98: Ilona Bannister on Public Spaces, Moral Dilemmas and Complicated Characters

In this episode of In My Good Books, I’m joined by Ilona Bannister to discuss her gripping new thriller, Five — one of the most original and thought-provoking books I’ve read this year.Five strangers stand on a train platform waiting for the next service to London Victoria. In five minutes, one of them will die. The reader knows what’s coming, but the characters do not. As the clock ticks down, we learn more about each passenger and are forced to confront our own judgments about who deserves more time.We talk about her unique writing process, why she doesn’t outline her novels, and how the structure of Five evolved organically as the story developed.We also discuss:Why the narrator has divided readers so stronglyCreating morally complex characters readers constantly reassessWriting Emma, one of the book’s most controversial mothersThe research behind the novel and Ilona’s former career as a lawyerExploring public judgment, neurodivergence and empathy through fictionWhy thriller fiction has become the perfect home for her writingFind Ilona here: https://www.instagram.com/ilona.bannister/Buy Five here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/five-ilona-bannister/7889982?ean=9780008770563&next=tIlona also recommends two brilliant recent reads: The Good Listener by Holly Watt https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-good-listener-holly-watt/7982023?ean=9781526694577&next=tMay We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/may-we-feed-the-king-rebecca-perry/7972133?ean=9781803513867&next=tIf you enjoy literary thrillers, morally complex characters and books that leave you questioning your own assumptions, this episode is for you.