Abigail Dean is clearly not a writer that likes to make life easy for herself. First there was the traumatic brilliance of Girl A and now this, the tragedy of a school shooting told in different timelines from multiple perspectives.

This is not a book that you sink into; it’s a long way from cosy crime. What it is is a beautifully crafted story of family, community and isolation and how traumatic events can spiral.

It is also a long hard look at the cynicism and opportunism of some people. The kind of people who will say anything to see their name in lights, with social media, conspiracy theories and populism simply feeding into their narcissism.

A sad reflection of the times we live in.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A good read overall but a bit confusing/disjointed at times with the different timelines.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book .

Many thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
The story is based around a primary school shooting set in the Lake District. It’s sensitively written, as the author explores how the community have been affected by this tragedy. The story is told from multiple POV’s which was confusing, especially as there are also different timelines. I didn’t particularly like Marty, one of the main characters, she is dull, and silly, it was obvious early on that she was somehow involved.
I didn’t like the conspiracy theorists, often throughout the book I was asking myself, why am I reading this and where is this story going?
I kept reading to the end as I wanted to know what actually happened but for me this was a disappointing read,
I did love ‘Girl A’ by this author and will definitely read more.

Another good read from Abigail found it a little slow to start but overall loved the twists and turns enjoy the way she writes and how u r left fussing and usually get it wrong

I found the beginning of day one tough as it deals with a school shooting. The way the shooting is set up his emotionally, so a little trigger warning!

I dipped and diced throughout the book as sometimes I enjoyed it, then I got bored. The characters didn't stand out to me and the conspiracy theorists didn't have the arguments to back up their denial.

It's slow, which might be your thing, it was just a little too slow for my tastes and I couldn't understand who the story was marketed to.

The primary school hall is full when the shooter opens up. In the aftermath, while the country mourns, conspiracy theorists claim it’s a hoax perpetrated by crisis actors and designed to distract attention from some political issue or other. To the residents of Stonesmere, a small village in the Lake District, the deaths of so many children and their teacher is a tragedy which has affected all of them directly or indirectly. To the “Truthers” it is an opportunity to prove that the villagers are lying. So shades of Lockerbie, Sandy Hook, Qanon, Trolling!
Clearly this is a murder story, but not in a classic sense. It is not a whodunnit, there is no mystery about the shooter, a local man called Rowan, but motive is harder to discern. The story mostly focusses on Martha (aka Marty) who is accidently hailed as a hero, although the truth is the reverse, and Trent, who has always been a bit of a conspiracy theorist but now finds himself with an inside edge because he had briefly lived in the village as a child and was befriended by Rowan. The story unrolls across a year, from the day of the shooting to the days following the inquest, and is told episodically, from the different viewpoints of the main characters, leaping forward and backward in time to reveal and cause and effect of the actions of the characters. This is quite effective but it does require the reader to hold the overarching narrative while bits of it are filled in. People who read murder-mystery stories for the pleasure of the twists, and the challenge of solving the mystery before the end, will be disappointed, but those who enjoy a more literary story will find this a good example.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Unfortunately, this book left me feeling disappointed. While the beginning showed promise with its portrayal of the teacher and pupils, my engagement waned as the story progressed. Despite the lovely location, I didn't find the story absorbing. There was an unpleasant undercurrent running through it that hindered my enjoyment. Additionally, I found the writing style to be rather choppy.

**Listened to the audio book and read the electronic copy**

This book is EVERYWHERE!! Sooo much hype! I was super excited to get my teeth into this.
The book started well, and immediately I was 'in'!
However, the more the book went on, the more it lost me. It was just too long, and didn't keep the same momentum that it started with. I was waiting to find out what happened, but so much of this book was filler, and then it made me forget what I was waiting for.
I feel like Abigail Dean tried to do too much with it, and therefore it didn't really do anything. It would have benefited from 100-200 pages less I feel.

The audio narrators were great, and did an excellent job at changing up the accents to help with the huge amount of characters. I definitely preferred listening to the audio book than the written text.

Overall is was just OK - I just wanted more - it promised so much, and started with so much - but just didn't deliver!

I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Day One’ written by Abigail Dean in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Ava Ward has been a teacher at Stonesmere Primary School for the past twenty years and as her class performs their Day One concert in the school hall a gunman opens fire. Ava dies trying to protect her pupils and reporters are waiting to pounce as what happened is slowly revealed.

