The Five

The Five by Robert McCammon

In his latest book, The Five, Robert McCammon incorporates his obvious love for music into a supernatural thriller that showcases his tremendous talent as a writer. The Five is the name of a relatively obscure rock band living a not-so-glamorous lifestyle on the road. They haul all of their equipment, t-shirts, and CDs with them from show to show hoping to sell enough tickets and merchandise to pay for a good meal and a decent hotel room each night. But for The Five, money isn't what's important. They're a group of similarly-minded people who have formed a family around their love of music.

The world that they understand is about to come crashing down on itself for the members of The Five though when a former Marine Corp sniper, Jeremy Pett, recently home from Afghanistan, and losing his battle with internal demons, sees the band's latest video on TV. The song is anti-war and the video portrays a U.S. soldier having to make a very difficult decision while in battle and making a terrible mistake. That video sets Pett on a mission to eliminate The Five.

The Five is an excellent book! It's got all of the elements that I hope for when I read a book. The story is compelling, the characters are multi-dimensional, and as a bonus with this one, it revolves around a subject that I have a lot of fond feelings for - rock music. It's a very, very, good book but I should warn that there are a few pages that are hard to read. Not that the words are hard to pronounce, but that they're gritty and graphic. The scene is essential to the story, so it needs to be there, but still, I felt like the warning was necessary.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