If you were a serial killer, you definitely wouldn’t complicate your life with as many twists and turns as Ansom Bishop, the mysterious villain in The Fifth to Die. You wouldn’t plan such a tight timeline, nor would you keep your schemes so tightly packed with cursed details… Only to end up constantly checking your watch to make sure you’re not falling behind on your own plot.
And all this while, of course, you’re still a fugitive from the previous book’s crimes. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be keeping a diary, only for half the police force and the FBI (who you kindly send it to) to feast on it and gather USEFUL intel to use against you. But, then again, a seasoned serial killer probably knows best…
The Fifth to Die: Overwritten and Overcomplicated
In short, Barker’s book is overloaded with too many complications, too much contrived plotting, and unbelievable precise twists that are calculated down to the last centimeter, thanks to which Bishop, somehow, always stays several steps ahead of his pursuers.
The book’s predecessor, The Fourth Monkey, stood out in its genre by offering a deep dive into the mind of a serial killer, starting from his childhood. There was something eerily thrilling about watching the child’s persona progress along the path laid out by his parents, heading toward complete madness. Meanwhile, reading the highly intelligent Bishop’s diary, you could always sense the faint possibility that there was still some rationality left in him—and that, perhaps, there was a good reason behind his actions.
More Serial Killers, Less Rationality
But all rationality flies out the window when it turns out there’s another serial killer involved, who gets mixed up in our antihero’s schemes. And honestly, even one serial killer is already too many!
Now, if you were, by chance, a serial killer, would you want to babysit another one? Exactly, you wouldn’t. Every person—especially someone who carries out complicated murders—has more than enough of their own predictable, lukewarm, and familiar brand of madness to deal with. Why would you want to bother with another full-blown lunatic?
But The Fifth Victim isn’t just overflowing with killers, victims, and chaotic schemes—there are also too many cops. The FBI thread (hello, Agent Poole) is utterly unnecessary.
And those two UNBELIEVABLE twists? You can see them coming a mile away…
The Killer from The Fourth Monkey is Still Interesting
Bishop’s diary (a book within the book, though though much shorter than in the first part) still keeps you hooked, and in contrast to the unnecessarily stretched main plot, curiosity pushes you forward here… And, miracle of miracles, by the end, even the insanely complicated conspiracy begins to make some sense. Well, kind of. Because overall, it still just feels like unnecessary hassle.
So, yes, you’ll have to read the final part of The Fifth to Die too, even though it’s now completely clear that you shouldn’t expect too much from it… Damn, that cursed curiosity!
Rating: 6.5/10
The Fifth to Die (4MK Thriller #2) by J.D. Barker
384 pages, Paperback
Published July 23, 2018 by HQ Fiction GB
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Review of the final book:
The Sixth Wicked Child
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