The Five

By: Robert R. McCammon

Narrated by: Nick Landrum

With works such as Swan Song and the historical thriller Mister Slaughter, best-selling author Robert McCammon has proven himself an extraordinarily accomplished storyteller. The Five features a rock band skirting the margins of success while touring the American Southwest. Life on the road, however, takes a strange turn when they encounter an Iraq War veteran. Soon thereafter, violence descends on the group, and their lives are tuned to a terrifying pitch.

©2011 The McCammon Corporation (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Another great book by Robert McCammon!!!!

A rock band is on it's way out after being on the road and going down a dead end road. With CDs,shirts,tickets and video sales earning nothing,the band knows it's time to call it quits.Then one day a solider watches a music video by the group called "The Five" and their career takes off. Over 20,000 CD sales in two days they are the headliner at every event because of one reason.... Jeremy Pet, a veteran sniper in the US MARINES, starts killing the members of the band one at a time. The video Jeremy watched depicted the Marines killing kids in a unjust war in Iraq. THE BAND THAT WON'T DIE gets more popular by each day for all the wrong reasons. Robert McCammon writes hit after hit and if you haven't read his books you have to try him out!!! You will love his great, big imagination.

This story flows like a river

With every word of this book, Robert McCammon builds an elaborate web that goes across the American southwest, an epic and yet still a personnel battle between good and evil, makes you question your decisions and lays the groundwork and the reasoning behind deeds done later. The heroes of this book are hugely flawed, and the villains even after doing horrible crimes, aren't beyond redemption. The book is magic but it's not quite a fantasy, there are magical elements. It's the magic of what lies under our perceptions and the movers that are behind the scene.

The book takes place from the viewpoints of the band members, their manager and a damaged Veteran of the Iraq war who was at the point of suicide at the beginning of the book and see's a music video that the band made protesting the war and it touched him.... but not in a good way.

Like most of McCammon's work, at the end of the day, you'll leave after grieving, laughing with joy, shivering in the shadows, saying, "Oh no!" and falling in love with the characters. Good job Sir!

If it’s you’re first McCammon novel please start with Swan Song

Or Boys Life. He is my favorite author! That said, this is not in my top McCammon novels. It started off sooo slow as many of his books do and unfortunately never really picked up speed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still worth a credit but I don’t think it’s his best work.

Best McCammon novel

This is the author's best work. More than Swan Song, the Wolf or Colbert series or even Boy's Life.

Great story about musicians

This is a response good book. Just hang on through the first few chapters and it gets really good!

Mystical and Mysterious in a Bad Way

I really wanted to like this story. Mr. McCammon is a first rate writer and I???ve enjoyed all of his previous work. This one???it was a struggle to get through. The premise (I think) is a little known rock band being stalked by a ex-Marine suffering PTSD who hears voices and thinks the band is disrespectful of soldiers. The ex-Marine may or may not be a tool of some evil force who doesn???t want the band to write a particular song. The problem is that story line only covers about a third of the book. The rest is a wandering journey that goes everywhere and nowhere. There are a lot of repetitive symbols, dreams, portents and characters and issues that pop in and out randomly. I???m still not sure what the point was. Good vs. Evil? The tragedy of war? The tragedy of family? The power of music? Self-destruction? An ancient curse? Insanity? The story is disjointed, uneven and at least for me was an uphill battle to get through. The last third of the book was especially rambling.

I suppose if you???re interested in ???rock band culture??? you MIGHT find it more appealing than I did but I doubt it.

Same excellence but wildly different

Would you listen to The Five again? Why?

Yes, McCammon is the master of subtlety and I'm sure I would learn more about his characters and the plot....

What other book might you compare The Five to and why?

Perhaps in character interaction and variety of colorful personification of characters, so different yet united and are forced together in a desperate situation it is reminiscent of Stephen King's "The Stand".

Which character – as performed by Nick Landrum – was your favorite?

How could you not love Arielle? (sorry just listened not sure how he spelled it) However, the performance was spellbinding!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Yes....a diploma makes a difference! Ask Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.

Any additional comments?

From "Swan Song" to "The Stand" I will (as an auditory learner) enjoy listening to this again...and redundancy bores me.

former punk rock band member loves this book!

What did you love best about The Five?

The writer, whose other books are excellent yet nothing like this one, truly either knows what being in a band on the road is like, or really did his homework. He had it down. So real, yet with that mystery woven through - "get the bad guy" twist - to keep the reader on the edge of the seat. It will be interesting for those "outside" the business and relatable for those on the inside. Enjoy!

Another great story by McCammon

Definitely keeps your interest. Another solid book in the pantheon of solid books by Robert. The only thing I would say on this particular book is the last 45 minutes could’ve been condensed to about three. Other than that great suspense great story can’t wait for another new one

Amazing book from an amazing writer!

I chose this book because I love Robert McCammon's early American series. Historical mysteries are my main interest, but he is such a good author that I took a chance on this story - and I am sure glad I did! This story is amazing. It takes a little while to get into the flow, but if you read McCammon, you'd best prick up your ears from the very first word, becuaue every sentence and scene is there for a reason.