DESCRIPTION:
Do not turn off your phone
Do not get off the train
I know who you really are
Fired and walked out by security on his first day at his new job in New York City, Ben Cross thought his day couldn't get worse. But he couldn't be more wrong. Getting on the 1 train headed uptown, Ben starts receiving text messages from an anonymous killer, showing that they've already killed someone, then pointedly killing another as they got off the train to prove they aren't bluffing and to ensure Ben follows orders. But Ben wasn't picked at random—he has a history that no one is supposed to know.
At the same time, A NYPD detective, Kelly Hendricks, is on punishment duty with the transit police. The first one on the scene after the first murder, she gets on the train to find out what is really going on.
Switching rapidly between Cross and Hendricks, as the hijacked 1 train heads from South Ferry to 181st, the secret to the killer lies in Ben's own history—why he's been targeted and punished.
When Ben Cross finds himself trapped on a New York City subway train, of course he realizes he’s not alone. The delay that Ben and other passengers will experience is definitely not ordinary. The train has been hijacked, and in The Survivor, Ben is at the center of it all. What unfolds is not just a high-stakes hostage situation, but a deeply personal story of revenge.
Set in the claustrophobic confines of the underground, the tension is immediate and unrelenting. The hijacker comes with demands, and how quickly Ben responds could mean the difference between life and death for countless passengers. Already reeling from being fired on his very first day at a new job, Ben’s circumstances go from bad to catastrophic when it becomes clear that he is the specific target of the attack.
As the story progresses, readers learn that Ben Cross is not even his real name. He has spent years trying to distance himself from a horrific past, one shaped by a father who was a brutal killer. Ben believed he had escaped that darkness and built a different life for himself. However, one of his father’s victims is not convinced, and that lingering connection fuels the novel’s chilling premise.
The audiobook, narrated by Michael Braun, is exceptionally well done. Braun’s performance draws listeners directly into Ben’s fractured psyche, amplifying the already intense atmosphere. As more of Ben’s past is revealed, the story becomes increasingly unsettling, maintaining a steady grip on the listener.
If this debut is any indication of what Andrew Reid has to offer, readers can expect gripping, psychologically charged stories that are difficult to put down.
His previous novel THE HUNTER was published in the UK and Commonwealth in 2018. THE SURVIVOR is his US debut.
