Breakout

by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D Jackson, Nic Stone

For Thurgood Marshall Academy's best and brightest--five friends who've been thick as thieves since kindergarten--this spring break is all about forgetting: they want nothing more than to wash away last year's tragedy, and the human-shaped hole it left in their friend group.

It's a hole the new kid, Anthony Brooks, seems to fit right into. So when he invites the Five to join him on a private island for a week at his dad's luxury resort, they agree with zero hesitation. No one's counting on a freak tropical storm swooping in and killing the vibe. And speaking of killing, they're also ill-prepared for the mounting collection of dead bodies... including (another) one of their own.

As their dream trip unravels, everything they tried to leave behind--secrets, lies, betrayals, dead best friends--seems to be washing up on the shore of their lives for everyone to see. Will any of them make it out alive?

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Romance, Horror, Summer

352 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 2, 2026

About the author

Dhonielle Clayton is a New York Times bestselling author of The Marvellers series, The Belles series, Shattered Midnight, co-author of Blackout, Whiteout, The Rumor Game, and of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side. She taught secondary school for several years, and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She is the President and founder of Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, IP story companies creating diverse books for all ages. She’s an avid traveller, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief. Find her on Instagram: @brownbookworm.

Reviews

[Deborah Zeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Quill Tree Books and Netgalley for the eARC!

Spring break was supposed to be a reset… not a body count. 😳🌴

Five friends. One tragedy they never got over. And a brand-new guy who fits into their group a little too perfectly…

When Anthony invites them to a private island getaway at his family’s luxury resort, it feels like the escape they’ve been desperate for. No drama. No memories. Just sun, ocean, and a fresh start.

Until the storm hits. ⛈️
And then… the bodies start showing up.

One by one, secrets they buried last year start washing ashore—lies, betrayals, and the truth about the friend they lost. And now? It’s happening again.

Trust no one.
Leave nothing buried.
Because this island? It remembers everything.

Who’s making it off alive… and who was never meant to? 👀🔪

Twists, turns, and surprises at every part of this story. LIke one of the characters says: "Nobody really knows anybody else because we are too busy trying to manage what other people think." Clayton/Jackson/Stone/Thomas/Woodfolk/Yoon knock it out of the park with this nonstop, heart pounding and sometimes "heart-wrenching" story of betrayal, deceit and oneupmanship. A very interesting cast of characters, compared to the characters in the two previous books by these amazing writers. The reader never knows who to truly trust. It's five, or six, if you count Ant, extremely unreliable narrators, who are so full of animosity against one another that they cannot see the trouble brewing right in front of their faces. If you like stories in the vein of One of Us Is Back, this one is for you!

[Sacha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

The greatest asset of this writing team is the combined star power and reputation they possess as individuals and now as a group after several joint efforts. Simultaneously, all of this acclaim comes with high expectations. I anticipate anything I read from some of these folks - including a couple of my all-time YA favs who are in this group - is not just going to be good. It'll be exceptional. That's why it's a bummer that this is just okay.

One huge barrier I experienced with this book is a fault of timing, not of these writers or anything else. Immediately prior to this book, I read a forthcoming YA novel centering on a murder mystery within a wealthy family. That book is so well done, so it was tough not to compare at times (especially when randomly a character with that afore-referenced author's name appears in this book)! So timing was not on this book's side. Aside from that, all of the challenges are inherent in this book.

There are a lot of characters, and I'm confounded by the choice to give some of them nicknames - even more for us to track. Overall, by doing too much, this book is not doing enough. Too many characters, too many details, not enough distinction between characters at times, multiple timelines, and an obvious point person... It's not BAD, but it's also not good, and that feels tough for this group of exceptional creators.

