This book has got a lot of hype and it deserves it. Gripping and chilling in equal measure. A great book to get lost in.

This book had me crying at the end! I can’t tell if they were happy or sad tears. Well worth a read, but make sure you’re in an okay mindset first, as I think it could be potentially triggering.

Not sure if I enjoyed this book but again I think it cos I didn't have the write head for the book at the time.

Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

I love Rosamund Lupton's books and this one did not fail to disappoint. A brilliant thriller that had me so hooked I could not put this down. My heart was pounding in places. Best book I have read for ages. Well done Rosamund!

Three Hours is a beautifully written, relevant and intense read that perfectly sums up the problems facing communities in England today. Set in a Somerset school and addressing important issues (which I won’t list here as it may give away some important parts of the plot), this book feels so incredibly relevant and, because of this, utterly terrifying.

Rosamund Lupton captures the fear, desperation and intensity of a mass school shotting perfectly – from both the kids trapped inside and the parents anxiously awaiting news outside. We see a very realistic depiction of how parents might start to blame certain groups of people, out of sheer panic and worry, and this really demonstrates the way that high pressure situations can affect people – especially when children are involved.

The plot is tense and gripping without being over-dramatic. We follow parents, kids and the police as they try to ensure the pupils and teachers are safe, understanding their dedication to trying to help them and stop the evil that is threatening all of their lives. The references to two of the pupil’s previous experiences living in war-torn Aleppo really struck home for me and made me feel incredibly emotional. I loved the way this highlights further the awful refugee crisis that seems to be getting a lot less airtime nowadays, but which is still such an issue and affecting so many people.

I’ve read a few other books by Rosamund Lupton and really enjoyed them, so I was thrilled that Three Hours entranced me so much too – it’s definitely a highly recommended read which will leave you thinking about it long after you’ve finished the last page.

This has to be one of the most affecting novels that I’ve read in a long time. It is staggeringly good. Timely and prescient, with prose so poetic you want to drown in it. It pounces, ensnares, and holds you in its thrall, mercilessly.

The theme is deeply disturbing: rural England; a liberal, multi-grade, school set in sprawling, woodland; a snow storm; masked men with guns; trapped children.

It’s every parent’s, every teacher’s, worst nightmare. A situation beyond anyone’s understanding. What’s happening? Who are they? Why us? The answers, it transpires, are even more terrifying than the circumstances.

Lupton weaves so many layers into this explosive narrative that the suspense is exquisite in its unrelenting tension. From the library, where senior school students are hiding with their gravely injured headmaster, to the pottery shed, isolated and exposed, where a class of 7 year-olds crouches under tables, making clay animals, oblivious to the gunman with the rifle trained on their window.

From the school theatre, where pupils are rehearsing Macbeth in a macabre parody of what’s happening around them, to brothers Rafi and Basi, Syrian refugees, survivors of “The Journey”, for whom this is a fresh, terrifying hell.

Then there’s the parents, panic stricken and helpless; one mother confronted with a horrendous truth. And the police command center, where anti-terrorist units, forensic psychologists and profilers combine their knowledge and experience in a frantic race against time.

Three Hours is more than remarkable; it’s a work of the most incredible insight and compassion. The subject matter is ugly and dark, controversial even. But Lupton treats it with the utmost respect and sensitivity. If you’re looking for sensationalism, you won’t find it here.

Strip it back, and Three Hours is at heart a story about good versus evil, love versus hate, about the incredible power of courage and hope. It has left me angry, shaken and pensive. And utterly in awe at the power — in the right hands — of the written word.

My thanks to NetGalley and publishers Penguin Books UK for the review copy of this book.

I added this book to my list of ones I was immediately interested in and promptly forgot about what exactly it contained. The school shooting this focused on could have been nothing but harrowing to read about but felt that much more shocking for how unprepared I was to discover it here.

