FIVE

This is not your average whodunit.

Bannister drops readers on a suburban London train platform and announces that someone will die in the next five minutes. What follows is a tense, deftly written page-turner filled with memorable characters, a surprisingly philosophical core, and a plot in which each minute brings a new surprise. Bannister excels at digging out emotional depths many people would prefer to keep hidden, as when a parent momentarily considers whether her life would be easier without her rambunctious child. The characters—a troubled gambler, a mother, a damaged yet compelling businessman—are deeply flawed, full of regrets, recovering from addiction, and sometimes unlikable individuals who, in Bannister’s careful depiction, all feel extremely human. The narrative voice is detached from the drama, omniscient yet omnipresent, breaking the fourth wall easily and deftly. Drawing readers into the action, it will push anyone who has picked up the book to consider the lives, judgments, and, ultimately, fates of the characters. It will force even casual readers to weigh the worth of a human life, making them feel implicated in the outcome for better or worse. Readers expecting a high-octane, ticktock thriller may find themselves wanting to slow down to reflect on the storyline or the fates of particular characters. Bannister manages to tell a story that is both fast-paced and perhaps a little slower than expected as her narrative choices prompt introspection. Her clever and incisive writing and the unique format make readers participants in the action and complicit in weighing the characters’ worthiness. It’s unsettling and immersive.

Readers will surely find themselves thinking about this book next time they’re standing on a train platform.