Not the best book in this genre. Too long and too descriptive so sometimes boring. Many times I went few pages forward and still was able to be on track. Some characters appeared without explanation who os who and Marthy and Marty very confusing at the beginning.

Firstly thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Abigail Dean book, for some reason I expected a Thriller (my fault for not reading the synopsis properly), this book is NOT a thriller (do not expect twists) but a slow paced, character driven, thought provoking read! That said I loved it, the book kept me turning the pages. I was totally invested in the characters, their grief and the persecution they were facing from conspiracy theorists in the aftermath of a school shooting in a quiet little village in the North of England.

Abigail Dean did a great job of bringing the characters to life, I was however a little confused sometimes with character introduction and naming, I.e Marty and Martha are the same person, It took me a while to work that one out! The timeline jumps back and forwards in time too which takes a bit of concentration.

Overall this book is not my usual preferred genres but I am so glad I read it and I will definitely pick up GIrl A and any future books Abigail Dean writes.

In the picturesque town of Stonesmere, what should have been a memorable day for all good reasons, turns into the worst day imaginable. A primary school play… a lone gunman… and the devastating weeks and months that follow…
This story is a fascinating read. It focuses on the aftermath of the shooting and is written from the viewpoints of the main characters involved. Although it is slow moving, it still has the ability to pull you in and grip you there, not letting you go until the conclusion.
If you loved Abigail Deans, Girl A, you’ll love this!
With thanks to Netgallery and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

The second book I’ve read by this author and I’ve enjoyed both.

Martha lives in a small part of the Lake District with her teacher mum and popular dad. A seemingly peaceful existence until the Day One school performance one year which ends in unspeakable tragedy. And out of tragedy comes lies and stories and more horror.

I found this book a little hard to follow on my kindle as the storyline jumped around in time and using different narrators but would recommend it because it is a fantastic read.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.

Day One by Abigail Dean

A village hall, a primary school play, a beautiful Lake District town. Into this idyllic scene steps a lone gunman whose actions set off a train of events that will have devastating consequences for the close-knit community of Stonesmere.
I'm not sure you can say you enjoy reading a book like this due to its subject matter. I'd be more inclined to say I followed the books journey . Wow , what a journey it was.
I live in Cumbria , near the lakes and mountains and arguably one of the most beautiful places in the UK , but this title goes a long way in showing that leaving in peaceful places doesn't always mean you get the same for life.
Hard hitting.

Day One is a gripping, suspenseful and darkly raw book. This is an uncomfortable read with some hard and horrific topics/events but this is also an amazing read. With some many twists I felt gripped whilst reading this and didn't want to put it down. If you enjoy darker thrillers I definitely recommend Day One as it is truly a page turner.

I was really looking forward to reading this after Girl A. Not so sure about this book at all.

I felt at times totally confused as to who was where and who was who. Disturbing reading especially with the school shootings and everyone with their views on the incident.

Now truth sayers really opened up a topic of discussion in the household. You hear about people like this but oh dear me. I felt sorry for the author who must have spent a lot of time analyzing this trait of behavior.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book prior to the general release.

I was desperate to read this book as loved Girl A. The story was promising and I was desperate to read to the end but I was confused at times. I’m not sure if it was the pre published editing or the jumping back and forth, but I did struggle with the flow of this book. I would rate it at 3.5 stars.

Thank you Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are AWLAYS honest.

Trigger warning: school shooting involving children | 4.5 rounded UP. NICHE BANGER ALERT.

Writing: that's my type! | Plot: slow, character-driven, depressy | Ending: right in the feels

SYNOPSIS

Marty and Trent navigate the aftermath of a tragic school shooting.

MY OPINION

OOHHWEEE!!!!! J'ADORE!!!! This is a NICHE banger. If you liked Girl A, The Favor by Nicci French NOT Nora Murphy (dnfed that one) and S.E. Lynes (prose alone, not her plots), then you may enjoy this. If you expect thrills, chills, twists, and turns, as well as linear timelines and more straight-forward writing (Alice Feeney, CoHo, Freida, Megan Goldin, Riley Sager, etc) then SKIP. This is most certainly NOT a thriller. It is very bleak, very character driven, and rather 'slow'. Not one twist in sight my friends.

