Going into this expected an intense and heartbreaking read a book that I have to take breaks from just because the topic is distressing. This is exactly what I got.

An early chapter/part of a chapter in the POV of a short got me wondering. What was the motive behind this? Why did he target a school? Where so many innocent children will be affected. 

I don't want to say this was easy to get into since it's such a distressing story. But I found myself not wanting to put it down. I needed to know how many survived. I needed to know why this was happening. 

I soon had some ideas of at least one of the shooters involved. Just something about how he was spoken about just wasn't right. The more we learnt the more it made sense for this character to be involved. I ended up being right. 

Overall this book was intense. At times I felt like I needed a break. Just a moment to breathe again. But at the same time I wanted to carry on reading to know how it ends. 

By the end I was holding back tears. I never cry at books but this got to me. At one point I felt like for a moment to stopped breathing. My heart hurt knowing this is a reality way too often.

A fantastic read, full of tension throughout. Lived the perspective from different characters as the drama unfolded.

Hannah and Rafi were holding hands as they hurried through the woods to their class – they didn’t want to be late. It was cold, and the light fall of snow worried Rafi – so much that he hurried away from Hannah without an explanation. He needed to get to his little brother, eight-year-old Basi, so his fears wouldn’t overcome him. The noise was unexpected; when Rafi saw it, it took him back to the bad times when his parents were murdered. He must get to Basi…

Students mingled between Old School and New School; their various classes drew them toward the classrooms. The rehearsal of Macbeth was that morning; the children in the pottery class with their teacher; the library would have other students working. But it was the call from Rafi to the headmaster that started the amber alert. Then the gunshot which meant red alert; police assembled with helicopters and tactical response teams – all controlled by two gunmen. Three hours of terror, uncertainty, courage and bravery.

Three Hours by the gifted Rosamund Lupton; a tense psychological thriller which had my heart racing while I flew through the pages. I’ve loved this author’s work – Sister, Afterwards, The Quality of Silence – this one hasn’t disappointed. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is genuinely one of the hardest reviews I have ever had to pen…not because it’s bad, but because this book was all kinds of awesome. but also shocking.  Awesomely heart-breaking, awesomely nerve-shattering and awesomely guts tearing out.  This is a story of the present being forged by the past.  Are we all a product of our upbringing?  Just what parts of our past deems what we will become in the future?  How much to we cling onto the past?  Is it subjective?  Is it a case of mere psychology or individual personalities?  I’d like to hope that no matter what our childhoods threw at us, we would know what was right and wrong.  I would hope that our mere humanity would bring us out on the right side. 

This book is not for the light- hearted.  Three Hours is a book that is heavy in its content.  Its heavy in the emotional stakes and if you are anything like me – it will break you down, rip you open and leaving you with one tiny needle to try and stitch yourself back up with.  It is the kind of book that will inject cold hard fear into your spine. 

I don’t live too far away from the Dunblane school that was the victim of the UK’s only shooting massacre, and I can remember vividly how much devastation that caused to the families and the community as a whole.  It makes you question everything – your friends, your family, the thin line between reality and fantasy.  There won’t be a dry eye in the house – I completely soaked my ARC copy.  The author has an amazing talent for completely ruining her reader. 

“Love is the most powerful thing there is.” 

The headmaster in this tale is heroic.  He puts himself in the direct firing line, having no regard for his own life, therefore, he treats his students like his extended family, he allows them to just be themselves.  No uniform, no head boy/girl, no prefects and most importantly no religion.  That being said, this shouldn’t be a school that is targeted in such a violent attack, right?  He is the gentlest teacher I have come across.  This isn’t the first time he has put his pupils needs first…He has a big heart and his predicament pulls at your heartstrings. 

The pupils. The most important characters. The strength of them.  The will of them. They have different personalities.  They experience fear in different ways.  And yet… and yet they are as one in a terrifying situation.  They deserve the publicity; their names deserve to be said out loud over and over.  The perpetrators deserve nothing.  Some little details I didn’t see coming, some surprises.  It was harrowing and breaking bit by little bit.  I don’t want to give it away so just read the book. 

Leave your assumptions at the door.  They really don’t belong here.  This author…just wow.  The narrative blew me away.  This is the type of story that we really hope we don’t have to read about again, especially in the newspapers.  The author brought us the human impacts of such an act…the victims, the parents, the teachers and the perps.  It is an examination of the human condition in which, it displays it’s ability for cruelty.

