Five: The intense and gripping psychological suspense thriller from a brand-new literary fiction voice. New for 2026!
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “[A] sizzling summer thriller . . . a kind of morality tale, a Rorschach test for all of us.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
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.
“Five is a gripping, chilling story that asks difficult questions about judgement, forgiveness, and the notion of cause and effect.”—Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark
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.
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.
“Five is a gripping, chilling story that asks difficult questions about judgement, forgiveness, and the notion of cause and effect.”—Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark
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.
BUY THE BOOK
Join a book club that is reading Five: The intense and gripping psychological suspense thriller from a brand-new literary fiction voice. New for 2026!!
Community Reviews
Published on Peeking Between the Pages (https://peekingbetweenthepages.com/2026/05/five-by-ilona-bannister-audiobook.html)
Five by Ilona Bannister hits with a bang before you even get started reading with – ‘Five lives. Four will live – one will die.’ That got my attention instantly. What follows is a unique story where you know one person will die but before they do we are invited to look into their personal lives. We become invested in their lives and then we are left to decide who we think is more deserving of the death that is to come.
The five people – one is an old woman who is none too friendly, another is a young woman with a young child that she can’t control. There is a young man struggling with life and finally a businessman. Who will die? I really had no clue as I kept bouncing back and forth with all of them. I finally had more of an idea towards the end but still I wouldn’t have been surprised had it been someone else.
This novel is brilliant in its execution. I listened to the audiobook which was excellent. The narrators – Clare Corbett, George Naylor, Juliet Stevenson, Kristin Atherton, Marlowe Chan Reeves, and Theo Solomon – do an amazing of not only bringing the characters to life, but also the train station itself. I loved that they had boarding or arrival announcements made to break up the stories. The audio production is so well done!
I loved this book. It is unique and different. It was an addictive listen for me and I finished it in a day. I think it would make an excellent bookclub pick as well with many themes to discuss such as grief, loss, motherhood, and addiction. Highly recommended!
Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.