"The Survivor"

Born in Scotland, Andrew Reid worked as a research scientist for almost a decade on projects including DNA synthesis, forensics, and drug development. He now teaches Science and lives in Stockholm with his wife, three children, and two cats.

Reid applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Survivor, and shared the following:

Before I opened to page 69 of The Survivor, I wondered: what would happen if it was the start or the end of a chapter? Would less than a page still be representative?

It turns out that page 69 is the final page of Chapter Eleven. Here it is, in its entirety.

If he gets off now, then more people will die, starting with the woman right in front of him.

Ben stretches out a hand to reach for the radio mic that Sarah dropped when she fell. He doesn’t want to use it. The last thing he wants is for more people to get dragged into this. To risk more people knowing the name Adam. But he is out of options.

Ben needs to call for help.

I love that somehow, in less than a hundred words, it still delivers the premise in microcosm. Ben is trapped in a situation where it isn’t just his own life that hangs in the balance, and that to save the life of the person in front of him he is going to have to reveal something he wants to keep secret. I used to sniff at the term high concept, but it turns out that I really enjoy high stakes and a steep price. What immediately jumped out at me is the first five words: if he gets off now. Even though The Survivor takes place on the subway, the setting is not what is keeping Ben trapped. It’s his nature that the killer is counting on: that no matter what he goes through, they know that he can’t bring himself to walk away. I hope readers enjoy seeing how deep that journey goes.

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--Marshal Zeringue