My Rating: 4
stars
This
book was wild and honestly unlike anything I’ve read before! From the first page, we already know that one
of the five people waiting on a train platform in London will die. It is 7:01am and the death will occur within
the next few minutes, when the next train is scheduled to arrive. The main question is, which of the five will
it be (and secondarily, will it be an accident or deliberate)? The premise sounds simple and to be honest, when
I first started reading, I was wondering how the story was going to play out – I
mean, given that everything is supposed to happen within a few minute timespan,
how could the story possibly last the entire 240 pages? I was
definitely intrigued and drawn in by the seemingly simple setup at the start of
the story where we are introduced to each of the main characters in a way that
breaks the fourth wall, with the reader not only being addressed directly, but
also given instructions to pay attention to certain things. And it turned out that I didn’t have to wait
long to find out how the author, Ilona Bannister, manages to turn a five-minute
premise into a 240-page story, as, interspersed throughout the train station
scene, we are given each of the five character’s backstories. But even here, the
execution of the story is not as simple as it may seem, for we learn things
about each character during these intervening chapters that will end up having
an impact on how we view the train station scene. Specifically, we won’t be able to help
formulating opinions about each of the characters based on what we read about
them, and ultimately, this influences our judgement of the story’s outcome –
basically, who dies and the deeper moral question of whether they deserve it --
which of course, is not revealed until the last few pages.
This
is one of the most interesting, engaging, and uniquely original stories I’ve
read in a long time. As a reader, I
definitely felt that I had a vested interest in the story from start to finish,
despite the fact that I was able to guess “the death” early on. With this book, the thrill is actually in the
process of getting to the outcome – that is, learning about each character,
their vices, their desperation, and, most importantly, the circumstances that brought
them to this moment at the train station – and then using everything we learned
to justify (or not) the death at the end of the story. So essentially, this story is a study of the
base impulses and instincts that make up human nature, with the reader, then, basically
forced to be judge and jury. This is, no
doubt, a clever setup and if I were to look at this book from a writing / craft
perspective (i.e.: the brilliant way the story was executed), it probably
deserves a 5. However, I’m the type of reviewer
who puts more emphasis on reading experience and how a book or story made me
feel -- in this regard, well, I found all of the characters reprehensible and,
as such, couldn’t bring myself to like any of them (which, now that I think
about it, was probably the author’s point in structuring the story the way she
did). Given my frustration with the characters, which did impact my reading
experience, but yet still recognizing the brilliance of the story, I figured a
4 was the fairest way to go.
Overall,
this was a compelling and fascinating read that I definitely recommend,
especially if you are into slow-burn, character-driven psychological thrillers. Speaking of which, for me, this was one of
the “truest” psychological dramas I’ve read in a long time, in the sense that I
actually felt challenged psychologically as a reader, to stop and think and assess,
then to doubt and re-assess (and repeat this process, sometimes to no avail). This
one definitely requires that you put in the work (both mentally and
psychologically), so I would say keep that in mind if you do decide to pick
this up.
