Five Total Strangers

Five Total Strangers, a young adult thriller by New York Times bestselling author Natalie D. Richards, follows Mira, a high school student and artist, as she attempts to get home during a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Told in Mira’s first-person narration interspersed with anonymous letters that Mira has not read, the novel follows Mira’s attempts to survive the journey home. After her flight is cancelled, Mira goes against all her instincts and accepts a ride with strangers, unaware that one of the people in the car is the letter writer, who has been obsessed with her for nearly a year. The novel was published in 2020 by Sourcebooks Fire, an imprint of Sourcebooks.

This study guide references the Sourcebooks Fire Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material deals heavily with stalking and includes drug abuse and violence.

Plot Summary

Mira is flying home from California to Pennsylvania to spend the Christmas holiday with her mother. On the flight, she meets a young woman named Harper. As they arrive in Newark, Mira discovers that nearly all flights, including her own, have been cancelled due to an impending snowstorm. Harper says she’s going to rent a car and offers Mira a ride, but Mira turns her down. Mira calls her stepfather and learns that her mother and stepfather have separated, meaning Mira’s mother will be alone on the upcoming anniversary of the death of Aunt Phoebe, Mira’s mother’s twin sister. Mira doubles down on her efforts to get home.

Mira finds Harper and discovers that Harper has agreed to give rides to three other college-age students who are also stranded: Brecken, Josh, and Kayla. Harper is thrilled when Mira decides to join them. The five of them stow their things in the back of Harper’s rented SUV and head out. Not far from the airport, they begin hitting patches of black ice, rattling Harper’s nerves. Not long after that, the windshield freezes, making it difficult to see the road. Harper decides to pull over at a gas station.

The first anonymous letter from Mira’s stalker details the first time the stalker saw Mira in the hospital and how the stalker bought her a cup of coffee.

At the gas station, Mira sees a man in a yellow hat who gives her an odd feeling. The man smells like the hospital where Aunt Phoebe died. Back on the road, Brecken drives and suggests they use a different highway, a major truck route through the mountains, because he believes those roads will be better maintained during the snowstorm. Mira argues that there will be more snow up there and it will be more treacherous, but Brecken decides to do it anyway. As they travel to higher elevations, they come to a downward slope that ends at an icy bridge. The SUV slips, sliding into a concrete barrier, but though damaged, it is still drivable. The cars behind them are also slipping on the ice, so Brecken quickly maneuvers the SUV toward the bridge as a semi comes toward them, sliding sideways down the hill. They barely make it out without being hit.

Another anonymous letter shows that the writer moved to California and happened to run into Mira at an art gallery. The letter writer secretly got Mira’s address without speaking to her.

Brecken drives the SUV to a gas station where Mira and the others get out to stretch their legs, get some snacks, and fill up on gas. Mira isn’t feeling well, so she looks for medication in the gas station. She observes Harper and Brecken speaking closely to one another and Josh speaking with Kayla. As Mira pays for her purchases, she discovers that Harper has lost her wallet and cannot pay for the gas. The five of them search the SUV and the gas station for the lost wallet, with no luck. Brecken makes the decision to drive away without paying. The owner of the gas station and his son follows them, but the group hides in a campground off a side road.

At the campground, Mira realizes her phone is missing. They search the SUV but are unable to find it. Another letter is included here, telling Mira that the writer knows she feels the same way and should reach out. Harper resumes driving and drives the SUV into a snowbank. While Brecken and Harper dig the car out, Mira borrows Brecken’s phone to call her father in California. Mira’s father assures her that her mother is fine despite the separation from her husband. Mira promises to stay in contact with her father via Brecken’s phone. Back in the car, Mira shares her power cord with the others so that they can charge their phones.

Harper and the others realize the best way to get to Pennsylvania is to go back the way they came. They cautiously pass the gas station and are relieved to see it is closed. They drive on and realize that not only are Harper’s wallet and Mira’s phone missing, but Josh’s book is gone as well. What’s more, the power cord for the phones is broken. Brecken demands they pull over and search all of the bags. They find Josh’s book in Brecken’s bag, but nothing else. This only increases the suspicions among the group. A letter here accuses Mira of ignoring the writer and includes a disturbing painting, expressing the letter writer’s desire to get close to Mira.

A short time later, the group stops for a restroom break. They find a park, where Mira is surprised to see the man in the yellow hat again. As Mira and the others prepare to leave, the gas station owner and his son, Corey, show up. The owner confronts Brecken, and they argue. Brecken gets into the SUV and attempts to flee, and Josh and he take control of the wheel together, running down Corey. Afraid the gas station owner has a gun, they then flee. Josh and Brecken argue over who is responsible for running over Corey, and Harper insists they stop at a bar and call the police.

In another anonymous letter, the writer ramps up their disturbing message, saying that they know Mira is only in high school but that they cannot wait much longer to be together.

The group stops at a bar, where Mira again sees the man in the yellow hat. Another patron, Smitty, convinces Joyce, the lady running the bar, to feed Mira and her friends. Josh pulls Mira aside and they discuss Brecken’s behavior: He and Harper seem to have a connection that doesn’t make sense. Josh and Mira also note that Kayla sleeps all the time and seems ill. Mira pulls Kayla aside and asks about a medical alert bracelet on her wrist, only to learn that Kayla lost her brother a year ago and it was his bracelet. Joyce asks everyone to leave the bar when the power goes out. The man in the yellow hat attempts to hitchhike with them, but they refuse him.

An anonymous letter reveals that the letters have been going to the wrong address and the writer knows Mira has not received them. They say they know she is going home for Christmas and will surprise her on her trip.

The group continues on, getting increasingly frightened and arguing further about who is responsible for the various difficulties that have occurred. Another anonymous letter describes the vengeance the writer wants to take on Mira for not noticing them in the airport. While traveling down a country road, Harper drives into a ditch, getting the car stuck. Mira wanders off and sees lights from nearby houses. Mira volunteers to hike down to the houses and gets her gloves from her bag. When she opens the bag, she finds an envelope filled with the missing items and a stack of letters. She takes a brief look at the letters, realizing they are written by a stalker who means to take her away into the mountains.

Convinced the letters are from Brecken, Mira gathers Kayla and Josh, insisting they have to get away as quickly as possible. Since Josh is on crutches, Mira and Kayla decide to hike to the houses. However, on the way down the hill, Kayla strikes Mira and returns to the top of the hill, where Mira observes Josh giving pills to Kayla and understands that they have been working together. Josh attacks Mira, accusing her of disrespecting the connection he maintains they share. They fight and Josh injures Mira with a knife, but she manages to get the knife and stab him. She rushes back to the car to tell Harper and Brecken, but they don’t believe her. Brecken retrieves the letters while Harper holds Mira at bay with a shovel. Josh arrives and tries to convince Harper that Mira attacked him, but Brecken returns and hits Josh with the shovel, killing him as he goes for the knife. They are rescued when the man in the yellow hat (and the driver who ultimately gave him a ride) passes by and helps.

Mira spends the night in the hospital, surprised to find that her mother is not lost in her grief. Mira’s mother convinces Mira that she is the one struggling with her grief and that is why she didn’t trust her instincts when it came to Josh, Harper, and the man in the yellow hat.