Five
In the first paragraph of this immersive novel, we’re told that someone will die here at this train station in the next five minutes. But it’s not until the end of the book that we learn who dies, and how.
In between we are introduced to five people waiting for the next train.
a mother: Emma.
her five-year-old child: Gideon
a businessman: Liam
an old woman: Mrs. Worth
a gambler: Sonny
None of them know of the coming tragedy. In fact, the only way we know there’s a countdown is that the narrator tells us so, in one of several “breaking the fourth wall” asides to readers, telling us what we might expect at certain points in the novel.
We learn why each of these characters is at the station, and we watch them interact. We also learn about what brought them here, including extensive forays into their pasts. These are complex individuals. None of them is exactly likeable, but we come to understand quite a lot about what has shaped their lives and how that affects the events about to occur.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. All of this storytelling happens while the five minutes is clicking over and the coming train approaches. We know that when the train arrives, someone will die. Briefly the train is delayed…but by just two minutes. That doesn’t do much to relieve our tension.
This novel came out in May 2026 to rave reviews. The writing is excellent, with vivid descriptions and insightful forays inside the psyches and histories of the characters. As the book nears an end, and you still don’t know who will die, the tension builds and you’re anxiously waiting for release. I think you’ll enjoy this one.
Ilona Lewyckyj grew up on Staten Island; her grandparents came to the US as WW2 Ukranian refugees. She always loved reading and books, but never planned to be a writer. Instead she became an immigration lawyer: first in New York, then in the UK where she requalified as a solicitor after moving there with her British husband, Tim Bannister.
She took time off her career when their two sons were born, but when she wanted to return to the law, she couldn’t find a position that would allow flexible hours and pay enough to justify paying for child care. Her husband suggested she try writing, and she gave herself a year to see if she could. She signed up for an intensive novel writing course at the London-based Faber Academy, and at the end of the year had written a solid draft. After much rewriting and restructuring, that draft eventually became her debut novel, When I Ran Away, published in 2021.
Her second novel, Little Prisons, came out a year later. Both were well-received, but her third novel, Five, released in 2026, has already exceeded the other two in acclaim.
Ilona and Tim Bannister live in London with their two now-teenage sons.
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