Oh my! This book had me bawling my eyes out one minute and smiling to myself the next, running the whole gamut of emotions in between.
It's the story of what happened in the aftermath of a school shooting. We first meet 6 year old Zack Taylor when he is hiding in his school classroom closet with his teacher and the rest of his class. Hiding from the pop, pop, pop, of a gun echoing in the corridor beyond the classroom door. Waiting it out until the police can get there and help them. We follow him as he is taken to the church to await his parents. When his mother arrives, she asks where his older brother Andy is. Eventually, they meet up with Zach's father at the hospital. He has some awful news for them. Andy is one of the children killed.
What follows next is told entirely from Zach's point of view. He narrates how he feels about what happened, he tells how he sees how the tragedy affect his parents, both separately and together. It's a sad tale but it is told with such insight and knowledge learned from sources such as Zach's favourite series of books. It's a lesson to be learned indeed.
I have read some emotional books in my time, but this one pretty much eclipsed them all. I found the "voice" of Zach to be wholly credible. Everything he learned, everything he tried to impart to the adults came from believable places. His strength really belied his age. I also found that the journeys that both his parents (and other close adults) went on was also handled in a very realistic way. So much so that, at times, I wanted to bang their heads together and just tell them to remember the son they still had and how he needs you more than ever now. I did get a tad emotionally involved! But I got through my journey with Zach and came out the other side with maybe a little more understanding of the world and how we see it.
Once I finished the book, I did what I usually do and looked up the author, desperate to see what else she had written that I could devour. Well, blow me down, what I found instead is that this is her first book. Honestly, I would never have thought that whilst reading it, so well written and balanced it was. It's a difficult topic for any author to tackle but, for a first book, and to do such a brilliant job, words simply fail me. I'm definitely putting this author on my watch list and can't wait to see what she serves up next time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow! Heartbreakingly compelling. Join seven year old Zach, the narrator, as he guides the readers through a tragedy, the aftermath and the fallout on him, his family and the whole community. Unerringly accurate on the writer's part of looking at an adult world through the eyes of a child. I loved this book and will be recommending it to as many as I can...wonderful debut.

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin was a fantastic read.

Six year old Zach Taylor is hidden in a cloakroom with his teacher and classmates listening as a gunman roams the halls of his school. By the time he is done he will have claimed 19 victims.

Afterwards Zach's life will be changed forever. His dad will be absent at work more than ever and his mum will become obsessed with her crusade for justice. Will Zach be able to help them find a way through their grief or will the tragedy rip their family apart forever?

Only Child captured my attention right from the very start when I saw the title of the first chapter: The Day The Gunman Came.

“The thing I remember about the day the gunman came was my teacher Miss Russell’s breath. It was hot and smelled like coffee.”

When Zach and his classmates are hidden with Miss Russell in the cloakroom I could hardly stand the suspense especially when she had to keep telling the classmates to be quiet.

I felt like I was there with Zach and his classmates listening to the POP of the gun going off.

“We kept hearing the POP sounds outside. And screaming.

POP POP POP

Always three Pops and then quiet again. Quiet or screaming.”

They children had just come in from recess when the sounds of shooting started from the entrance hall near the security guard station. Charlie, the security guard had been there for just over 30 years and had been there when Zach’s mom was younger.

Miss Russell had looked into the corridor and sworn when she saw what was happening, that was right before a voice came over the speakers telling them it was a lockdown situation.

Hidden in the cloakroom Zach was one of the few not crying because he didn’t want his classmates to see him.

Zach becomes much more scared when he hears his teacher on the phone talking to the police and telling them there is a gunman in the halls.

When the police come the children are asked to line up ready to leave the school. They are told not to look around them in the corridor.

Zach looks back though because he can hear Charlie shouting ‘no’ and he wants to make sure he is ok. He immediately regrets it though.

“People lying on the floor in the hallway with ambulance people and police around them and bending over them. And blood. At least I thought it was blood. It was very dark red or black puddles, like paint that spilled, all around on the floor of the hallway and some of the walls. And I saw the older kids from fourth and fifth grade walking behind Ryder, with very white faces like ghosts and some of them were crying and had blood on them. On their faces and clothes.”

The police lead them to a nearby church and Zach is surprised to see that some of the older kids are crying still and when his mum arrives he is embarrassed when she calls him her baby in front of all the other kids.

“Then mommy started to look around and said, ‘Zach, where’s your brother?”

Zach hasn’t seen Andy all day but that is not unusual because Andy is ten years old and they never hang around together at school. Zach realises he hasn’t seen him since getting to the church though and has not thought about him either.

At this point Zach’s mum is on the phone to Zach’s dad telling him that Zach is at the church but that she can’t find Andy and then she begins to cry.

