Day One is quite a book. It tells the aftermath of a primary school shooting in the Lake District. It was a difficult book to read due to the subject matter but I found it really gripping throughout. The story was very thought provoking and I would highly recommend it as a book everyone should read.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for my ARC.

Day One by Abigail Goodreads review

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


Day One tells the aftermath of a mass shooting in a small school in Stonesmere a small village north of England.

Through the eyes of two individuals one Marty the daughter of the school teacher who was killed on the day and Trent a young man who dives into the heart of conspiracy theories of the events,

One Day is one of those novels that examines conspiracy theories both through the eyes of the individuals involved in the school shooting and the people who do not believe the official events.

For some readers Day One is one of those novels that could be confusing for some readers as the story swaps from one perspective to another, or changing timeline as the story goes back and forwards,

This is done to build up tension as events of the Shooting are gradually revealed.

What really worked in the novel was Trent’s story arc throughout the novel as he gets drawn in the conspiracy theories, however it is never done in a way that makes Trent a comical figure, just one affected by events.

The other main character in the novel is Marty, a young woman who gets caught up in the story and one of the major causes of the conspiracy theories, her story is again told with great sympathy.

The story of a school shooting being used to examine conspiracy theories though a school shooting set in The UK allows the story to concentrate on an individual alternative story line and keeping gun rights out of the story which would have happened if it was in the USA.

All this make Day One by Abigail Dean an interesting way to examine conspiracy theories though fiction novel but still book well worth reading.

Set during and in the aftermath of a school shooting, this seems to be more about deception and relationships than it is around the subject matter itself. More that it is the situation on which to base the plot itself and this is a convenient shock point that will make people think they are about to read something harrowing and hard-hitting.
That's not to say that there aren't some elements that are deeply saddening, anything involving a school shooting will tug at heartstrings and trigger any feelings of grief you have yourself, but this isn't the book to read for psychological analysis of those who perpetrate such crimes or to consider motivation.
Ultimately, this is a very predictable story - very early on, you know who is lying and why, this is clearly intentional and I am not spoiling any part of the plot by stating this. This isn't about unraveling the lies, more about the impact those.lies have on people around them and the impact on the liar herself - a character I found to be narcissistic and loathsome if I'm honest. I genuinely found her to be irritating, dishonest and unworthy of friendship not did I find myself rooting for her in any way.
There's a lot of jumping back and forth across days, months and years which some may love - some may find this teasing of future events intriguing and entice them to learn how we arrived at that point. For me, it felt erratic and disjointed. I don't mind a flashback and flashforward where the flash forwards truly do whet the appetite, but to be jumping back and forth every chapter was too chaotic for me and frustrated me on the occasions where she gave too much away and I knew without reading what had happened. I never want a book to be so predictable that there's little value in reading the in-betweens.
All that aside, I do enjoy the way Abigail Dean writes and that's what kept me reading. Whilst I despised her main character, I don't think that's a bad thing - I think it's quite interesting to write a main character that can be loved or loathed depending on your own perspective of the world and your own sense.of right and wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the different angles on the media and the Internet, especially given how many conspiracy theorists there are out there and the depths they're willing to plummet without any consideration for the harm they do to others.
I'll happily read anything she writes, but I'm not sure that this is one that I'll read twice.

Synopsis ——Marty told the reporters that she saw it happen. She saw the gunman enter the hall. She saw her mother die trying to protect them all.
That’s the version of Day One Marty wishes was true.
But strange inconsistencies in her story begin to surface. Details that don’t add up. Questions she can’t answer.
The story ignites. Amidst the media frenzy, conspiracy theorists become obsessed with exposing what really happened. And at the epicentre of it all is a small community changed forever. Survivors crushed by guilt. Families torn in half. Outsiders consumed by the hunt for truth.
Each has their own version of Day One. Each must grapple with this tragedy, even as fanatics question whether it ever really happened at all.
But what did Marty really see?
And why would she lie?

