Wow! Where to begin!
A shocking and disturbing read about a school shooter and its aftermath!
This book mainly features the school teachers daughter Martha or Marty as she’s known! And a conspiracy theorist who was manipulated into some heinous crimes. And families who were all affected by the day!

Over all a fab read, but it does jump from character to character and before, during and after! So does take a little while to get used to.

Day One is a book that makes you turn the pages to see what truly happened on that day when a shooter entered a school and killed a teacher and pupils. The story is told from different point of views of the characters, like some of the victims and the conspiracy theorists. We see what deception, imagination and the search of such said 'truth' can do to some people. The ending I can say was to be somewhat expected, time changes ideas, feelings and things in general.

Day One, a school performance ends in a tragic shooting. Marty lost her mum that day, others lost children, partners. Trent, a budding journalist, and Ray, conspiracy theorist, come to the conclusion the event never happened and try and out “The Truth”.

I found myself going through a range of emotions reading this, sadness and anger mainly. A very emotive story. The characters were well developed, I felt like I really understood both Marty and Trent.
However, it didn’t have me gripped. I picked it up and put it down. It was a little slow for me, and lacking in twists.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for my advanced copy.

This had me hooked from page one right through to the end. A tense read and all too familiar with what goes on in the US which is awful. A hard read when it involves children being murdered and at times I just had to put it down. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Be warned, this book jumps back and forth in timeline so be sure to take note of the chapter headings, otherwise you will be very confused! Follows the aftermath of a tragic event at a local school and a lie that spins out of control. I enjoyed the book overall but the ending fell a little flat for me. Three stars from me.

3.5* Abigail Dean’s second book following the excellent Girl A.

In a picturesque village in the Lake District the top class at the local primary school are about to perform for the incoming children. Led by their teacher Ava Ward their nerves ease as they get under way. However mid-way through events unfold which change the lives of everyone present.

This is a difficult topic, a primary school shooting, well executed. The impact on those left behind is palpable, notably as recollections don’t quite slot together neatly and there is a year to wait for the inquest to unravel what really happened.

A second strand is a group of conspiracy theorists who claim the shooting never happened. The story jumps between the “truthers” and those who were there. This felt a little disjointed, not least because their paper-thin theories were never grounded in any reasonable evidence.

All in all a reasonable book which kept me reading to find out what happened.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

I was excited to read this second book from Abigail Dean - I loved Girl A!
I did however find this book disjointed initially, so a word to the wise - make sure you read the headings at each chapter to avoid confusion with the different timelines.

Taken from the aspects of multiple characters, it concentrates on the storyline between Marty (the daughter of the schoolteacher who was killed trying to protect her young charges) and a one time town local, Trent (who becomes part of an online group of conspiracy theorists)

I maybe was expecting a thriller but this is more of a sad and dark but very compelling read.
Neither of these characters are particularly likeable but you do find some level of sympathy for both of them as the layers peel back.
The book is set in Stonesmere a small rural town in the Lake District and its local primary school where a shooting occurs, killing a number of children and their schoolteacher.

The story unfolds slowly revealing the characters bit by bit and told from multiple perspectives, has a refreshing aspect where it doesn’t concentrate on the shooter but the other characters involved including the portrayal on “Truthers”, a morally complicated online culture

Overall a very compelling read.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review

I'm not sure about either of these covers. UK is very murder/thriller, which isn't really what the book's about; US is more quirky romcom to me! Although there is a thriller aspect to this it's much more about the reactions different people have when something like this happens, which was pretty eye opening.

The different points of view were a great help here in understanding how different people reacted. This is the first time I've really seen anything go in depth in the Truther's point of view, and it actually made me a little sympathetic towards them. Not completely - I still think most of their methods are abhorrent - but knowing that they do it because they simply don't believe people as a race can be so cruel did change my thoughts a bit.

The back and forth timelines aren't my favourite, but this is far from the worst usage of it I've ever seen. Overall this heart pounding, difficult read was well worth it and I think it will do well. Abigail has definitely found her niche, and long may she live in it.

This was very different to what I was expecting and not really a thriller in my opinion. Titled 'Day One' I thought it was going to be more about the day of the school shooting whereas it focused more on the aftermath. Admittedly the blurb mentioned conspiracy theories but I also wasn't expecting the cult aspect. The switching timelines were difficult at first too, especially as I initially overlooked the chapter labelling as simple numbering. Finally the ending was also a little unsatisfying. So not for me but maybe my own fault for not paying more attention to the blurb.

Stonesmere primary school in the Lake District is where teacher Ava Ward has worked for many years. Stonesmere is a small town where life just plods along, nothing remarkable happens. Then one dreadful day, during a play which is being performed for the four year olds who will be starting school next term, a shooter walks in and the lives of many will be devastatingly changed forever.

The story follows the aftermath and looks at how it affects the victims families. The reader slowly discovers what really happened that day, as the author explores the unreliability of memories. Making matters even worse is a group of’ truthers’ who believe the whole thing is a hoax, and that the victims never existed. There are parallels with Dunblane in Scotland, and other places around the world, which some readers will find distressing.

A thoughtful and beautifully written book covering a disturbing subject, but it draws the reader ever onwards to find the truth of it all.