Not long after Zach’s dad arrives the police tell those gathered in the church that the injured children are being treated at a nearby hospital and that there have been some fatalities but at that point they are not able to release their names. Zach’s dad decides to stay at the church to wait for more news while Zach and his mum go to the hospital in search of Andy.

Zach doesn’t really know what it is going on but when he sees his dad walk into the hospital he knows something is wrong.

“Daddy walked in. I was excited to see him. I started to get up and go to him, but then I sat right back down because I saw his face and it didn’t look like Daddy’s face at all. My stomach did a big flip like when I’m excited, but I wasn’t excited, just really scared.”

As soon as Zach’s mom saw his dad she started ‘acting crazy’ and had to be admitted to a ward to be sedated. While this was happening Zach’s dad broke the bad news to him that Andy had been killed by the shooter.

“Andy is dead, killed in the shooting. Andy is dead. Killed in the shooting.

Now I know why Mommy acted crazy when Daddy came in – because she knew Andy was dead, only I didn’t know. Now I knew, too, but I didn’t start acting crazy, and I didn’t cry and scream like Mommy. I just stood and waited, with the same words doing circles in my head, and it was like my whole body didn’t feel normal. It felt heavy.”

When he is home Zach starts thinking about Andy and how the day before the shooting Andy and his Mommy had argued and then his dad has joined in with the argument and wonders if things will be better and the fighting will stop now Andy is dead.

That night Andy goes to sleep in his own room but wakes up the next morning in his parent’s room and is confused about why until he remembers that right after his dad left his room last night he got scared.

“Pictures of people with blood came in my head and my heart started beating at super speed and my breathing went in and out fast.”

After that he felt like the gunman was coming to get him and started screaming.

Zach goes down to the kitchen the next morning and is relieved to find out that he doesn’t need to go to school that day as he was worried he would have to see Andy’s body dead and covered in blood.

During the course of the day, Zach is confused by the number of people dropping in with food and offering ‘condolences’. He can’t understand why there is a party. He finds it all a bit too loud and confusing and goes to hide in the lounge in front of the TV.

Whilst in there he glimpses some of the news and sees pictures of the 19 people killed in the shooting, including Andy.

“It looked like he was going to jump out of the TV right into the family room and I held my breath and wanted him to jump, but then his picture got small and disappeared. Another got big, and Andy’s silly face was gone.”

Over the next few weeks Zach finds it difficult to deal with the aftermath of the shooting and the feelings it has provoked. His Daddy is increasingly absent with work and his mum has gone on a crusade against the gunman’s parents believing that they should have seen the signs that he was unstable and done more to stop them.

His Mommy and Daddy argue more frequently than before and Zach is disappointed to find that Andy’s absence does nothing to stop the fighting.

He doesn’t understand why his Mommy seems like a different person now, quick to anger and with less time to listen to him. He doesn’t like this new version of her.

He also can’t understand why everyone keeps only saying nice things about Andy and nobody seems to remember that he was naughty a lot of the time and that he was a jerk to Zach.

“It was like everybody was crying and being sad, but not about the actual Andy, just a version of him that wasn’t the right one. It was like no one was saying good bye properly to him. I felt like I wanted to stand up and yell at everyone to stop lying about my brother.”

Zach creates a secret hideaway where he can go to think about Andy and tell him all the things he thinks but can’t say to him. On the wall of the hideaway he creates pictures of his feelings, so he can stop them feeling all jumbled. Then he puts up a picture of him and Andy up on the wall as well.

Only Child is a brilliant account of a tragedy and its aftermath from the point of view of a child. I spent about 90% of the book trying and failing to stop myself from crying.

Only Child is the best book of its kind I have read and the best book I have read so far this year.

How to review this wonderful book without recourse to clichés? Almost impossible. Viewed from the point of view, and almost in the mind of a vulnerable child caught in an unimaginable situation when a gunman enters his school, your heart goes out to him as he navigates his once loving and normal home life that has been shattered by the loss of a sibling. In their grief his parents leave him to find his own way. I read the book within 24 hours, finishing it at around 4.00 a.m. I have not shed so many tears for years. Zach entered my heart and wouldn't let go. I am ordering further copies to give away. It is a literary MUST READ!.

This....this was....great, emotional, important and there really is only one thing to say about this book: READ IT! I cried my way through the book and wanted to do something.....for Zach. Mostly Zach. But I wanted his mom to see that she was on the wrong path, too. It's just heart wrenching to read about Zach's efforts to help his family survive and feeling lonely and scared. No child should have to be in a situation like this and no parent should have to lose a child in that way. A powerful and important story and I highly recommend the book to everyone. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan!

