This novel deals with the aftermath of a school shooting from the point of view of young Zach Taylor. His teacher, Miss Russell, hides her class successfully while a shooter prowls the corridors of McKinley Elementary School, but, when Zach is reunited with his mother, Melissa, and dad, Jim, they find that his older brother, Andy, is nowhere to be found. Later, it is discovered that Andy was one of a number of children who were killed by the adult son of the school security guard, Charles Ranalez.

Andy was bright, excellent at sports and had ODD, or oppositional defiant disorder, which I had never heard of before. Basically, it meant he suffered from bad tempers, and rages, and you quickly get the impression that Zach was a little wary of him. So wary that, at first, he is even a little glad that Andy is gone. Nobody around to laugh at him, or call him names and his parents all to himself. Only, that isn’t to work out quite as he hoped. Unable to reconcile themselves with what has happened, Melissa and Jim pull apart in their reactions to the tragic, and terrible, events and loss of their son.

Jim retreats into work. Melissa is bent on revenge, even though she was the favourite of the kindly Charles Ranalez, when she attended the school. Zach is a small child, alone and afraid, who has to attempt to deal with his feelings, as his parents struggle with theirs. Allowing the viewpoint to be that of a young child helps us see the harsh reality behind the adult politeness. For example, when Jim speaks glowingly of Andy, Zach recalls the arguments that his behaviour caused. As the book continues, he sees the hypocrisy of the adults, begins to learn what Andy really meant to him and, unhappy with all the arguments and stress caused by his brother’s death, he does his best to make bridges between the adults around him.

This is a moving and impressive debut. . The author shows how Zach’s favourite books, The Magic Tree House series (favourites of my own children when younger) help him make sense of his feelings. You really feel for Zach, confused and ignored, while also understanding the behaviour of his parents Who really knows how they would behave in the face of such tragedy and who can judge anybody suffering such pain? Still, this novel shows that it is not just parents who suffer loss, but children too, and adults cannot ignore, or trivialise, their feelings. This would be an excellent book for a reading group, with much to discuss. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Firstly, I cannot believe this is the first book by this author.
It starts with a shooting in a Primary school. As the Mother of an 11 year old boy I found the scenes around the shooting and the aftermath both chilling and heart wrenching. The fear of the children, the anguish of the parents and the devastation or euphoria upon learning of their children’s fate.
The book is written from the perspective of Zach , just 6 , who feels isolated, lonely and confused and sees his world and family falling apart around him .
The shooting, the aftermath, the loneliness of Zach, the falling apart of the family and the reaction both of and to the perpetrator’s family. There’s so many emotional moments in this book and the author captured them all perfectly. Every time I read a chapter I had to close my Kindle , take a breath and collect my thoughts together. This is one of those books that leaves the reader with a serious book hangover

I think that this is a book that everyone will be talking about this year. It’s simply stunning.

I read this with my heart in my mouth. The descriptions of the day that a gunman comes into Zach’s school are so realistic, narrated by Zach himself, that it feels as if we are there with him.

The aftermath, all seen through the eyes of a child, is heartbreaking and poignant. It really shows how children perceive the world so differently to adults.

It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel. The author’s insight into her narrator’s mind, and the way she weaves the story, are those of a much more accomplished author. This is a serious talent, I’ll be waiting for her next book.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. It’s a must read.

6 year old Zach Taylor survives a mass school shooting by a mentally ill man that takes the life of his older brother Andy. Andy suffered from a condition known as Oppositional Defiance Disorder that had already put his parents marriage under strain. Losing him in the shooting now widens those cracks and we watch as Zach becomes spectator to the fall out from this terrible act. This story was told entirely from Zach's point of view and is heart-breaking to read. Young Zach uses colour to vent his emotions whilst hiding from his parents emotional fall out in his secret place in his dead brother's closet.
A moving and heart-breaking read with beautiful characterisation and wisdom.
Thank you to Rhiannon Navin, her publishers and Netgalley UK for the advance copy of this beautiful book.

Unbearably sad and profoundly affecting.

One of the most beautiful books I’ve read in a very long time. Tricky deserves its acclaim..,

Rhiannon Navin has a lot to answer for with this book as I have been up half the night in tears reading this book yet couldn't put it down.

An amazingly, emotional book that any parent can empathise with. |this is well written, keeping you hooked and making you feel very much a part of the story. Would highly recommend!

I will come back as soon as I get a chance (and it isn’t 1:00am) and review this book properly, but this is DEFINITELY the best book I’ve read this year and by this year, I mean the last 12 months and not specifically 2018.
Zach is such a wonderful little protagonist but all the characters while unpleasant at times
were so real and relatable that you were able, as Zach was, to forgive them and move on.
Navin has taken a subject for her starting point that is shocking and very easy to sensationalise but has treated it with reverence, care and respect and the trigger of the story, while sensitively handled and gripping, is nothing when compared to Zach’s feeling paintings, his favourite series of books and the compassion of Mimi, Mary and other characters.
I was genuinely upset to find out this was her first book and I couldn’t instantly buy and download her others. I can NOT WAIT for her next book!!

Only child

This heart wrenching story told from the POV of a 7 yr old boy involved in a school shooting which tragically took the life of his brother. This is a deeply moving story dealing with the aftermath and the recovery of this harrowing event. I was totally gripped by this fantastic story, I felt many emotions reading this well written and very delicately dealt with debut novel.