In 2021 the astonishingly disturbing and intriguing Girl A was published launching Abigail Dean into the literary world - her new book Day One is another thought provoking read ; this time focussing on the before and aftermath of mass killing during a primary school production in a small community.

The story primarily focuses upon the surviving daughter of the class teacher killed during the tragedy- Marty- and Trent, a former local resident who becomes part of a group of online conspiracists who doubt that the events that took place either happened or the truth hasn’t been fully told.

This is very much a novel of our times in a world of TikTok crime solvers, social media voices hiding behind screens and deniers that events take place. Given the content of the tragedy, this is not always a comfortable read with much of the story being focussed up the victim’s families and the torturous way in which they are treated by strangers, media and how in turn this provokes reactions between them .

This is a novel that also explores how people who are sidelined or marginalised from society turn to extremists to find a connection or vent their inner anguish; however this is equally a story how not confronting personal truths can have huge ramifications.

The character of Marty is complex and the subsequent treatment of her by many is not easy reading.

Abigail Dean has written another challenging read - the novel moves between characters and moves backwards and forwards in time exploring viewpoints and perceptions. This is a story about how we see truth- personal or otherwise; how events can be interpreted and reinterpreted. A challenging and dark read which may well divide readers.

I thought the blurb sounded really good for this and was excited to read this. When I started reading it was immediate to me that this story for some reason was doing nothing for me.
I tried really hard to concentrate and get into the story, but nothing worked. I felt very miserable reading this and I couldn't connect to the characters. I thought this would be a story I would be interested in but for some reason the writing did nothing for me.

I found this a very emotive, thought provoking read. Each character, how they were connected and how the tragedy of the school shooting impacted on their lives was brilliantly written. The conspiracy theories, how the internet and social media can fuel public interest in an event is explored. This is written with many different viewpoints and from different timelines. Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC

I really enjoyed Girl A by Abigail Dean and was looking forward to this new book of hers.
This was a page turning thriller that literally kept me up late at night reading.
The book starts the day of a shooting at a school. The book flicks between Marty - who's Mum is a teacher in the school and Trent who is a reporter and used to live in Stonesmere where the incident happens.
We begin to build up a picture of why Marty is lying about being in the hall at the school when the shooting takes place.
The book is full of lies, secret and conspiracy which I found addictive.
4.5 starts. - Rounded up for net galley scoring
I will definitely be looking for more from this author in the future and recommending this book to other's,

The follow up to a debut that was so lauded must be daunting. However, this writer not only equalled the debut but surpassed it with this. It’s absolutely enthralling and I have enjoyed every page. A real talent.

Often difficult to follow and the changes in timelines and characters did not make it any easier. Disjointed, lengthy and confusing in parts on such difficult subjects as a school massacre and conspiracy theories does not make it this authors best.
My thanks anyway to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for this unbiased and honest review.

Abigail Dean is an excellent writer of emotive prose and immersing the reader into the human aspect of the story. It goes hand in hand with the fact that she tends to fictionalize tragic historical events, in this case there are too many parallels to Sandy Hook to avoid that this is where the influence came from. In terms of character study, this is an excellent book and we really see into the psyche of the people who were affected by the shooting - the grieving daughter (who, as it turns out is grieving her mother and the romantic relationship she had with the shooter himself), the grieving father dealing with conspiracy theories about his child never existing, the online conspiracy theorists themselves (I thought this part was particularly well done, we see them psychologically fall off a cliff when it came to this case) and of course, the shooter themselves. So as I said, this book was excellent in terms of character study.
Where the book lost me was: I found the plot to be quite slow, I think maybe if the book was cut down by 50-100 pages it would have been perfect, more tense and fast paced. It also was a little choppy and jumped between timelines a lot which sometimes was a little confusing.
I do think this book is going to be very successful - one note is I think on netgalley it was listed as a thriller? This feels more like a contemporary and very sad insight into the aftermath of school shootings on small towns.

From the author of the brilliant Girl A, this is another great read, again exploring a terrible subject but looking at it from a different point of view. In this instance the subject is a school shooting, and the book explores the time (days, months and years) after the event, and how the slightest comment or circumstance can have a terrible ripple effect, and how the conspiracy theories that can grow up around an event like this can be so very dangerous. An excellent piece of psychological storytelling.

Day One is a slow exploration of character, centring around a school shooting and its aftermath. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review it before publication.
While Girl A - in spite of its topic - was one of my favourite reads of 2020/2021, this didn’t have quite the same resonance with me. I think this came, in part, down to the structuring of the book and the way in which we came to understand what had happened to each of the key characters. The character of Marty was also someone who I found hard to understand, until we learn late on more of what happened to her before the events of the book.
Stonesmere is a rural village, filled with people who’ve lived there for years and seemingly content with their existence. They have their traditions, one of which is a performance put on by local primary students. Unfortunately, on the Day One in question a shooting occurs. Numerous residents are killed and we know that this becomes a case of interest because of what happens later.
Very much a slow burn, this was a thought-provoking read but not one that really stood out.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A hard book to read due to the subject matter. Although sympathetically and well-written. Recommended.