"Five" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

While it’s rewarding to read a book with rave reviews, it’s a special treat to find a book you don’t know much about, fall fast and wax eloquent about your discovery to everyone you know.

“Five” hooked me from the get go, the propulsive thriller thrusting me straight into the story: “Someone will die here this morning, at this suburban train station.” With this shocking first line, Ilona Bannister sets the stage for an unputdownable thriller, action building at a frenzied pace as five people wait for “the 7:06 to London,” due to arrive in five minutes.

Among the five is Emma, a mother with an overactive, frenzied son named Gideon. As usual, the boy is a handful, his life threatened as he cavorts far too close to the yellow caution line at the edge of the platform. We judge Emma when the all-knowing narrator clues us into her thoughts, “It would be easier if I lost him…she thinks for a sliver of a moment, a granule of time…”

A businessman appears, Liam, a good-looking “alpha man” who knows Emma and Gideon. He pulls both to safety, urging Gideon to settle down and give his mum a break, before more chaos on the tracks and platform erupts.

Will it be Liam who dies, the narrator purports, urging readers to consider others who might suffer that fate. “Take note of their positions. The child, the mother, the businessman, the old woman, and the gambler.” The old woman, Mrs. Worth, has collapsed on the ground for reasons yet to be divulged, and the gambler, Sonny, is intent on coming to the station to kill himself.

With the main characters introduced, as well as two witnesses to the scene, the action shifts to backstories of each of the primary five, rich personal histories that spawn empathy for some, and keep the pages turning.

There’s much to rave about in fast-paced “Five,” the cheeky narrator a character in his own right, his comments ranging from the comic to the macabre. The narrator’s continual questions about the identity of the fated victim keeps us guessing until the reasons behind the victim’s downfall are revealed, all the puzzle pieces falling expertly in place.

Make room on your reading stack for this original, exciting book—then tell your friends about it. They’ll be glad you did!

Buy the book