Five by Ilona Bannister

Five minutes until the next train. Five minutes until someone dies.

It's 7:01. Someone will die here this morning, at this suburban train station. It will happen in the next five minutes, when the 7:06 to London Victoria arrives. On the platform, five strangers unknowingly face a chilling countdown. One of them will die.

Have you ever passed the time imagining the lives of the strangers standing next to you? Bannister's five seem random at first. The beautiful young man on the verge of gambling everything away. The cantankerous old woman who has fallen and is refusing help. The overwhelmed mother and the child throwing a tantrum at her feet. The polished, damaged businessman orbiting them all. None of them are saints. All of them have a story.

Before the train arrives, you'll learn each of those stories. And before the train arrives, you'll find yourself doing something the book quietly asks of you. Weighing them. Deciding who deserves to walk away, and who deserves only five more minutes to live.

A novel that breaks the fourth wall and turns the reader into judge, jury, and witness. Five looks at motherhood, disability, addiction, and the small private moments that shape a life. For readers of Shari Lapena and Chris Whitaker.

"Urgent. Disturbing. Brilliant. Quite unlike anything I've ever read. Don't miss this one." Shari Lapena, author of The Couple Next Door

"A gripping, chilling story that asks difficult questions about judgement, forgiveness, and the notion of cause and effect. Unforgettable." Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colors of the Dark