One of the most gripping and beautifully written books I've read recently. Absolutely unputdownable. I would recommend to everybody. The Macbeth storyline was brilliantly clever too.

I received a complimentary copy of Three Hours from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Three Hours is the story of a school attack in north Devon. The narrative jumps between following, among others, teenage refugee Rafi and his little brother Basi as they struggle to reach safety, haunted by a PTSD-inducing past escaping Syria to reach the UK where supposedly they would be safe; Rafi's girlfriend Hannah and their headteacher who has been shot and she's struggling to keep alive; the mother of one of the pupils; and the secure theatre block where many students are sheltering, rehearsing Macbeth to keep their minds off the horror.

The story was incredibly gripping. I was desperate to know what would happen but also why it was happening. Lupton has written a hugely compelling novel. Don't expect to be able to dip in and out of this one though - the urgency of the novel makes that incredibly difficult.

As someone living in the UK and onlu aware of shooting in schools as what I see on the TV it gets me thinking I am so glad we do not have guns here. The sheer terror and the writing. Sad and upsetting.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton was a book that I could not put down and read in one day.
A school in Somerset is under siege. There are masked gunmen on the premise and the headmaster has been shot. Groups of children and staff have barricaded themselves into classrooms. Emergency services and police can't get into the school and are trying to negotiate with the gunmen. There is a snowstorm outside and panicked parents begin to arrive.
I really enjoyed getting to know the characters in this book. The tension grew with each chapter and I couldn't wait to find out how the story would end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book sent chills down my spine.
Following different characters it weaves and winds the story until you finally find out the true reason for the siege of the school.
Chillingly real, a true reflection of the sadness of our world.

I was really excited to read the new book by Rosamund Lupton, one of my favourite authors. I loved her books Sister and Afterwards and couldn't wait to start this one, thanks to NetGalley! The book is beautifully written, as expected, the characters are strong and the story is captivating. It is about a school shooting and what happened before. I was not disappointed, it is another excellent read by this author, well done!

First of all you have to know that Rosamund Lupton is one of my favourite authors, since Sister I’ve read all of her books, and they always surprise me. She has an amazing way to write books mixing the best traces of the human society with the worst of them. Her books always leave something in me, on this one is to remember that love is the most important thing in life.
Since the first day I started reading this book I had nightmares, sometimes being inside the school with the students and teachers fighting for their lives, and others being the parents outside the school with the fear of what will happen next to their children. But this is what Rosamund Lupton does in her books, she creates a stressfull atmosphere in which the reader feels trapped in it without being able to leave till the last page, no matter if you are reading the book or not, it keeps hunting you.
This had not been an easy read, if you are a parent I am sure one of your worst nightmares is that someone attacks the school of your children, so be prepared to drop a few tears and bite your nails while you are reading this story, it will not be easy.
A bitter sweet read full of emotions; love, friendship, fear, bravery, sadness… I highly recommend you to read this book, I will not deny that I drop a few tears with this book, and now everytime I look at my son I cannot stop thinking about it, there are so many themes in this book that affected me that I don’t think I’ll be able to forget it ever!
I don’t want to talk much about the plot, I don’t want to spoil you the story. Let me just say that this had been the most intense “Three Hours” I’ve ever read, Ready?

Absolutely superb. Lupton whips through this tale without a word wasted. There are numerous characters, but Lupton skilfully enables the reader to focus on the main players and generates sympathy in the reader. The procedural element is well-researched and persuasive. Sure to be a big hit.

Beautifully written with strong characters and excellent insight in the good and not-so-good sides of people. This story about a school shooting, but even more about what happened before that made some people decide to go ahead with it, is not an easy read. I had a bit of trouble getting into the story because of the location, with several buildings spread out and people having to move from one place to another, or just having to stay inside to stay safe. After a while I decided to not to try too hard anymore and I just let the story flow into my mind.
The weather is cold, cold in this book and parts of the underlying story are cold as well. You can almost see it evolving and it is hard to put down once everything is really in motion.

A great book and I'm happy Netgally and Penguin Books allowed me to read a digital review copy.

This is an intense, exciting book about a school in lockdown, due to Rafi, a refugee child from a war-torn country of origin, hearing what he believes to be a bomb exploding in the woods surrounding his school. The police have three hours to carry out proceedings in order to stop the planned devastation from being carried out. (That’s as much detail as I can give without giving any spoilers!) The first half of the book sets the scene and introduces the main characters, but lacked pace for me. The second half of the book was fast-paced and had many surprises, which all made sense when read back. I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it in the early hours of the morning. Even then, I thought about it all night and checked back over the details of one character in the morning to see how their part changed as the story developed. A really strong 4 stars.

Three Hours is incredible. This story of a school under siege is horrifying, terrifying and a true emotional rollercoaster. I read it mostly over the course of a day and evening, and ended feeling completely wrung out. I don’t want to say too much, though, because it’s best discovered for yourself.

