Five

‘Ridiculously good. Razor-sharp, wickedly funny, and darkly thrilling … Unforgettable’ Chris Whitaker, Sunday Times bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark

'Original. Urgent. Disturbing. Brilliant. Quite unlike anything I’ve ever read. Don’t miss this one – Ilona Bannister is a major talent' Shari Lapena, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door and Everyone Here is Lying

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Five passengers. 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 a train platform, five strangers unknowingly face a chilling countdown: one of them will die in five minutes.

In this gripping tale narrated with a sharp tongue, the five main characters – a child, a mother, a businessman, an old woman, and a gambler – will draw you in with their stories as the clock ticks down. As the train gets closer and closer, we fall in love with the beautiful Sonny who is on the verge of gambling his life away. We pity the furious old Mrs Worth who grew up in a macabre household and so failed at being a mother. We look away from the demonic child Gideon. We judge his mother Emma who must surely be to blame? And we are curiously compelled by the successful and damaged businessman Liam.

Five stories. Five minutes until a life ends. In this tense, intriguing drama that explores fate, sacrifice, and the real meaning of life, you will frantically turn the page to see who will survive, and who will be lost …

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Praise for Ilona Bannister:

‘A furious and tender exploration of family and motherhood’ Pandora Sykes

‘Richly textured, populated by wonderfully observed, deftly drawn characters … Smart, brave and often very funny’ Sarah Haywood, bestselling author of The Cactus

About the author

Ilona Bannister is a New Yorker who now makes her home in Brighton with her husband and sons. She is a dual qualified US lawyer and UK solicitor and practiced immigration law in the UK before she started writing fiction. Her family's history of migration to the US, her experience as an American mother raising children in the UK, and her work as a lawyer have led her to write stories about otherness, belonging, and what it means to be on the outside of a place looking in. Her first book When I Ran Away was longlisted for the First Novel Prize in 2021.