I see that Abigail Dean likes to fictionalize bleak af tragedies. Girl A is the Turpin case, and Day One is Sandy Hook. Tbh I didn't really read the synopsis, so when the school shooting occurred, I was a lil shook. There are a lot of similarities between this book and Sandy Hook, mostly around the conspiracy theory shitstorm egged on by the nefarious Alex Jones. I always enjoy books that really get into the mind of a conspiracy theorist and demonstrate how a 'normal' person has devolved into such a whackadoodle state. Dean does a fantastic job SHOWING not telling how Trent descended into madness.

The writing is *chefs kiss* FOR MEEEEE. The streets might call this writing style 'awkward', 'disjointed', 'choppy'. I'm always tickled pink when I see an author stretching the confines of syntax to carve out their own style and tone. Do I sound like a pretentious wanker? Yes. Anyways. Here's an example of what I mean:

...And however tired she was, it was the first thing she asked. However tired—even when the tiredness was right there on her face. When it had crept into her bones, and become a tiredness he should have recognized—

And what did he say? Fine. OK.

She would have listened though. She would have listened.

Unlike The Quiet Tenant ot All the Dangerous Things which leans heavily on melodramatic similes and flowery language to force emotion into mundane scenes, Dean stays fairly simile-free and chooses the right moments to hit you where it hurts. My fave quote of this book (for context: Marty is being interviewed right after the school shooting)

'What happened,' the woman said, 'in the hall?'

My memories trembled. I reassembled the room, just as it should have been. Gathered the children back to the stage. Put the chairs back in place. Dried the floor. Tucked phones back into pockets, handbags, palms. There I was, in the heart of the audience, with my mother's hand in mine.

Broseffff?????? What a beautiful way to SHOW that Marty wishes she could go back in time before the tragedy struck and that she regrets not being there with her mother. Basic writing would go with: I wish I could go back in time and make sure I had been in the audience with my mom like I promised I would be.

Anyways, if you're a pretentious wanker like me, you may enjoy this one. It's definitely more 'litfic' without being too dramatic. It's an uncomfortable read. It's a sad read. It's a read that'll make even the soulless feel something. It could spark some juicy book club debates. Dean can definitely handle sensitive topics with grace and I look forward to what she tackles next.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: beautiful and unique prose, thoughtful deep-dive into a fictionalized version of the Sandy Hook shooting, well-drawn characters, controversial in a good way that challenges you

Cons: definitely slow, some stilted dialogue, timeline was a tad confusing at first because I thought 'Year Eight' was referring to a grade, not the fact we were jumping 8 years forward from the Day One event

An uncomfortable read is the best way to describe this book. You almost feel guilty reading it as the events are so horrific. Since Dunblane is, thankfully, the only shooting of this kind in the UK, it's impossible not to remember the real life death toll of innocent young children and staff. The conspiracy theorists element just made the whole thing even more awful. It's hard to imagine what makes people act like this.
I finished this book just feeling very sad.

Day One is a very gripping novel, that will make you turn page after page to see what happens next! Highly enjoyed this and recommend!

It's an uncomfortable read at times, because everyone is hurting.
Everyone in their own way.
The huge amount of grief after the school shooting is immense, but then to have people demand THE TRUTH.

Honestly, it made me hurt a little bit for those characters.
What marvelous characters they were too , all with their own issues and problems before the main event.
Told from multiple points of view, and with a slow reveal of every last single lie, this held my attention fully.
This book puts Dean firmly in my auto buy authors list.

Oh M G! I loved it I didn’t want it to end!
I love all the different perspectives and the twists. A great mystery, So many feelings so many worries.

So many other things to thing about that were carefully not gone into. Poor Marty! I can’t imagine what she has gone through.

I loved this book.....a really gripping read which kept me turning the page throughout the book.

