A truly engrossing read. Most authors stick to a familiar genre and format - with the approval of their publishers and readers alike. Not Rosamund Lupton. She may not be as prolific as her contemporaries but when she produces a book she does it great aplomb.
Her themes are as riveting as they are different and each one packs a punch.
'Sister' was a stand out novel, a truly mind twisting tale. With 'Three Hours' the author delivers yet another pulse racing read. Superb.

Not my normal read but I was engrossed from page 1. The writing made me feel it was so real and Rosamund had been caught up in some sort of emergency I am sure I will be reading many more stories from LR in the future.

Rafi and his brother Basi are two well loved children at their local community school. Both had escaped terror and war and survived the journey to England. Rafi has PTSD, and when he hears gun shot, the deputy head is quite to dismiss him. But his teachers love and respect him, and his concerns are taken seriously. He is right and the school is under siege. But who by, and why? This was such an emotional rollercoaster told from the point of view of several students and teachers caught up in the attack. I shed more than a few tears at the end.

I devoured this book in 24 hours. The premise of a school shooting told from multiple perspectives was instantly intriguing and the way the story unfolded was really well done - with pace as well as light touches. You really did feel the emotions of all involved so keenly. This book is brilliant.

Wow this book was unlike anything I've read. It was truly mind blowing and really got under my skin.

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 seige by gunmen - that affected me but the clever telling of that story. Throughout there were references to real-life altrocities 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 akward, 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.

A remarkable, moving story about circumstances too awful to imagine. The subject matter made for a difficult read at times, but it's done very carefully and well. An amazing cast of characters and incredibly raw, real emotion.

I finished this book in a weekend, I could not put it down. A school is in lockdown after an attack and the gunmen are still out there somewhere. Lupton tells this nail biter from so many points of view, without ever leaving the reader overwhelmed or confused. From Rose in the police command centre to the parents iwaiting for news and the different groups of terrified students, their stories convey their fear. But the character of Rafi is most compelling, protecting others and searching for his brother whom he has protected on the journey from Syria. The interweaving of his journey and experience as a refugee was powerful.
I would have liked one more chapter, maybe one month later. And a minor gripe, no teenager would allow their phone to run out of charge, especially so early in the day, and for so many of those trapped to be without a phoneit was too cliche a plot device.
A great book, kept me page turning.

This book was fantastic, couldn't stop reading it. The story was laid out in such a clever way that the gripping events unfolded but you had no idea what was going to happen in the end. Riveting, from beginning to end.

Thank You To Netgalley & Publishers For Granting My Request To Review This Book.
Oh Holy Wow! What A Fantastic Book And One Of The Best I’ve Read This Year. This Is Going To Cause A Huge Stir When It’s Released In 2020.
Not Only Did The Synopsis Have Me Gripped But I Was Totally Invested From The First Paragraph.
A Siege At A School Is Every Parents Worst Nightmare, Making This Book Relatable From A Parents Point Of View.
Obviously A Work Of Fiction, This Was Extremely Well Researched From Fact And References Other School Sieges Like Columbine.
This Story Didn’t Fail To Bring Tears To My Eyes From The Start And Throughout. It Had Me On The Edge Of My Seat. Told From Different Characters Points Of View Within The Three Hours Keeps Interest & Suspense.
Of Course All Of These Characters Were Fictional, They Become Real People The Further You Get Into The Story And I Felt Pride For Their Courage And Bravery, Not Just The Teachers And Students But Also The Police. I Definitely Felt Relief As The Take Climaxed - It Felt Like I’d Been Holding My Breath.
I Guessed Both The Twists But Doesn’t Take Away From It Being A Fantastic Book And One I Would Happily Binge On Again

Amazing book that I was unable to put down.

Three hours by Rosamund Lupton was such a gripping read and sadly how relevant it is in the world we live in. The very best in people and the very worst in people.

An Intense thriller that takes place in just three hours in a school in the UK with themes of radicalisation and refugees.

The school is under siege and the main characters are Rafi and Basi who are Syrian refugee brothers who attend the isolated school that has been part of the community since 1920

Several buildings with students and teachers are spread out across the campus and their stories unfold with fear growing as the minutes tick by.

The book grabs your attention right from the off with the head teacher, Matthew being shot and literally pulled from the gunman into the library.

Classrooms of pupils being brave hid behind walls of books as their only secure hiding place, whilst another teacher locks her students in the theatre and tries to rehearse for a forthcoming play to try to retain some sense of normalcy.

Anguished parents pray for their children to stay safe many failing to reach their child on his/her mobile phones - another teacher makes the children build a pretend clay house in the pottery room again to distract the infants from the gunman pointing an automatic weapon at the window.

Excellent book that tackles lots of issues and has some great characters. At times I found myself holding my breath, sitting upright, biting my nails, and feeling emotionally stirred.