Would I read this again? Yes because I won't miss anything some of these folks generate. Do I think the short stories that evolve into a unified front (a la _Blackout_ and _Whiteout_) present a more exciting and impactful structure for this collab? Yes. I hope the next effort gives me more of that.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Quill Tree Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I always enjoy a good mystery within a mystery and this one had me hooked! Last year during Spring Break Keisha died, she was part of Thurgood Marshall Academy’s The Six. Six friends who’d been together since kindergarten and were all filthy rich. Now there’s only five and Noelle is the outcast after she gave broke the pact the five of them had made after Keisha’s death. Anthony Brooks is new to school and he’s made it his mission to get to know these five friends, Noelle’s even his girlfriend. Now these six are off on another Spring Break adventure, this time at Anthony’s father’s island resort where they’ll have the island to themselves as the resort is being partially renovated. Soon they are hit by tropical storms, all communication and electricity is gone from the island, and to top it off someone else is dead. It’s Déjà vu for the five friends, but who did it? As the already fractured friend group beings to fracture even more they’ll have to decide who can they trust? Especially when they all have secrets, secrets they’ll do anything to keep. As more people die it becomes clear that someone is out to get them, maybe someone who’s determined to find out what really happened to Keisha. What are the friends hiding? And can they make it out alive? Thrilling and kept me guessing! I loved the morally greyness of this group of friends! Lots of secrets, lies, mistrust, and betrayal in this one! Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon do an excellent job of keeping the twists coming right up until the very end!

[Katy Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

First things first -- unlike the other books by this group of authors, this is NOT a romance. However, it is a very twisty and well-written thriller/suspense/mystery novel that I think many teens will get into. It's about a group of six Black kids called "The Six" who attend school together and come from powerful and wealthy families. Together they go on spring break to Ant's father's resort on an island. However, as soon as they get there, the tropical storms start hitting, and everything spirals out of control. The story is told from multiple points of view -- and not just the teens but also the staff at the resort where they're staying. I will say the switching of not only perspectives but also going back and forth in time is going to be tricky for teen readers. There's a lot to keep track of -- not just the present storyline but also the past that led them there, namely the death of one of the original six, Keisha. As the story unfolds, we're forced to question who we can trust as narrators, just like the characters are questioning who they can trust, especially as one of them ends up murdered. I think readers who enjoy these authors, thrillers, suspense, mystery, or a forced proximity/trapped with a killer trope will like this one. Certainly the authors' notoriety will lead many to pick up this title. Though it was different from what I thought it was going to be, I still enjoyed it and look forward to recommending it in my high school library. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read a free ARC on NetGalley.
New wealthy student Anthony Brooks becomes friends with the five most influential kids at his school. He invites them to Kuzimu, an all inclusive private island resort in the Florida Keys owned by his father. The teens are ready to have a good time but things go wrong pretty quickly. Tropical storms are coming, the resort is still under renovation in parts, and the teens can’t communicate with anyone as there is no wi- fi. The cracks in the friend group begin to show. A year ago, before Anthony got there, there were the Six- Keisha, Noelle, Dwayne, Sydney, Quatro and River. After Keisha’s suspicious accidental drowning, their friendship was never the same. Things have gotten worse since Noelle gave a recent interview to a reporter about Keisha. They are all anticipating an awkward, anger fueled vacation until people start dying. Now everyone is suspicious of everyone else compounded by the fact that everyone is hiding secrets that they don’t want exposed, secrets that someone out there seems to know about. The teens start to wonder if everything links back to Keisha and her death.
This gave me elements of And Then There Were None meets the telenovela Elite. I figured out who was responsible for Keisha’s death but not why- that was a surprise. The person behind the murders was surprising but I think I was more invested Keisha’s life with the Six and the circumstances behind her death as described in flashbacks than the current mystery murderer on the island and how the teens would escape it.

[Ladystarlight Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Break Out

Can you outrun the worst thing you’ve ever done?

Five friends, inseparable since childhood, are invited by the new kid, Anthony, to his dad’s luxury resort. The dream getaway turns into a nightmare when one of their own turns up dead after a storm.
Secrets and lies will be revealed, and they may not all make it out alive.

I’ve never read a book with six authors, and you could occasionally tell when a different author was writing each chapter. The language, for example, varied. However, it did not detract from enjoying the book.

This is a modern take on the classic Agatha Christie who-done-it, with lots of twists I didn't always see coming, especially the ending. My prediction of the ending was completely off.

It would have been nice to know a little more about the secondary characters and have them fleshed out a bit more; all the main characters had very distinct personalities and characteristics, which led me to not like all of them. However, that's the sign of a well-written character.

I personally feel this book is aimed at the younger end of YA, as it’s not particularly graphic, and I feel older teens would not necessarily relate to the characters. (I'm an adult reader for context)

Overall, if you’re a fan of:
Murder mysteries
Secrets and lies between friends
Multiple POVs
Trapped together with the murderer

You will enjoy reading this book, and I give it 3.5 stars.