OMG, this book is heart breaking - I was brought to tears on several occasions. The story is poignantly told through the innocence and honesty of Zach.

This is told from the viewpoint of the surviving brother after he witnesses a gunman carrying out a school shooting. This story was very well told as he deals with his grief and the people around him come to terms with the devastation. Highly recommend this book

I've never read a book from the point of view of someone so young before and wasn't sure how I'd take to it but straight away none of that even mattered. I was there in that room with Zach from the first moment of the story and I stuck with him throughout. I remember reading the first few chapters of the story - I was just meant to read a couple of pages and go to bed, but I was completely captured in the moment and I couldn't stop reading. I felt the fear of the situation and I like the fact it's not pointed out that he has a brother in the about the book part, as that part definitely shocked me.

What hit me the most was the childhood innocence of Zach and also his complete honesty. This first stuck out to me when his classmate had a bogey hanging from his nose and he couldn't help but think about how gross it is, even though it was in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. You wouldn't read something like that in a book from the perspective of an adult, but I genuinely believe that stuff like that would still stick out to a child.

I didn't take to the mum at all - I liked her at the beginning, but that soon changed when she got out of the hospital, with the way she treated Zach. His dad didn't seem particularly nice after the shooting either, but he soon felt like an angel to me compared to the mum. I just wanted them to put him first, but I know that that's not the way it always works and however hard it is to read it, it is a genuine possibility for parents to act that way whilst grieving and to be honest, it made me connect with Zach at a much greater level.

I really really liked Charlie and I felt for the guy so much throughout the book. I'm really glad for the partial resolution at the end of the book that shows hope. Without any resolution to the Charlie situation, I'm not sure I would have been as satisfied with the ending to the book.

Look forward to reading more future work by this author.

Wow! Thank you so much to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan and the author, Rhiannon Navin for allowing me to review this book.
Zach is a 7 year old boy who loses his big brother in a Columbine style school schooting and the story charts the effect this has on him and his family in the months following the life changing event.
The book is beautifully written from Zach’s perspective and is poignant, beautifully written and really demonstrates the innocence of a young child in a grown up world and who is also grieving for his brother. I was hooked from the first pages. I would definitely recommend, 5 stars.

This was a real emotional roller coaster. The book begins with the school shooting and it gradually transpires that Zach has lost his brother Andy. From vivid descriptions of the attack and its aftermath through to how Zach’s parents both coped with the loss it is a page turning book. Love, sadness, pity are just a few of the emotions that went through me as I read this book. The whole story is described from Zachks perspective which adds so much to an adult reading the book. I loved the reflections relating to the story of Jack and Annie trying to find the four secrets of happiness to cheer up Merlin and how in the end they resolved the dysfunctional family that the death had caused.As a debut novel this is an amazing read and I look forward to seeing more from this very talented writer.

This book really pulled at my heart strings. When Zach's brother is killed by a gunman at school the whole family is devastated. This book is about their grieving and anger and how Zach helps them. I got totally caught up in the story. I was fascinated by Zach's opinions on how death should be handled and how we should mourn. This is a very cleverly written book. It made me laugh and it made me cry.

This was a completely harrowing book. It throws you right in the deep end of a school shooting from Zach’s seven year old perspective, one in which his brother is killed. The book continues from Zach’s point of view as he struggles to understand what the shooting means, knowing that his brother is gone but not quite knowing whether to be sad or happy about it, then feeling guilty, and feeling everything.
This sort of story is only too real for a lot of the world right now, but seeing it from a child’s perspective, particularly a child of the age that I look after at Brownies, made it seem all the more distressing. It was emotional and blunt, in the only the way a child can be.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were well written, and the story flowed well, although the main event is right at the beginning of the book, and the story is all about the aftermath. Would recommend for anyone who enjoyed Wonder or Room.

I would read this again and again - in fact, I have - and if you have lost a child or a sibling, please read this book. It will make you cry, for the bad, the good and the ugly. It will give you hope too.

Six-year-old Zach is at school, happily sitting at his desk when the gunman strikes. His teacher Springs to action and the class manages to hide and survive.

His older brother, Andy, doesn't.

The whole story is told by Zach. His thoughts, his feelings, his grief and anger.

And his hope.

Amazing and extremely well written. Zach is a very good teacher…
I would love to read more from this author too.

Elsa

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Gripping but heartbreaking story told from the perspective of a 7 year old boy. The story of how he brings his family back together after a deeply traumatic event - made even more poignant by what seems to happening in the US on a monthly basis. Harrowing but at the same time uplifting,

I enjoyed this book as it showed the effects of incidents such as this from a child’s perspective. Would definitely recommend and it is relevant to modern times.

An incredibly heartbreaking story, told from the viewpoint of Zach, a seven year old boy who was present at the school shooting which resulted in the death of his ten year old brother.

The story is gripping from page one, Rhiannon Navin does an absolutely fantastic job of capturing the pain of a family torn apart by a horrific tragedy. We see Zach having to try and understand the wide range of emotions that he is not only feeling himself, but also witnessing his parents feel - each of them are dealing with the loss in a different way. Hearing the child's perspective on an incident they don't really understand is extremely thought provoking.

I honestly couldn't put the book down - an exceptional and moving read. Looking forward to reading more from Rhiannon Navin.