Rosamund Lupton ticked all of the boxes.  She has weaved an intense web of mystery, an upsetting and haunting narrative that just won’t quit and the one thing that glues it altogether?  Love.  A storyline that is propelled by rocket fuel, hiding in plain sight.  This book is setting the bar impossibly high for the start of 2020. 

Three Hours is a book to remember.  An original work of suspense.  Hooked from the very first page.  This is an amazing race-to-the-end thriller that you have been craving.

In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. From the wounded headmaster in the library, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the parents gathering desperate for news, to the 16 year old Syrian refugee trying to rescue his little brother, to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the students taking refuge in the school theatre, all experience the most intense hours of their lives, where evil and terror are met by courage, love and redemption.

Oh my goodness, what an astonishing read this is, I really do not think I can do this justice. I have to start by saying everyone should read this.

School attacks are becoming an all too regular occurrence, Lupton masterfully creates the anguish and feeling of such an event. This read is intense, too intense at times, I literally could not put this down as I desperately needed to know what would happen. I was addicted. 

The atmosphere is electrifying, I have not read anything like it. We have the balance of the beautiful, white, peaceful snow against unimaginable terror and dangers. With every page I did not know what I would face, my anxiety was heightened reading this as I too felt like I was living the event with the school kids, teachers, parents and police alike.

Lupton has written this sensationally well, it is beautifully crafted; I adored the use of Macbeth throughout and the minimal number of characters the reader focuses on. Yet everyone has their role to play, a story to tell and a life to live. Of course, this is a difficult book to read but an important, powerful one with a strong message to tell. 

'Three Hours' is reading at its extraordinary best. This is compelling, horrifying and a must read for everyone. Is it too soon to call book of the year? I do not think so.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for an advance copy.

Wow. What a book to start the new year. I'll call it 'accessible' rather than easy, because there is nothing easy about the topic of gun violence and terrorism aimed at schools.... But at the heart, this really is a book all about love. How it turns children into warriors, the everyday person into a hero. And how the lack of it, or the lack of being able to feel it can all too easily create a monster. Deeply moving and tense. And I loved the dark thread of Macbeth woven all the way through, Wonderful and disturbing in equal measure.

THREE HOURS TO SAVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE 

Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds.

It is a morning's lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods.

It is an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible.

It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.

From the library in the Old School, to the classrooms in the New School, to the pottery class in the woods, to the safest building of all, the Theatre, where they are rehearsing Macbeth, everyone is going about their daily routine when the Headmaster gets shot, nobody is sure exactly why it's happened but it's soon declared that the school is under siege, the whole area is in lockdown and the children and staff are trapped, it's left up to the police and the psychologist to discover who the gunmen are and why they have chosen to attack this particular school, set in rural Somerset, during a snow blizzard. What they do know is that the next few hours are going to be the most intense of their lives so far.

This story covers a subject that is every parents worst nightmare, to send your child off to school, only to hear shortly after that their life is at risk and you can't do anything to help them. The author has covered this sensitive subject perfectly, telling it from the point of view of a few of the characters, it's a tense, atmospheric tale of courage and the bravery of all the children and staff was the pinnacle of a story that kept me hooked throughout, praying that everybody would come out the other side unharmed. In this unstable world we live in at present, we are all quite aware that this situation can, and has actually become a reality. This is the second book I've read by this author and I highly recommend it.

I'd like to thank Penguin Books UK and Netgalley for the approval to read this incredible book. I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

I requested a copy of this via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have read other books by Rosamund Lupton and was keen to get my hands on a copy of this one.
I gave this a 4 /5 stars or 8/10 and found it a compelling at times claustrophobic read.

Told from the point of view of multiple characters this story will have you gripped from start to finish. Please ignore the length of time it says that it took to read as I started it, but had to put it to one side to read another book that had to be passed on.

Gunmen are on the loose at a school and it's not clear who if anyone they are after or what the motives are behind the siege. Narrated in real time as the events occur, we learn some of the past history of the characters and narrators as the present story is interspersed with the back story. 

To find out why this siege has happened you need to grab a copy for yourself. I doubt you'll be disappointed, it just takes a little time getting inside the heads of all the characters and working out what's happening. Once you're there though and you've worked out how they all fit into the story, you'll be as gripped as I was with it.

