Review of Five by Ilona Bannister

Bannister's psychological mystery sets up an imminent death on the tracks, then takes the reader back and forth in time to share characters' back stories, faults and failings, and interconnectedness. An omniscient narrator turns the mirror back on the reader at times. The structure of Five is key to its impact.

While the human condition is fragile and while everyone does have a story and while we do not know what goes on behind closed doors while we are judging books by their covers, et cetera, et cetera, you have known since the beginning, since you got to this station this morning, that there are five main characters and one of them will die.

Five begins in medias res, with five disparate characters waiting for a train. The omniscient narrator speaks directly to the reader to explain that. unbeknownst to the characters, one of the five will die when the train arrives.

But before we find out which of the potential demises the story is headed toward, the novel tracks back through the lives of each character--in some cases also fast-forwarding to the future (a spoiler, as we can therefre eliminate those characters from potential imminent death in the present-day timeline).

For surely you have learned by now, from the lives of our five passengers, that life and death happen...because they do, in the way that they do. Life and death happen regardless of what you think or guess or put in your online review or dream of or work for or choose or want. Or deserve.

Each of the protagonists is far from perfect; selfishness, chance, missteps, and other circumstances shape each of their lives--and some characters' paths intersect before the fateful moments at the station. None of them is particularly likable, but each of their stories felt compelling.

An omniscient narrator slides in and out of the story, addressing the reader at times, posing food for thought, foreshadowing, and hinting at key issues. The reader is repeatedly challenged to consider prejudices, assumptions, and preferences in wishing, as the narrator assumes, for one character's demise over another. This didn't resonate strongly with me as I didn't prefer any of the characters.

The novel leans toward more psychological than thriller, and the timeline and story structure are key to its effect. The culminating event, the character's death, occurs in the brief five minutes at the station (slightly extended, because the train is late), but the true tales are told, and the meat of the novel lies, in each character's back story.

I listened to this novel as an audiobook through Libby and my public library. It's narrated by a great cast: Kristin Atherton, Clare Corbett, George Naylor, Marlowe Chan-Reeves, Theo Solomon, and Juliet Stevenson.

More Books to Check Out

Ilona Bannister is also the author of When I Ran Away.

Check out these other Bossy mystery reviews and lists!