I have read a handful of stories featuring the abhorrent circumstances depicted here but none, I believe, have been set in Britain. Facets of this setting felt familiar to me, which only served to, again, heighten the horror for the unknown that was also hidden amongst it.

The third factor, which aided in the tumult of emotions that overwhelmed me whilst reading this, was the characters. This featured a multitude of perspectives, many of them young, directly involved in the harrowing three hours they were spent under siege. One of these was brave Hannah, who put her own life in jeopardy to save her headmaster's, when she discovered he had been struck by a gunman's bullet. One other was her boyfriend, Rafi, who also selflessly put himself in danger to save the school's youngest members. This was an extraordinary act to read about, but proved even more so after the reader became privy to his escape from war-torn Syria and the PTSD he subsequently suffered from it.

These were just two of the many perspectives that all aligned to deliver this alarming and agonising read. Not one page was easy to digest and I had to pace out my reading of them for the flood of emotions each opened the doors to.

Now I'm not entirely sure how to rate this book.
I had seen all the 5 star reviews and how hyped up this book had been and after reading the blurb I was immediately interested in reading it.
Some things really worked for me and a few things detracted from my overall enjoyment and final thoughts on the book.
Realising that it is set in the UK and not the US, as you might expect, was a brilliant idea and on the whole Three Hours is really well written.
This book had me gripped and much of it felt like it could easily take place in real life. It definitely feels relevant to what is going on in the world right now and it is particularly immersive for the reader.
Basi and Rafi will no doubt be the two characters who have the biggest impacts on the reader and everything about them from the way in which they interact with others, to their back stories, to the characterisation in general, was incredibly well done.
There are a lot of different characters to keep track of, particularly peripheral characters and those that we don't find out a great deal about, compared to others. So that can take a bit of getting used to.
There were also several bits of literal word for word repetition where I started to wonder if I'd accidentally jumped back a few pages and that definitely took away from the story for me.
Having just read those lines, it actually began to annoy me a bit seeing the exact same words/lines a few pages later.
I was happy with how it ended but the way in which the gunmen were dealt with at the end was so quick that you could almost blink and miss it, which was a little frustrating given how much we have invested in what is going on by the end.
That said, I would certainly be interested in reading more from this author and I would still recommend reading Three Hours..
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lupton’s Three Hours is one of those wonderful things: a tense, compelling and atmospheric thriller that’s also literary. It’s superbly well written and well plotted, psychologically insightful and very moving.

The story unfolds over three hours as two gunmen hold an isolated school under siege, in a wood, on a bitingly cold morning. We follow the action through the perspectives of various students, teachers, police and parents. With groups of students and teachers taking cover in different classrooms and buildings, a snowstorm reducing visibility to arms-length, and with the possibility of a third gunman lurking, police cannot rush in. Instead, they stay in close contact with the teachers and students — while learning as much as possible about who the shooters are and what’s motivated the attack — as they plan a tactical intervention.

The novel tackles a range of serious themes, from racism, islamophobia and radicalization, to mental health, love and courage. It addresses the role of right-wing politicians and the media in fueling intolerance. At times it is very painful to read, especially regarding the plight of refugees. I think some of the images from the novel will stay in my head for a long time.

The kindness of teenagers
This is balanced by the uplifting and beautiful courage of many of the students (and teachers). Anne Enright recently wrote in The Guardian, “Disaster brings out the best in children.” She was writing about how her teenagers have behaved during the pandemic, but I happened across the article while reading Three Hours and the parallels were inescapable.

"I did not expect the communality our teenagers began to make at home. The young people started, not to do the dishes, certainly, but to entertain, distract and reassure. They tried, more or less, to make things better for the people around them.… Teenagers get a bad press because, like toddlers, they don’t want to do what they are told. Not enough is said about how kind they are – usually to each other – how unguarded in their affections and hopes. […]Teenagers can be cynical or anxious, they can be wry, but they also have natural belief in a better world, they are wired for ardency. In another kind of global disaster, this is the age group that marches off to war. And it makes me very fierce to think what the world does with this readiness, this idealism, over time." (Source: Anne Enright in The Guardian, 13 June 2020)

What is terrifying and heart-breaking is that it is this very readiness and idealism that are abused by the adults who radicalize young people.

