Thank you Crown, #partner for the advanced copy of Five in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Crown
Published: May 5, 2026
Summary:
Five lives. Five stories. Four will live—one will die. Who it will be? In this slow-burn masterpiece of psychological fiction, the choice is all yours.
Have you ever tried to pass the time by imagining the lives of the strangers standing next to you? Ilona Bannister’s Five introduces readers to five seemingly random people waiting for a train. But these are not just any five people. From the beginning we know that one of them is going to die soon. Very soon. In five minutes the next train to London will arrive, killing one of them. But before this happens you will learn their stories.
None of these people are saints. Readers might fall in love with the beautiful young man who is on the verge of gambling his life away. They may pity the cantankerous old woman who has fallen to the ground yet is refusing help. Perhaps readers will look away from the child throwing a tantrum. Or judge his mother, who must surely be to blame. And some will be curiously compelled by the successful and damaged businessman orbiting them all.
These are the candidates for this morning’s misfortune. But they don’t know it. Only you know. And you, our complicit reader, will not be able to resist deciding who deserves to walk away, and who deserves only five more minutes to live.
An incredibly original novel that breaks the fourth wall and asks the reader to be judge, jury, and executioner, Five looks at some of the most complicated issues of contemporary life: motherhood, disability, addiction. Every stranger has a story. And in Ilona Bannister’s skillful hands, five people’s stories come together to create an unforgettable novel.
My thoughts:
WOW…what an intense reading experience! And talk about a book hangover…I finished this a week ago and have not stopped thinking about it and all the characters we meet. This is one book you do not want to miss!!
I loved every part of this book — the way it makes you think, the way you constantly change your mind about each and every character. And believe me, you will have thoughts about them. And as an empath, this had me all in my feels!
I loved the way this book is structured. We move back and forth from the train platform to backstories of each of the five main characters, to see how their lives may or may not be connected and what choices they made that led them to that station. We learn how complicated their lives are. It’s a cleverly crafted story, with witty writing that touches on some heavy themes that will have you questioning your own morals. It’s hard not to become judge yourself and pick who you think deserves to die.
This is a short book, coming in a just over 200 pages but boy does it pack quite a punch! It’s entertaining, thought-provoking and highly original.
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