Thank you, Electric Monkey, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

[Carmen Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay yeah… this book stressed me OUT!😭 After loving Blackout and Whiteout, I honestly didn’t expect Breakout to go this hard into thriller territory, but it absolutely worked for me.

The atmosphere becomes tense so fast once everyone gets trapped together on the island, and from that point on, I trusted NOBODY, and I mean NO ONE!

I loved that every character felt messy and real. The friendships already had cracks before things started spiraling, so once secrets started coming out, everything felt emotionally charged.
You could tell these characters had history. I felt resentment, grief, attraction, jealousy... just waiting to explode.

Not to mention the power house of authors on this project made it an instant need to read, and even with having so many creative ideas from so many talented authors, somehow, even with that, the story still flowed really well.

There was this constant tension hanging over the entire story that kept me reading “just one more chapter." Also… them being trapped on a private island with people who clearly don’t fully trust each other anymore?? Immediate chaos.

If you like:
friend group drama
locked-room mysteries
multiple POVs
secrets and betrayals
YA thrillers where literally everyone seems suspicious

…you’ll probably eat this up like I did.
By the end, I was sitting there like: “oh so NONE of y’all were okay.” 😭

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

To use the star power of each of the writers to create a teen thriller is no joke. The names are great contributors to the scene of YA literature. Blackout and Whiteout were a short story collection that told a full story while this definitely reads as one complete story where they assumed the roles of characters in the murder mystery on a private island. The problem is that it feels like all of the rest in this genre from the last handful of years. A vengeful person from the outskirts comes in and upends the world of a group of teens because tragedy seems to strike again and again. It's a complete suspension of disbelief in that sense, but it's a comfort in the genre. So I don't begrudge the hallmarks of the story.

A group of friends, six at the time from a private academy enjoy a vacation together. One dies. A year later they get to a private island and a resort a few months from actually being completed- invited as part of their new friend's insistence. Readers are introduced to the friends in a mult-POV, nonlinear timeline which also includes the secondary characters like the chef, the bellhop, etc. Fast forward after a natural disaster, a first death and ultimately by the end, multiple deaths. Rich kids with egos and connections, but someone hellbent on revenge. It works and there will be fans.

[Gina Malanga · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I’m so bummed because I really love all of these authors and I have loved the last two books that they have done together as collaborations. However, those books very much felt like short stories that had characters in common as the overlap. Where is this really feels like one complete book. My main problem was that I could not keep track of who the people were, what time it was, past, present, on the island or off the island. Even when I was reading in large chunks to try to maintain some understanding, I had a really hard time following what was going on. They’re just seemed to be too many red herrings, and too many things thrown in to distract the reader that then it became hard to focus at all.

That being said, I did really like the concept of the story. These six friends get trapped on an island together during a hurricane, and all of them have secrets involving the death of their best friend the previous year. Not many of these people are likable and all of them are hiding something, but I couldn’t even stay focused on them because there was always new characters and new ideas being introduced. I will, of course, always ride hard for these authors, but this one was a little bit of a miss for me.

[Shameria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw that my favorite collectives of authors were collaborating again, I immediately knew I had to read this. I went in completely blind without reading the synopsis, trusting it would be a great experience.

Six teenagers on spring break at an all-inclusive island… what could possibly go wrong? Well… everything!! This book is packed with multiple POVs, twists, and turns that had me questioning everything I read up until the very end. And that ending? A COMPLETE surprise. I’m not even going to lie, I had a whole detective moment with a whiteboard trying to piece everything together.

It was definitely a page turner, but at times there was a lot going on. The number of perspectives and plot shifts made certain parts a little hard to follow, and I found myself wanting a bit more clarity and development in some areas.

Overall, it was an engaging and fast paced read, even if it felt slightly overwhelming at times. And somehow… I still have questions. If you’re looking for a book that will have you playing detective and second-guessing everything, this is definitely for you.