Cliff Heights School, set amid woodland on the Somerset coast, is the last place you would expect to be terrorised by gunmen over a period of three traumatic hours. We see the story as it unfolds from different viewpoints - the wounded headmaster, Matthew Marr, tended by sixth-former Hannah in the library as an armed man stalks the hallway outside; the students and their teacher somehow continuing to rehearse Macbeth in the theatre; Syrian refugee brothers Rafi and Basi (PTSD-suffering Rafi, who knows a bomb when he sees one, is the first to raise the alarm about an explosive in the school grounds); mother Beth, desperately seeking news of her missing son; the police struggling to understand and contain the situation; and most poignant of all (though we see this mainly from others’ viewpoints), the teacher trying to protect and care for her class of seven year olds in the unprotected pottery room.

As a snowstorm rages outside, the tension rises to the point where the book becomes both almost unbearable to continue reading and impossible to put down. As hatred and fear do battle with courage and love, it’s impossible to predict how it will end.

I don’t want to say more, other than: stunning, harrowing and important book with a timely message. Read it!

The blurb of this sounded really great however I was unsure of this when I started reading, wrongly so as I soon discovered. The book literally starts in the middle of events, almost as though you’ve missed the first few chapters and this is why I struggled to get a hold of it at first but take it from me it’s well worth sticking with and I found I was very quickly engrossed. There’s quite a lot of characters in this however I had no trouble keeping up with who was who and I found all the characters to be well written. The plot is great, the layout of the school is a bit extreme but that’s necessary for the story to flow. It’s a real page turner, I guessed small parts of it but overall it keeps you on your toes and is thought provoking too. I am mostly unfamiliar with the story of Macbeth beyond the basics however the intertwining of this works well and does prove to have a relevance at the end. This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read recently and would give it 9/10

Oh my goodness this is a good book! I have read Rosamund Lupton before and enjoyed and was really looking forward to this book. I could not put it down, it is terrifying, compelling, tense and yet manages to leave us content by the end. Well written and greatly enjoyable - highly recommend!

In the middle of a snowstorm an English school is under siege. While the police and psychologist are outside trying to find the identity of the gunman, the headmaster is wounded in the library being cared for by other students while trying to keep the gunman outside the door. Children and teachers are spread out throughout the school in classes and they must all find the courage to stand up to evil and try to save the people they live.

I thought I would enjoy reading this one, but unfortunately for me I couldn’t connect with the characters and I felt it was long winded and drawn out. Not for me but I’m sure others who like this style of writing will enjoy it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books (UK) for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow!!! I absolutely loved this book. It was beautifully written, heartwrenching, and I was frantic with worry about the kids. This book had my heart in my mouth for the majority of the time, interspersed with moments of immense pride for those brave wonderful children and their teachers.

I think the most unsettling part of the book though, is how 'relevant' unfortunately, the story is in these unsettling times.

I am now going to get the other books by this author read.

LOVED IT!!

I thought this was an excellent premise and I would be immersed in the different groups but the way the book skipped about was distracting and some of the characters just didn’t ring true. I reread some parts after reaching the end to see if it would seem better on a second reading and decided that, for me, a lighter touch with the cast and less is more would have made it all more credible. Pregnant police officer leading team, dying head who rescues refugees, Syrian foster kids,deputy with depression but courage, selfless art teacher, incredible drama teacher, brave well behaved kids and then two radicalised teens and a building just perfect for the way the story unfolded. It read like an idea for TV not a novel and It just wasn’t as good as I expected.

I thought I knew what to expect from this book but it turned out to be far more nuanced - and interesting! - than the blurb implied. Several people have written about the aftermath of school attacks but this book gets under the skin of victim, police and others in a compelling way.

This isn’t the first novel to tackle the story of a school shooting, but it does it well. Although told over just three hours, Lupton layers the story with background and details about the characters so that the reader becomes invested in each of them. With the school in lockdown after shots are fired, most of the students have been evacuated. There remain just a few groups - several teenagers huddled in the library, tending to their wounded headmaster; a class of very young children with their teacher in a pottery room, cut off in the woods; and the cast of the school’s production of Macbeth, quietly rehearsing while locked in the school theatre as the drama unfolds outside. What I liked about this book is that the focus is not so much on the shooter (or shooters) and why this is happening (although that is explored) but on the experiences of the children and adults affected, how they behave in the face of danger, how courage and compassion overcome fear.

This was the first book that I had read by Rosamund, and it certainly won't be the last, intense from start to finish. A must read

This book left me feeling underwhelmed.
A fan of Rosamund Lipton’s previous work, I had high hopes, particularly when I heard what the subject matter was.
The modern spate of high school massacres are both terrifying and strangely compelling, and I have read a lot of literature particularly about the event in Columbine.
I’ve always thought it would be a great subject to centre a fictional story around.
However, I felt there were too many similarities to the columbine massacre in this book - it was mentioned several times and it just felt like a slightly fictionised version of the event.
I didn’t feel any affinity with the characters and I became confused with the narrative leaping.
I would have loved more originality, a female shooter perhaps??
It left me wanting more.