A school shooting in Stonesmere shakes the small town to the core.
The main character Marty lost her mother that day along with some children from the school but what really happened on that fateful day. Are things as they seem? What was happening on the run up to this day?

I highly recommend this book.

Every July, in the picturesque Cumbrian village of Stonesmere, primary school pupils put on a special assembly for next year’s reception class called Day One. A ritual as idyllic as the village itself until one year, a gunman storms the assembly and Stonesmere is never the same again.

And yet, the internet rumours begin to suggest, isn’t there something not quite right about the supposed massacre?

Day One is an astonishingly good novel that examines the meaning of grief, of truth, of what tragedy does to people, with an incredible sympathy for its characters. The part-Alex Jones part-Nigel Farage character who leads the conspiracy theorists is rightly treated as awful and manipulative, but one of the lonely young men pulled into his orbit - Trent - is given real humanity even while his acts are repellent.

The Stonesmere survivors are likewise beautifully drawn, their various ways of dealing with grief and rage presented with empathy.

As a study of how conspiracies flourish and grow, it is superb. As an examination of loss, it is even better.

Such a good book to come out of such a tragic storyline. This is a tale about community, about love and about the different ways in which people try to reconcile the unreconcilable. Told by different characters at different points post-event, the truth is gradually and cleverly revealed.

I loved the author’s previous book so was very excited to read this one. However, it left me rather disappointed. I found it confusing and hard to follow. I kept flipping back and forth to try and make sense. Not for me this time.

I know I’m in the minority here but I was so confused at times that I couldn’t follow the story. I had to re-read the first 7% because I thought I’d missed something vital, and that was when I realised that Martha and Marty were the same person. I’d read that ‘Ava had watched her own daughter, Martha, participate in the Day One performance; and Marty, being Marty, had been placed right in the centre …’ My fault I know, but to me that sounds like two different people – I had presumed Marty was a male. Then, ‘Two months in, a carpenter was summoned to refurbish the school library, and Ava … spent the week lying on the library floor in warm, dusty light, listening to Justin talk of a childhood …’ If I’d known that Justin was a carpenter it would have been a lot clearer! Also, ‘Rowan had worked with my mother …’ No explanation of who this Rowan is, and it’s 10% later when we learn who he is. I found all the backwards and forwards difficult to follow too, and the story seemed to go on and on and on. I read it to the end but I was relieved to have finished it. I’m sorry that this author’s writing style isn’t for me, but thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read the arc.

Day One by Abigail Dean is a powerful and emotionally charged novel that explores the aftermath of a tragic event in the small community of Stonesmere. The story centres around Marty, the daughter of a teacher who dies protecting her students during a violent incident. As the community grapples with the consequences of the tragedy, conspiracy theories emerge, and outsider Trent Casey seizes the opportunity to exploit the situation.

Abigail Dean skilfully delves into the complexities of grief, guilt, and the impact of trauma on individuals and the community as a whole. The narrative slowly unravels the truth behind the events, revealing the interconnectedness of Marty and Trent's lives. The author's writing is both poignant and gripping, capturing the raw emotions and vulnerabilities of the characters.

Day One is a thought-provoking and suspenseful novel that tackles themes of loss, resilience, and the search for truth. Dean's exploration of the human psyche and the ripple effects of a tragic event make this a compelling and unforgettable read. With its richly developed characters and expertly crafted plot, Day One leaves a lasting impact and prompts reflection on the power of community and the complexities of human nature.

A school massacre! The local teacher Ava Ward becomes a hero for trying to protect her pupils during the onslaught! Her daughter Marty tells police she witnessed the shooter arriving at the school but then the gun used proves to have belonged to her father! Conspiracy theories abound with a wanner be journalist and his friend adding to the confusion! The story is full of intrigue, twists and turns but oh so incredibly frustrating! The author so often tends to presume we know exactly who or what she is writing about and a character will suddenly appear from out of the blue! We have no knowledge of him or her! Either that or a chapter will begin about something we know nothing about - it will eventually become clear but this presumption can become extremely irritating! I stuck with it and was glad I had but tired of the guesswork!!