She Treads Softly: The Survivor

Friday, February 27, 2026

The Survivor

The Survivor by Andrew Reid
3/24/26; 336 pages
St. Martin's Press

The Survivor by Andrew Reid is a highly recommended thriller set on a subway train while a secret killer menaces a young man with a past.

Ben Cross is having a bad day. He has just been fired on the first day at his job with DataDyne Solutions in NYC. His mind is reeling as he manages to board the subway. Once on, he begins to receive anonymous text messages from a killer who sends him the picture of one victim and informs Ben that certain passengers will die when they get off at their stop. When the first man targeted dies, Ben knows his unknown tormentor is telling the truth. Even more disconcerting and alarming is the fact that this killer knows Ben's secret, hidden past.

After setting up Ben's situation, chapters then alternate between Ben’s perspective and that of NYPD detective Kelly Hendricks, who investigates the first murder. With Ben full of anxiety and trapped on the train while receiving the threatening texts, the opening chapters feel claustrophobic and ominous. Once the police enter the scene and Kelly manages to get on the train, the new information she learns changes the whole course of the narrative. Obviously Ben's past is involved in the present situation, but why and who?

Ben was a problematic character. Once readers learn his background, his anxiety and self doubt is more understandable. The plot improves once detective Kelly Hendricks is introduced. She is a great character and the novel benefits from her presence. The final scenes are actually a huge information dump of background story which leads up to the current situation and explain why Ben is being targeted. Setting some disbelief aside is required.

The Survivor is a good choice for those who enjoy thrillers in a closed setting. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.