My thoughts— day one a concert given by the oldest children to the new children to start the school in the new term-, a shooter attends the school this begins this novel .
Marty Ward runs and tells a lie which will be with her for a long time. In the months that follow Ray Cleave a conspiracy theorist began casting doubt on the reported events and enlisted , encouraged ‘truth’ journalist Trent Casey to expose the sham!
But what was the truth?! The novel goes back to Day one , different months and different years with narratives from Marty and Trent . The friendship between Marty and Leah was a strong and important one for Marty .A slow burn story which unravels a disturbing subject a puzzle which will eventually conclude with the out pouring of truth !

Clearly this is a tough subject to read about (a primary school shooting) but it‘s more about the aftermath than the event itself.

Was Marty actually in the hall at the time - was she running to escape or was she running towards the school? And what effect will all the truthers and conspiracy theorists have on the village?

It‘s a very similar style to Girl A - quite steady with a slow reveal rather than twisty-turny edge of your seat stuff.

I feel like I was left with questions still which isn't the ideal way to end a book for me. The story is emotional and hard to read at times, but it is also the sad reality of the world we live in now. There were multiple POV and timelines which made it a little hard to keep up but overall it was a gripping thriller than many will enjoy.

I was a big fan of Girl A so I knew I had to immediately request Day One when I spotted it on Netgalley. I’ve ended up with really mixed feelings about it! I went through equal waves of enjoying it and needing to know what happened next, to being a bit bored and wanting things to move along quicker.

The story is based around a very difficult situation - a primary school shooting. I think the author wrote about those harrowing moments depicting that scene very gracefully and sensitively, although it was definitely a difficult read at points, it was dealt with carefully.

Day One is told from multiple POVs and set across many timelines - which are not chronological - and I was a bit confused for a while to begin with due to the jumps back and forth in time. I did feel invested in the story overall and was intrigued to find out how everything happened but there just seemed to be a constant shift in the plot of slow lulls and then the pace ramping up speed out of nowhere. It’s a well written book for sure but I don’t think it was really for me.

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

Day One by Abigail Dean
Published by HarperCollins Uk
Publication Date: 28 March 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tense and chilling this unpredictable story about a school shooting in the Lake District will leave you frantically page turning until you finish it.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and to netgalley for providing me with an advance digital copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Day one is a difficult read due to the topic that it covers. However it was a great read which had me questioning everything.

Stonesmere Primary School is showcasing its talent in the annual Day One drama show. However before the show has even really started a mass school shooting has taken place and lives will be changed forever. Local teacher Ava Ward lost her life in the tragedy by shielding her pupils but does her daughter Marty know more than she’s letting on?

Throw into that internet conspiracy theorists latching on the tragedy and trying to discredit it this is a story of truths, lies and false memories.

Overall it is a good read.

Set in a small village in the Lake District ,this is a very slow and disjointed read. Full of tragedy there is a conspiracy story and confusing horror. The plot is intriguing but also emotional tells how a dreadful and horrifying event effects the whole town and the Families of the victims .I did find the ending very disappointing .Thankyou to NetGalley for my ARC.

I found this book a little hard to get into initially but once I did I was invested in the story. I don't usually like stories that jump from timeline to timeline but in this book it seems to work, it is written from various points of view, mainly Ava, a teacher at Stonemere Primary School nestled in the hills of the beautiful Lake District, Marty her daughter, a daughter whose lie sets off an avalanche of catastrophic events that changed the once happy town of Stonemere, and Trent Casey, a would be journalist who is so easily led by the"truthers", the truthers who have wild ideas that are gaining momentum.
Ava is preparing her class for Day One when the oldest children in the primary school put on a play for the children who are about to start, making their first day at school day two and therefore less frightening.
The play has started, the children's nerves are palpable, the proud parents are holding their cameras, no one notices the gunman walk calmly into the hall and start shooting.
Reporters and cameramen surround the school,all wanting that one picture, that one interview that will make them famous......the interview with Marty, the interview when she lied.
Why did Marty lie ? who was the shooter ?
This is a gripping story, I did drop one star because I didn't really connect with the characters and I did think that it dragged a bit in the middle but other than that a great story, a frightening story because sadly because people like the truthers do exists and schools are easy targets for deranged gunmen.
Thank you Net Gallery for my ARC, my review is voluntary.

