* Copy courtesy of Harlequin Australia & Harper Collins *
I love a book with an enticing premise, and Five by Ilona Bannister has just that. Five commuters are waiting on a train platform and in five minutes the next train to London is going to arrive and one of them is going to die. The unnamed narrator takes us away from the present so we can get to know the back stories of each of the five characters and how they came to be standing at the train platform that morning.
We're introduced to mother Emma and her out of control child Gideon, Sonny, a young man who has gambled his life away, a cranky older woman named Mrs Worth who's refusing help even though she's having a medical episode and a successful looking businessman named Liam.
"There are many other mundane but poignant details we could explore in the lives of these ordinary commuters, but we have time constraints. Let's just say that you've seen them before, on some other train platform in some other suburb, weighed down by bags and coats and unmet goals and unrealised dreams." Page 20*As you can see, the narrator breaks the fourth wall to address the reader directly and I came to see the narrator as the author herself, occasionally breaking into the story to communicate directly with me.
I love people watching and always wonder about the lives of those passing me by; or am I passing them by? Other characters on the platform are given nicknames like Bad Back and To Do List, and while on the periphery of this story, we're also given insight as to their behaviours and choices on the train platform.
Fans of Benjamin Stevenson will love the author's sense of humour and the way in which she foreshadows precisely what will happen, leaving the reader to reach the destination on their own. The thrilling nature of the plot is supported by surprisingly deep character development and the back stories of these five flawed characters really made me sit up and take notice.
This next quote is from a scene where Liam - one of the five main characters - is sitting with his brother and mother watching TV. It's an excellent example of the author's writing style and such a relatable family moment. That moment suddenly becomes shockingly poignant and I found it very moving.
"She sips her sweet, sweet tea and thinks to herself for the thousandth time in twenty years that she really should launder those curtains, and regrets that now she won't have the chance, as a thunderclap no one else can hear explodes inside her head. The pain is immense, but she sees her Liam, so big and muscular and broad and handsome pointing at the screen and making his brother laugh. As the feeling drains from her left side, Doreen regrets that she never had the money to fix the gap between his teeth that she knows secretly bothers him, but that she has always loved. The last thing she sees before her vision is lost and another blood vessel explodes in her brain is her Danny, smiling with the box of biscuits in his lap. As her breath stops, Doreen can still hear his hoarse, gasping laugh as Liam says something rude about the lady on stage impersonating Barbra Streisand. Lads, she thinks, her lads, and the word feels like a smile. And as the mug of tea drops from her hand and her soul leaves the room, she regrets nothing at all." Page 211*At the end of the book, the death is revealed and the narrator addresses the reader about their feelings on who survived, who died and whether there was any disappointment about the outcome. I certainly had my preference for who was going to survive and who wasn't but this fourth wall questioning was so engaging I felt sad it was all over. I also enjoyed reading about the aftermath for some of the characters and immediately wished Bannister was in a book club to discuss it all.
Five stars for Five by Ilona Bannister, very highly recommended! (Why don't you take five minutes to read a sample, you won't regret it).
Carpe Librum!
* I read an ARC so page numbers may vary.