Every parents worse nightmare, your son has gone to school as normal you receive a call to say the school is under attack which looks to be terrorist related. 
This cant happen in a rural community of Somerset England. 
Three Hours is an exceptional book based on the hours it takes for people to take over a school to the end,
It is a compelling read and follows children and adults as the story unfolds.

An enthralling, emotional novel, a terrifying school siege is seen from the viewpoint of several characters over the course of three hours.  A pregnant detective, heroic teachers and students, a fast paced story with a chilling what might have been at the end

First book of 2020, and a different type for me...highly original story of a school siege. Well written book, with a gradual increase in tension throughout...lots of back stories of main characters helped contextually to bind the story together and further its credibility and readabulity...yes, this was a good start to the New Year!

Wow what a book! I absolutely adore Rosamund's writing and this book perfectly showcases her talent. She tackles a difficult subject of a school under siege which I thought was an incredibly brave plot choice, but boy does she execute it well. The story is told from the perspective of those trapped inside the school hiding from the perpetrators and the police officers trying to save them; the story is full of raw emotion. 

The book spans the course of three hours which again I think is impressive and demonstrates what a great writer Rosamund is; she can keep her audience gripped and emotionally involved with a plot that spans such a short amount of time. Her writing is descriptive yet full of action and movement at the same time. 

This book is fabulous and such an important read, please do go and read this when it comes out. Thanks to Viking Books and Penguin Random House UK for a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book completely gripped me from the outset, although I would say that it's not for the faint of heart as it definitely gave me bad dreams! I read the whole thing in less than two days and every twist and turn was as compelling as the last. Considering the time constraints of the novel each character was well drawn and thoroughly engaging, and while it may seem a little contrived, personally I think the inclusion of the Macbeth allegory paid off. It's terrifying to think of this sort of thing happening in the UK when usually we see it as an American problem, but with the issues it discusses I think this book is very timely.

This did sound amazing when reading the blurb, I thought I would love it. 

However, I just thought it was an ok read.

I found it confusing to start with, trying to figure out who’s part/chapter was there’s.  

It was also easy to guess for me who was bad in the story. 

It just didn’t grab my attention or excite me very much.

This was an intense book dealing with some deep issues.  

Covering a three-hour time span where a siege of a school in England occurs I fell short of getting as emotionally invested as I think I should have been.

The book jumps between multiple POVs with students, staff, police, and parents all focused on the unimaginably terrifying scenario of a school on lockdown and under attack.  For a book that jumps straight into the action and only covers a short time period I really struggled to get into this one, it’s never good when I keep finding myself updating the shopping list mid-chapter…...  Although the jumps in POVs were clear and well written I just failed to become invested (or particularly interested in the characters.)  I liked the mother of one of the students and her internal dialogue with her teenage son, it felt very genuine; but most others fell flat for me.  

I’m glad I persevered though as the second half picked up for me with more on the police and their investigation.  The set up of such an attack in England that just happens to be when a snowstorm hits never quite jelled as a setting for me despite attempts to explain it all.

I feel this book tried to deal with too many hard-hitting topics, without managing to pull me in with the story leaving a feeling of having a slightly preachy tone.

Three Hours is a heart stopping read. A shooting in a rural school in the UK is unheard of, and something all parents would be terrified to hear about. The book opens with action straight away which continues through the book. There are some scenes which are difficult to read due to the subject matter. This overall is worth a solid 4 stars.

This is a very emotional and heartbreaking story about a school under siege.  A seemingly normal school day in November turns in to everyone's worst nightmare when a Somerset school is locked down following a small explosion in woods on the premises.  Intense and nerve shredding.  A horrifying but brilliant read.

This book only happens over a period of hours (hence the title) and in one location - a challenge for the writer to maintain the level of suspense and interest but deftly achieved.  The book really keeps you on the edge of the seat guessing as to how it will conclude and also leaves you asking reflecting on how easily something similar could happen (and does).  I will now read more from this author.

A chilling book. Set over three hours of a school siege. The book follows the teachers, children and parents. Unlike most books of this kind it is set in the UK and brings home to us what could happen at any one of our school. 
Well written and fast paced. Sure to be a hit.

I’m convinced this will be one of the books of 2020. It tells the story over three hours of a school siege and shooting, set in an in independent school in South West England.  

At the start nobody has any clue who the shooters are and why they are there. Slowly the story is unpicked in such a skillful manner. We see the impact on those inside the school, those trying to save them and those waiting for them. It’s an absolute page turner and one that will really make you think. I read it in one sitting. It will stay with me for a long time.