A mass shooting at a primary school in a beautiful lakeside town, ten children and their teacher dead. After the event the town tries to come to terms with the trauma but then the conspiracy theorists start their campaign. Marty - a teenager who told a lie, Larkin - the policeman who has lost everything, and Trent - the former resident with ambitions, as time goes on each of them react in their own way.
This is such a good book! The characterisation is spot on, all the individuals with their closed lives who are changed forever by the events. It's pertinent too, the whole idea of people who deny events have taken place and the outspoken media politicians who peddle extremist views, this is a microcosm of modern British life. The whole story is very sad and beautifully written.

Abigail Dean burst onto the thriller scene with her debut novel Girl A. She returns with a possibly less page-turningly thrilling but complex, terrifying and thought provoking follow up Day One. Day One is a fictionalised account of the Sandy Hook massacre or primary school students in America in XXXX. Dean has translated that story into an English context and in doing so universalises the issues and explores the prevalent social media forces that shaped the narrative following that event.
The Day One of the title is an event at the Stonesmere local primary school where the student put on a performance for their parents and children who will be starting the school in the next year. The day becomes a horrific memory due to a local who enters the hall and kills many of the grade 1 students and their teacher. The narrative focusses on Marty, daughter of the well loved teacher who was killed trying to protect her students, and Trent who once had once known the shooter and gets caught up in the on-line conspiracy theories that grow around the event.
Day One is a tough novel. Dean explores the impact of a tragedy on a small town, the splits and the recriminations that follow an event that no one can really fathom. But she also looks at how the internet feeds conspiracy theories and the politicians and pundits who use the slightest inconsistencies in the statements and behaviour of traumatised victims to their advantage. As with Sandy Hook, this includes claims that the whole event was faked, that the children did not really exist and that the parents were actually actors. None of this is helped by Marty who is front and centre in the media but is also hiding something.
One of the effective techniques in Day One is for Dean to keep going back to the events of the day from different perspectives. The reader is left in no doubt from page one that the event happened. So while this continually returning to the crime in some way slows the novel down it serves as the important purpose of constant reminder to the reader that the tragedy involved real people. And that these are the people that the conspiracy theorists are trying to belittle and dehumanise.
Day One is a compelling, compassionate exploration of one of the darkest events of the last decade. By focussing on Marty and Trent Dean dives into the complexity of both sides. Of the survivors who want the deaths of their loved ones to mean something and of the people drawn slowly down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories until they cannot see any option but to keep pushing forward with their claims. This is an important novel, joining other recent releases like Dervla McTiernan’s What Happened to Nina? (also loosely based on a true story) to shine a critical light on the potentially destructive side of social media.

On Day One, a small village is ripped apart by a horrifying shooting at a local school. The first people on the scene are told by a beloved teachers daughter,Marty, that she saw her mother die protecting her students. But her story doesn't quite add up, and soon, Internet conspiracy theorists start their whispers of cover ups and faked tragedies. As a town reels and should be able to pull together distrust and paranoia infests instead.

This is a really engrossing story that shouldn't feel impossible but sadly really doesn't. There are too many keyboard warriors sat safely at home throwing around accusations. That's bad enough, but there are a few who feel entitled to harass mourning families. This is the main theme of this novel with flashbacks to the shooting and the buildup to it. These are sensitively handled and written extremely well.


It is a great story, sometimes shocking, often sad.

