettled by the revelation that they are all truly strangers.
Chapter 6 Summary
They leave the highway and drive through a small town to connect to I-80. They almost hit a van that skids on the ice. Kayla expresses annoyance and Josh is clearly in pain from his knee injury. Harper and Brecken have an exchange that appears deeply personal and secretive. Mira thinks again about her mother, desperately worried about leaving her alone on the anniversary of Phoebe’s death.
The roads clear as they approach and get on I-80. Despite her wariness about her co-travelers, Mira falls asleep. When she wakes, the weather has worsened, and the SUV is sliding on ice. Brecken asks for someone to look up a map to see if there are problems ahead. Harper tries, but her phone struggles to connect. Mira tries but gets carsick, so she hands her phone to Josh. Josh warns that there’s a large accident ahead, and as they crest a hill they see dozens of red lights on a bridge ahead of them. Brecken tries to slow down, but the SUV begins to slide. They are hit from behind and go into a spin.
An anonymous letter dated February 4 explains that the writer moved to California and was surprised to see Mira again during an art exhibit at a local gallery. The writer believes this proves that they were meant to be together. The writer even managed to get Mira’s address from a woman at the gallery.
Chapters 1-6 Analysis
Natalie D. Richards begins the novel with her main character, Mira, locked inside an airplane fuselage, referencing the thriller trope of isolated locations. Richards uses turbulence to introduce hints of danger into the tone of this seemingly safe moment. At the same time, the first-person narration forces the reader to see all the events of the novel through Mira’s perspective only, prepping the reader to be so connected to Mira’s subjectivity that they miss the larger and more dangerous picture.
The reader soon learns about the death of Mira’s aunt, Phoebe, introducing the theme of Unexplored Grief. Mira was close to her aunt but seems focused on her mother’s grief, assuming her mother must be grief-stricken by the anniversary without talking to her about it. The focus on Mira’s mother as a projection and denial of her own grief is a repeated aspect of the story, motivating many of Mira’s decisions as the plot develops—most notably, her decision to accept a ride from Mira’s college-aged seatmate on the plane. Harper is a carefree, intelligent, affluent young woman who appears to have a big heart and care for others. Harper’s decision to rent a car to keep traveling demonstrates that she is a problem-solver who desires to help those around her. The fact that Harper seems safe and confident makes Mira take Harper up on her offer of a ride, even though she is nervous about traveling with strangers.
The other three characters of the novel are introduced as Mira gets in the rental car. All seem benign. Brecken is another affluent teen who is talkative and appears to have a close relationship with Harper. Josh appears to have an incapacitating leg injury and is studious and quiet. Kayla, the final member of the group, is quiet and often asleep. Nevertheless, the theme of The Consequences of Dishonesty and Distrust is quickly introduced, as Mira becomes aware of a secretive aspect to Harper and Brecken’s relationship, which Josh purposefully underscores by mentioning it. Later Mira learns that this group of people just met at the airport, undermining the idea of a personal relationship. This adds to the atmosphere of distrust, as it seems like someone might be lying about the nature of Harper and Brecken’s relationship. Further, the anonymous letters are introduced early on, injecting dramatic irony into the story, as the reader knows more than Mira about the circumstances of the trip and the danger she faces.
The first moment of danger occurs when a Mustang nearly strikes the SUV. Although neither the car nor Mira and her companions suffer damage, the tone is set; it’s clear they are in danger. When Mira sees the man in the yellow hat at the rest stop, she instantly senses trouble, not only because of his odd behavior, but also because he smells like the hospital where Mira’s aunt died. This evokes the theme of Mira’s unexplored grief, as Mira’s response is likely only a sensory response to the memory of Phoebe’s death.
Obsession and Isolation is a further theme of the novel. The decision to change the route is a significant development, and it appears to be Brecken’s doing. However, it leads to more danger later, when the five companions find themselves stuck on bad roads and in danger of a pile up. This decision also places the companions in the mountains where they are more isolated by the landscape and the weather than they might have been on their previous route. Mira is isolated not only through traveling in an SUV with four people she doesn’t know, but also via the potential danger the weather and other drivers present. Obsession enters the narrative in the unsigned letters from an unknown person to Mira. These letters describe a mundane meeting in the hospital, but the writer (who is, much later, revealed to be Josh) felt an instant connection that they believe the second chance meeting affirmed. These letters show Josh’s obsession with Mira, and the reader, without all of the information, can only understand that she is danger from an unknown source. The first two letters indicate that more letters will be coming, increasing the obsessive tone and heightening the atmosphere of danger.