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the authors who brought us Blackout and Whiteout.
🏝️
Five close friends hoping to escape the grief of a past tragedy accept an invitation to a luxury private island for spring break. But when a tropical storm traps them there and bodies begin piling up, their getaway turns deadly. As old secrets and betrayals resurface, the group must figure out who they can trust before none of them make it off the island alive.
🌀
I loved the character development in this one, and the setting/mood were so well done. The isolated island atmosphere mixed with the tension and paranoia made it incredibly immersive. I also really enjoyed how this anthology was different from the previous ones by telling one cohesive story instead of separate connected pieces. It made me so curious about everyone’s writing process and how it all came together so seamlessly. And that twist! The final sentence had me like WHAT?! If there’s ever a fourth book, I’m officially voting for the title Fallout. This YA thriller releases June 2!

CW: death, grief, murder, blackmail, drugs, classism, blood, body horror

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six friends go on spring break a year after one of their group died under mysterious circumstances. Everyone has secrets, everyone is hiding something. They’re on an island that is under siege from a hurricane and people are dying one by one…

It sounds amazing, right? Especially when you factor in that j love each of these authors individually. To me, it didn’t work. There was too much jumping around in time and between different POVs. I had a hard time keeping track of the narrative and the characters and new ones kept getting tossed in there. It just didn’t work for me. The premise and authors will give this a built-in fandom, but it wasn’t for me.

The ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Comes out June 2, 2026.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This book was super interesting and I was very invested. The idea of them being trapped on the island is what drew me in. I did predict one of the major plot twists but it did not affect how much I liked the book. I felt bad for Noelle most of the story and thought the other kids were absolute jerks.

I did feel like the multiple POVs (more than like 10) were unnecessary. Some I could see how they helped add to the storyline but the rest were completely unnecessary and made things more confusing.

Thank you to Quill Tree Books & NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Yapha · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5 stars, rounded up)

Let me start by saying this is NOT a romance. It is a fantastic story, masterfully told, and also quite different than the first two books by this stellar collaboration. Breakout is a mystery/thriller told in flashbacks from multiple POVs. It is one whole story, not the intertwined short stories of the first two books. Every one of the main characters is hiding something, and the well-timed reveals are delicious. Brilliantly plotted and paced, this is a must read for fans of thrillers and books about the ultra-privileged elite. Clear your calendar, you aren't going to want to put it down. Highly recommended for grades 9 and up.

eARC provided by NetGalley

[ReadingWithSiobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to like Breakout. I love the authors and their personal writing styles. I hate to say that I think this book was drawn out.

I liked that there were multiple POVs, but I found some of them to be unnecessary and confusing. As I tried to keep up with the story, I got lost because of new characters being introduced. I feel like they took away from the storyline.

I enjoyed the concept of a group of teenagers trapped on an island, but I think the way it was done is a little lackluster.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, HarperCollins Children's Books for providing the copy of Breakout by Dhonielle Clayton; Tiffany D. Jackson; Nic Stone; Angie Thomas; Ashley Woodfolk; Nicola Yoon. Considering there were six authors, the writing was incredibly cohesive. I have read and loved the writing of five of these authors, and their expertise shows in this book. I loved the story and the characters! I’m not a fan of why the murders happened and who was responsible, and it felt farfetched to me. I predicted the other big reveal from the middle of the book. 4 stars

[Samantha Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m confused!

I love so many of these authors so my hopes were high! I love the idea of “trapped somewhere and people dying and karma biting everyone in the ass” but this one fell a little flat for me :-/ I’m not super convinced by the ending and the story along the way dragged at times, but the writing was good and it picked up at the end!!

[mikeyandherbooks]

E-Arc provided by NetGalley

You could've told me this was written by one author and I would believe you - this didn't hold quite the same magic as Blackout & Whiteout for me. This was a interesting read and I wanted to find out what was going on but then the ending felt kind of rushed and it wasn't a very satisfying conclusion to the mystery.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

EARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
This group of authors has done it again- created a cast of characters whose story kept me hooked from the beginning. It’s not as much of a romance as the others, but the turns and twists that take place during the group’s trip kept this reader wanting more. And that ending!? I can see this being a great choice for small group reading and discussion.

[H. Woodward · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a huge disappointment. I love these authors, and sometimes authors writing together is a great idea. This was not a great idea. The characters were terrible, shallow people. The book was poorly structured, an attempt at a suspenseful reality show? I guess?

[Tiera Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this SO MUCH. I really enjoyed parts of the story but other parts just really dragged on for me.

🌟Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!🌟