‘Day One’ is the story of a community that experiences a tragedy and how it affects the victims and their families. Rather than giving in-depth details of the shooting itself, the story concentrates on the aftermath, how it affects Ava’s daughter Marty and how aspiring journalist Trent Casey, organiser of the school’s ‘The Daily Stun’, gets involved. I wanted to love this novel and I’m disappointed I didn’t as I thought it slow going,
the timeline was confusing and I didn’t like the characters enough to empathise with them. My apologies for being so negative but this is purely my opinion.

I loved Girl A as I did Day One. A rollercoaster of emotions read as the story is told from several points of view which kept my interest from start to finish. A great suspenseful read.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Day One is set in a picturesque village called Stonesmere. It epitomises a sleepy rural place where a terrible event changes everyone’s life in a couple of minutes when a lone gunman enters the local school. However, this deviates from the usual approach at this point as it delves into the lives of two characters- one, Marty who is the daughter of a teacher who is one of the fatalities and the gunman Trent. Abigail Dean builds on the uncomfortable heart-wrenching emotions associated with atrocities and writes in an emotionally intelligent and innovative perspective. Highly recommended but be ready for an emotional roller coaster.

This authors work is obviously very well received but for me again this was a DNF, I am not really sure if was the writing style or the actual story but wasn’t for me,apologies

I am afraid this book was a disappointing read for me. The start got me feeling interested in the teacher and the pupils, but as the story went on I found myself losing interest in the characters and towards the end I really disliked them. I do not feel it was an absorbing read despite the lovely location. I feel that the story had an unpleasant underbelly running through it that made it difficult to enjoy. I also found the style of writing rather staccato.

I didn't love Girl A as much as everyone else did so was interested to read this.

There is a shooting in a school in a small town and looks at how it affects everyone in the village

I enjoyed the book although not a happy topic

Well written

3⭐️

Having been wowed by Girl A I was excited to read this book.

This books looks at the tragedy of a school shooting in a small village in the Lake District.
The main characters Marty who was at the school where her mother was killed by the shooter.
Trent becomes interested as he falls under the spell of a media personality and his theories.

The story is told from several POV and time frames. It concentrates on the aftermath more than the actual event although that is segmentally revealed.

I loved the premise of the story, with a different take on a school shooting. However I found the pacing too slow, the storyline didn’t have enough happening,I struggled to stay invested. There was a lot of repetition.
Unfortunately this one didn’t grab me

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.

I was a huge fan of Girl A so I was very excited to read Day One. I think Abigail Dean is an impressive emerging thriller writer and I am excited to read more of her work.

After the success of Girl A and how good that story was I was really looking forward to reading this book but unfortunately I was very disappointed and it may even soon become a Did not Finish which is a first for me. I am finding it very hard to get into with too many people’s viewpoints and too many characters in such a short space of time, it’s hard to focus on the story unfolding. I think it would have been a much better and easier read if it was from only two viewpoints.
I have seen a few others have also said similar, a real shame but I’m sure there are many who would still enjoy this read just not one for me in this occasion.

This follows a similar structure to Dean's earlier book, Girl A - where something awful has happened - in this case a school shooting during a primary school performance - and as the book goes on it flicks between timelines and different people's point of views until at the end of the book the full reveal of what has happened - and to an extent why is explained. There were so many lies and secrets between the characters in this story - nobody was particularly likeable and it was hard to feel sympathy towards any of them - even grieving family members. I requested this almost a year ago based on enjoying Dean's previous work but I regret reading it - had it not been an ARC I wouldn't have finished it - in part due to having a primary school aged child and not wanting to think on the main story point too hard.

Day One is a well written page turner with such a clever plot. It is so interesting to read the different characters point of view and thoughts of the events in the book. This is a gripping suspense filled read that you will be pulled right into dying to reach the conclusion. I would highly recommend.

This is a very difficult subject to write, and read, about and I was interested to see if Ms Dean was able to add new insights. Sadly, although I enjoyed her writing style, I found it really difficult to engage with the characters and the rather chaotic and confusing timelines. Not one for me I'm afraid although I'm sure many other readers will enjoy it.
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book.