Set at Stonesmere Primary school in the Lake District, this novel moves forward and backward in time from the school annual production of Day One, performed by the children in Mrs Ward’s class.

What should have been a happy family day becomes a disaster as a masked shooter appears in the hall, randomly killing adults and children alike. Mrs Ward tries to hide some of her class, but the gunman continues their spree.

Written in a multiple perspective, we see the stories of those involved on the day of the shooting and over the course of the book learn what secrets they were all hiding and the truth of the events of that day.

Well written and easy to follow, despite the movement in time and perspective. There were some really difficult bits to read, as you would expect with descriptions of this particular storyline, but they are well thought out and I would definitely recommend reading this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read Girl A and loved it so knew I had to read this one as well.
I love the writing in this and think it’s set out really well, it’s told in the present and through flashbacks and it balances really well together.
The story is quite heartbreaking, there is a mystery aspect to it that’s keeps you reading.
My only downfall would be the end, I’m just someone who likes a big punchy ending and this was more subtle and so not the best part for me.
Overall tho I really enjoyed it and has made Abigail I go to author for me.

This is my first read from Abigail Dean and won’t be the last. What a thrilling book from start to finish. I love the Lake District and reading about a psychological drama set there was so interesting.
Reading about a community who are going through the effects after a horrible act of violence and the author did a fantastic job of portraying that. Brilliant writing that will hook you in from the first page.

A lone gunman stalks the corridors of Stonesmere, randomly killing those before him. Marty Ward is a pupil at the school and witnesses her mother being gunned down before she is able to escape the wrath of the shooter: Rowan Sullivan. There is a media frenzy, and a group of outsiders known as The Truthers, or conspiracy theorists, have the audacity to claim that the event never actually happened. In the midst of all this there is doubt as to the authenticity of Marty’s recollection of the events, and questions about the shooter and his association or not with the school and its pupils. At the heart of this book is a community in mourning, a community that must accept this dreadful happening before it can heal, and learn to live again.

What I did enjoy about “One Day” was the feeling of fear and sadness, the tension, even suspicion that permeated each chapter…who could be believed? The author explores the various accounts in an attempt to establish the truth, and to try to understand why a lone individual would choose to act in such a manner. What I did not enjoy was the fractured storytelling, the constant movement of events before, during and after the incident, and the rather abrupt conclusion. However, having said that, I applaud the directness of the language, and the use of different narrators to tell the story. Thank you to the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The aftermath of a school massacre in which 10 children and their teacher are killed is explored in this strong and powerful story. Told mostly through the eyes of Marty, the young adult daughter of teacher Ava Ward, and Trent, a young man sucked into the spiral of conspiracy theories surrounding the event, the narrative challenges us to question our perceptions of guilt, grief and culpability.
Obviously inspired by the true-life horror of Dunblane, which no-one can ever forget, the story wisely leaves much of the horror to the imagination, concentrating instead on the effects of the massacre on its survivors. The victims have their voice, of course, but it is Marty and Trent who grab and hold out attention,.
Both are characters, carrying burdens almost too hard to bear. But their reactions to tragedy mark out their differences, their strengths and their weaknesses.
The narrative toggles back and forwards in time, and secrets are gradually revealed, adding tension and suspense to a story that is already gripping.
Like Girl A, Abigail Dean's debut novel, the book deals with strong, emotive issues, and may be triggering for many readers, but it is a story well worth reading for its sensitivity, its sure understanding of grief in all its forms, and its message of resolution and maybe, just maybe, forgiveness ...

Such a good read. This book has so many layers to it and all are gripping.
We have various relationships - parent/child, friendships, teacher/pupil, communities, lovers, hero worship.
We have a traumatic event, grieving families and conspiracy theorists,
We have secrets and lies but what are they?
We hear from the POV of different characters from before, during and after the event so you need to take note of each chapter heading to. know where you are. This may sound confusing but it works and the events of the fateful day and the repercussions afterwards are fully explained by the end of the book.