Wow, this is a beautifully written book. It is told in the point of view of 7 year old Zach. The story starts with Zach and some classmates hiding in the school cloakroom with a teacher. There is a man in the school and he is shooting everyone. We soon learn that Zach’s brother Andy is one of the fatalities and we see through Zach’s eyes how his family are coping with the aftermath. His mum is insistent of getting justice for Andy, his parents are arguing and drawing away from each other and he feels very lonely and neglected.
Zach finds comfort in Andy closet where he starts to recognise emotions and try’s to show his family a way to forgive, love and move forwards.

A fantastic novel which pulled at my heartstrings. I am positive I will be thinking of Zach and his family for days to come.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

The day a gunman comes to school changes Zach Taylor's life. The aftermath breaks a family apart and a little boy is hurt and scared and needs His family more than ever.

Where to start? This book was beautifully written through Zach's eyes and the pain he felt had me in tears. Breathtaking

Absolutely harrowing story, but deeply moving. Deals with issues that are unfortunately all too common is this world. You can't help but be sucked into the story, very well written considering the sensitive subject matter.

Wow what a powerful and emotional novel I enjoyed it from the first page a story about a tragedy told through a child's eyes made it a all the more powerful a young boy who lost his brother in terrible circumstances but was instrumental in helping to get his family back together shed a few tears at the end a very good book from this author really recommend it

Woah, this book has all the feels. We sometimes forget how the smallest of people have the biggest hearts. It is so refreshing to find a hidden little gem like this. This book is written with pure genius!! Written from the point of an innocent child. I love finding books like this. This will break your heart and warm it at the same time. This is an absolute must read!!!! Completely loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars.

This is a book about a school shooting, narrated from a child’s called Zach’s perspective.

I found it a difficult book to ‘gel’ with, partly because of the storyline which is understandably upsetting to read about, but also because you are reading this through the eyes of a child and so in a sense you are feeling his pain and his emotions.

Also difficult to balance was the sympathy you wanted to feel for Zach’s parents, but there were so many negative aspects to them that you started to not like them.

A book to reflect on I think and one which will probably divide views.

This must be one of the most powerful books I’ve read for ages. In fact I don’t remember reading anything quite like it. It’s emotional, moving and absolutely compelling – I loved it. One of the things I loved most about it is the narrative voice – that of seven-year old Zach. Everything is shown through his perspective, as he sees and hears what happens – so, for example the shooting, the sounds ‘pop’, ‘pop’, ‘pop’ are described as Zach hears the gunshots. There are no gory or violent scenes.

But that is just the start of the book. The main part shows how he deals with what happens next, with the death of his ten-year old brother, Andy, and how he tries to make sense of his parents’ reactions and his own. I think Rhiannon Navin portrays him well. He comes across as a child who observes the adults around him and tries to understand his own feelings. The scenes in his secret hideout are beautiful as he records his feelings as colours to help him separate them and deal with them. He also reads the Magic Treehouse books about finding the secrets of happiness.

Zach’s mother falls to pieces, wanting the gunman’s parents to take responsibility and looking for justice/revenge, his father becomes increasingly distant and although both Zach’s grandmothers and aunty are around for support he retreats into himself and then becomes angry, which bewilders and frightens him. He tries to explain to his parents how he is feeling and although his father listens and tries to helps him, his mother is totally absorbed in her own feelings. When his father decides to leave the family Zach is devastated. It is a heart-wrenching book, that brought tears to my eyes. All of which makes me admire Rhiannon Navin’s portrayal of the characters in this, her debut novel.

It is such a sad book, but ultimately it is uplifting.

Many thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.

This book is amazing, the story is told through the eyes of a small boy. A family experiences the dreadful loss of a child and the younger brother tells his experience of this loss, whilst watching his parents grieve.
This is a very intuitive book, unusually told from a child's point of view.
I loved his way of descriptions of every day life. A refreshing and gripping tale of sadness and grief, however do not think this is a depressing book, on the contrary it is uplifting and joyful.

Upsetting child perspective on a school shooting and a family's breakdown

The nightmare scenario. Nobody would wish this on another human being. And yet every day, families are going through what Zach and his family must - the death of a child in a school shooting.

It's almost too upsetting to write about... which is why I'm glad Navin has. While I found the voice of Zach to be a little too old for his narration, his perspective and ideas about his brother's death, his feelings, how he sees his family collapsing around him can't help but bring you to tears.

Andy is one of many victims in a 'lone gunman' attack by the school security officer's son. Zach is both dealing with his feelings about his brother's death and his own experiences during the shooting. And then his mother begins to come out of her comatose-like mourning state and try to lay blame...

A seven year old is able to verbalise feelings with some self-awareness. Zach has some very effective scenes in which he looks back on his imperfect brother with some wisdom and empathy, in which he is drowning in anger, in which we see how his parents are treating him in their own grief and rage.

