I'm delighted to share my preview of the forthcoming thriller by Rosamund Lupton. In a word.....wow! This book was unlike anything I've read. It was truly mind blowing and really got under my skin. I would urge anyone and everyone to read it!
Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.
Expected: January 2020
The blurb
Three hours to save the people you love.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author, Rosamund Lupton, comes an electrifying, pulse-racing new novel that takes us deep into the heart of what it means to be human.
Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds. It is a morning's lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods. It is an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible. It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.
In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. From the wounded headmaster in the library, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the parents gathering desperate for news, to the 16 year old Syrian refugee trying to rescue his little brother, to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the students taking refuge in the school theatre, all experience the most intense hours of their lives, where evil and terror are met by courage, love and redemption.
In my opinion
First, I must first apologise, however, as it's actually quite hard to talk about this book without spoiling it by giving anything away. Anyway it wasn't just the story - of a school under siege by gunmen - that affected me but the clever telling of that story. Throughout there were references to real-life atrocities such as school shootings in America and other topics that we're familiar with from the news. Parts were narrated as text message extracts or newspaper headlines and parts from the perspective of the police investigation. And, I think it was these things that made it horrifyingly realistic. It invaded my consciousness in much the same way as a real rolling news story would - in that I couldn't stop thinking about the children and their families and my own loved ones until it was over.
Author Rosamund Lupton somehow manages to write in a way that is both beautifully deep and emotional and yet at the same time thrillingly fast-paced and tense. She tackles a variety of difficult subjects with compassion and sensitivity including mental health, diversity, politics and relationships. Whilst each chapter focuses on a different time segment counting down from the first gun shot to the nail-biting conclusion three hours later.
The story is told through the perspectives of a large cast of characters, each with their own stories which shape their behaviours and response to trauma, but all providing a fascinating and unique insight into the human psyche. Side by side are good and bad, brave and withdrawn, socially confident and awkward, those who've already faced adversity and those who haven't, and police, victims and perpetrators. For example, at one point you have the joyous relief of parents who hear their children have been evacuated to safety playing out in front of the anxious heart-broken families of those who don't yet know the fate of their children.
I liked this more than I can put into words. It was totally addictive - one where you're torn between enjoying it so much you never want it to end and being so gripped that you can't stop yourself from racing through the pages. A must read.
The author
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