A brilliant read. Thank you Net-galley and Penguin books for this ARC in return for a honest review.

This is a very tense read and I would recommend having time to read it all as once you start, you won’t want to stop. I found towards the end that my heart was pounding and I was forgetting to breathe, it was so exciting. It’s a fast-paced novel throughout but even more so towards the end. Terrifying at times! I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t say too much. There are some wonderfully heroic characters - teachers and children - and I kept thinking about the story after I had finished it.

Wow. This book was good! It was tense, and so well written, that you just wanted to keep on going and never put it down. The only reason I gave this 4 instead of 5 stars is because I would have liked more POVs from the inside the school rather than outside and the book ends with an unanswered question but that’s just my opinion! Highly recommend this.

The most amazing book. Be prepared to read it in one sitting as you're swept along in an entirely believable and gripping story covering a life-changing three hours for each and every character. It's not all happy endings but still manages to be life-affirming nevertheless. Rosamund Lupton is good. In this book she's way beyond good.

This is a very moving, emotional roller-coaster of a novel. It is snowing, November, and we are at a school in rural Somerset, with cliffs on one side and woods surrounding the spread out building – including a theatre, pottery building, and Junior and Senior School (named Old and New School). This book begins with a gunman shooting Headmaster, Matthew Marr, in the head. Dragged into the library by some pupils, the events of that day unfold, as the school goes into lockdown.

Characters include the Headmaster and Deputy Head, Detective Inspector Rose Polstein, a parent waiting anxiously for news of her son, Hannah, who is doing her best to care for Mr Marr and her boyfriend, Syrian refugee, Rafi Bukhari and his younger brother, Basi.

I do not want to give away the plot, but I will be surprised if many readers do not finish this without a tear in their eye. Not many books make me feel tearful, but I found this profoundly moving and very topical. Although this is, of course, about a tragedy, it is also a very uplifting read. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book and thought the whole storyline behind it was fantastic. I just found it a bit confusing as there were so many characters introduced and they were all in different places and it took me a while to understand it all. Very well written and such a current topic to tackle

Devoured this. Have read everything by this author from her first brilliant book. Another page-turner and one you’ll find engrossing. A play on US shootings in the UK. Really good.

This really is difficult to put down. A story of a hostage situation in a school, such as those reported on the news is made into a book where the reader is personally involved in the hope for success and dread that there will be a disaster.
The current story is woven in with the memories of a refugee with PTSD following his rescue and both themes feel very possible.
The fear of the gunmen successfully attacking the people in the school is ever-present and the empathy for the parents feels real. Radicalisation is also tackled and the information about access to information about guns, ammunition and bombs and their construction is terrifying.

This is an unusual book but gripping and well researched and written, thoroughly recommended

I really wanted to like this book as Rosamund is an excellent author and Iwas very interested in the premise of a school being under threat from a blood thirsty terrorist. It started well and caught my interest instantly. However it started to fill up with too much unnecessary information with all the minutiea of the children and staff hiding in various places. It could have been an excellent thriller if it had been trimmed down a bit so that we were transported to each and every heart stopping moment continuously as with other authors who regularly pry us with similar scenerious such as Harlen Coben and Lynwood Barclay. The storyline was there but it did drag on in some places which was a huge disappointment.

A gunman at a school. The headmaster is shot and the rest of the staff and pupils are divided up in different locations
Very tense book. Loads of different threads to follow . Characters well drawn and we are able to view the situation from several viewpoints
I had no idea how it would end but was impressed with the characters reactions and often bravery to events
I would recommend this book.

A thrilling, terrifyingly brilliant story. I cannot say it was unputdownable because at times I had become so intensely involved in the narrative that I was forced to put the book down, to regain my equilibrium and breathe again. Within a few pages I knew that this was going to warrant a five star review.
Set in a rural Somerset liberal school, it immediately calls into question our own hitherto possibly unperceived prejudice on so many levels. It puts so many facets of life and living under the magnifying glass. It shouts of racism and bias, of prejudice, of courage, of love. Encompassing modern technology, it emphasises the cold horror of evil manipulation and radicalisation and the vulnerability of our young people, but above all it highlights the courage of the students and their teaching staff. As the story weaves in and out of the rehearsal for Macbeth, the bone-chilling words of Shakespeare drive home the horror of the three hours in which they are all entrapped.
Rarely do we read a book where so many of the characters come so alive. We agonise with the parents and police staff but our hearts and minds take a hammering when we come face to face with the horrors experienced by the child immigrants Rafi and Basi.
Three Hours is an engrossing, traumatic story with many twists, turns and surprises. I finished it two days ago but it is still occupying my mind. I have already recommended it to friends and family for pre-order.
I have no hesitation in recommending and awarding Three Hours the maximum stars available. I have no doubt that it will prove to be a benchmark for the thriller/suspense/whodunit/whydunit of 2020.