# Ilona Bannister on Five: A Bold New Thriller About Fate, Death and the Last Five Minutes Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/ilona-bannister-on-five-a-bold-new-thriller-about-fate-death-and-the-last-five-minutes Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/ilona-bannister-on-five-a-bold-new-thriller-about-fate-death-and-the-last-five-minutes.md Podcast: [Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall](https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832) Published: 2026-05-04T00:02:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/quick-book-reviews/episodes/ilona-bannister-on-five-a-bold-new-thriller-about-fate-death Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6087d3aca4a81031ba098a59/e/69e79c1b738b0d0aa5ab7004/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/episodes/ilona-bannister-on-five-a-bold-new-thriller-about-fate-death-and-the-last-five-minutes Duration seconds: 2381 ## Resource In this episode of  Quick Book Reviews , Philippa is joined by  Ilona Bannister  to talk about her striking new novel  Five  — a tense, original and deeply thought-provoking thriller set over just a few minutes on a train platform. What would you do if you had only  five minutes left  and didn’t know it? That chilling question sits at the heart of  Five , a novel about five strangers, interconnected lives, hidden stories, and the ripple effects of tragedy. Ilona talks about the real-life inspiration behind the book, the creation of its unforgettable narrative voice, and why this story led her naturally into the thriller space. Philippa also reviews: The Heir Apparent  by Rebecca Armitage Automatic Noodle  by Annalee Newitz Dissection of a Murder  by Jo Murray In this episode Ilona Bannister on the inspiration behind  Five Why the novel begins on a train platform How the book explores fate, connection, mortality and missed moments The challenge of writing a fast-paced novel set across such a short time frame The creation of the book’s sharp, unusual narrative voice Why one character had to be cut and another took her place Writing through lockdown, parenting, and difficult life circumstances Why thrillers can be powerful spaces for emotional and literary storytelling Philippa’s latest reading updates and reviews Follow Quick Book Reviews for book recommendations, author interviews, and weekly podcast episodes. 📧 Email: quickbookreviews@outlook.com 📸 Instagram & Threads: @quick_book_reviews 🎵 TikTok: @quickbookreviews 🐦 X: @quickbookrevie3 🦋 Bluesky: quickbookreviews Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/episodes/ilona-bannister-on-five-a-bold-new-thriller-about-fate-death-and-the-last-five-minutes/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/quick-book-reviews-with-philippa-hall-183832/ilona-bannister-on-five-a-bold-new-thriller-about-fate-death-and-the-last-five-minutes.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.