There are other storylines that I wanted more of - another parents' reaction to the incident, how the (teenage) gunman's parents coped, the teachers and students after the event. But of course it's Zach's story and we follow him through the rollercoaster of numbness to acceptance and see the painful rending of a family when their world is turned upside down.

I loved the story-within-a-story of Zach reading books to his brother where characters are trying to find the key to happiness, with lessons along the way that Zach hopes to use with his own parents. So touching. He does come across as a very sweet and thoughtful child, with some charming ideas about the world, though his 'voice' when we see his thoughts sounds much too sophisticated for his actual age:
"When you try to be sympathetic, to have sympathy, maybe it helps you see why people behave in certain. So you don't just see their behaviour, but you understand where it's coming from." As mother of a seven year old, it just seems a little too deep. Though this didn't stop me holding back sobs as I read.

A very emotional read, it may upset some readers. The use of a child narrator does work in this context, and the subject matter makes this a book that groups and classes may want to use as basis for discussion.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-reading copy.

I don't know where to start with my review... I can't seem to put into words what I want to say! This book is special in so many ways. Mainly because the tragic story of a school shooting is told from a child's view point. 7 year old Zach. Rhiannon captured every essence of Zach and my heart broke for him and showed how children are far more forgiving and compassionate, than us world weary adults. This is a really wonderful story, that I will think about for a long time to come.

Heartbreaking. Powerful. Moving. This is a tremendously emotional book. It is written by Zach who lost his brother in a school shooting. The author has written an extremely skilled account of the affect of this tragic event on the young boy and his family. This was so difficult to put down but I made myself read it at quiet times, almost in respect to the story. Although not a true story, any reader will feel that they were reading a true account of this family's emotions and interactions. Simply superb. My favourite book this year so far.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I got this book from Netgalley and wow what an emotional rollercoaster it proved to be.

The story is the narrative of a seven year old boy who is caught up in a school shooting and whilst he is kept safe his older brother is one of nineteen victims that the gunman kills.

The account of the shooting incident was so realist and so chilling as it was seen through a child's eyes, I actually had nightmares.

As a parent who has lost a child I can verify the mix of emotions Zach's family went through., the way they each took their own paths to recovery and it is a fact that after losing a child many parents become so separate in their grief that the marriage breaks down.

I felt wracked with guilt on reading how Zach felt as he reached out to his parents physically and emotionally and found them both lacking.

I found this to be a tear jerking, emotionally exhausting novel which could teach all parents so much and on so many levels. I even feel that maybe this book could help families who are suffering the loss of a child .

This is a wonderful book and I understand that it is Rhiannon Navin's first so I can only hope that it is not her last.

This is emotionally challenging for all readers but must be overwhelmingly so for anyone involved in gun massacres or death of a child. It is superbly well written and the author's insights into the mind of a seven year old boy,the one left behind after the shootings,is remarkable. It is not a subject that most of us would choose to read but it is treated with enormous tact and understanding. A superb book.

Fantastic! First, I have to admit, I was actually anxious to be able to read this one because the blurb made me so interested. I am always obsessed with school shootings, I think it's because I can't imagine being in that building as one was happening. Here, we get a story from the POV of someone that was and what happens AFTER the traumatic event. This book worked in every way for me, the main character was sympathetic and real-feeling. I loved this book and quickly devoured it over a couple of sittings. Five stars, easily.

Two days after finishing this book and it is still occupying my thoughts. This is one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time and I think it will stay with me for some time.
The book opens with Zachary Taylor age 7, sitting in a dark closet with his whole first grade class and their teacher and it is instantly clear that something is very wrong. As events unfold it becomes clear that a gunman has entered the halls of Zach's school and that the children are in grave danger. Zach is our narrator and his description of their time in the closet is astounding. I was physically holding my breath during parts of it. Sadly, even though Zach and his class escape without any harm it gradually becomes clear that his older brother has not survived and Zach's little family will never be the same again.
It's at this point that this book become really excellent. So many authors would take the narrative away from Zach at this point, transfer it to third person, or one of his parents' point of view but Navin sticks with Zach and we see the collapse of his family, and the different ways in which people grieve through Zach's eyes. Zach, of course, has his own feelings and emotions to work through.
This really is wonderfully written, it's heartbreaking at times and I sobbed a couple of times. I'm rarely a fan of adult books written with a child narrator because I think it's quite tricky for the author to maintain that voice without the child starting to sound precocious and without reacting in a more adult way than they should. I have a seven year old son and Zach is authentic, he behaves in a similar way to my son and enjoys the same things. I don't know if that meant that this book affected me more profoundly, it was hard for me to not imagine Zach like my son and his friends, but it is so well written and gripping. I was really surprised to see that this is a debut novel, I will definitely be looking out for future books by this author. I want to say I loved it but it feels inappropriate due to the content, either way, I would highly recommend it.