I’d warmly recommend this novel to anyone, but it would be particularly good for book groups. And I’d strongly recommend it for teenagers, even though it’s not a YA novel.

Scarily realistic and utterly compelling.

A quiet snowy morning descends into terror as a school is under siege by two gun men. The much loved and respected headteacher has been shot, his teenage students working desperately to keep him alive. Younger children cower under desks. A refugee who thought he'd left bombs and guns behind him tries to save both his girlfriend and little brother. On the outside parents and police wait. All wondering who is doing this and why...and when will they make their move.

Masterfully written, this kept me on the edge of my seat. The story unfolds slowly but kept me engaged throughout. As well as been a great book for adults I'd recommend it for YA readers as well.

What an incredible read. Three hours is not very long when you are going about your normal day to day life but in this book as the tension and fear builds it seems like a lifetime. Good and evil, prejudice and hate battle with love and acceptance. Who will triumph? Who will win? I would recommend this as a must read.

A very powerful and moving story. I think it is a must for all young adult readers re the dangers of complacency and the very real threat of extremism. I raced through this all best not quite in 3 hours

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review

This is a book that I knew I'd enjoy, even though I generally am not one to enjoy hyped books. Mostly, it's due to Lupton's command of her narrative -- the school shooting story is one that's been done to no end, but she wrote it with such depth that it was enjoyable to sit through.

There's so much description through minimal writing which makes the story very atmospheric. There was a scary moment where it clicked for me that this book was set in a school in England rather than in the US where you would expect it. The whole book shares this idea that you think you'd be prepared, yet when the moment arrives, your fight or flight instincts kick in. The parents proved that fear can bring out your worst (honest) opinions regarding race, religion and misogyny. It was definitely an insightful novel.

A couple of things made Three Hours a little difficult to read. Firstly, there were quite a lot of characters spread out across quite a few different buildings so it was difficult at times to keep track of who was where and what they were doing. I also found that the book got a little slow around the 50%-75% mark, almost a little repetitive. I felt like I knew the logistics and just wanted to get to the ending, so it fell a little flat there. Nonetheless, it was generally a fast-paced and tense book.

Basi and Rafi's relationship was quite possibly my favourite thing about this book -- I'm sure that applies to most readers! Basi's wellbeing was the main thing I could think about the entire time while reading and the use of their relationship to explore a PTSD narrative was done really well. I was highly stressed by the ending; that was the moment where my heart was racing most and I needed answers. So, overall, Lupton did an amazing job with Three Hours and I'd definitely read more of her work!

Trigger warnings: school shooting, refugees seeking asylum, mental health, disbelief of mental health, PTSD, racism/Islamophobia, radicalisation, terrorism, gun violence, hostage situation, mention of rape fantasies.

Thank you to Netgalley, Rosamund Lupton and Viking Books for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

'Three Hours' by Rosamund Lupton uses multiple perspectives to tell the story of a siege taking place in a liberal school near the coast. As the story unfolds it becomes clear why the gun men are there, and what they hope to achieve, but the focus is on the reactions of the children, teachers, police, and parents all brought together to try to prevent this atrocity.

For me, this book deserves far more attention and plaudits than it has yet achieved. Lupton has clearly spent a lot of time researching this topic, as well as contemporary issues that might influence events. It is emotionally wrought, and at times a hard read (sometimes I wondered why I was doing it to myself), but very rewarding. The use of multiple perspectives is a brilliant device and allows for lots of twists and turns in the story telling. It could easily be on a literary novel shelf, as well as among the thrillers.

A school under siege, a police psychologist trying to find out who is behind it all before it's too late. With the story told from the viewpoint of the students and teachers holed up inside the school, wondering whether they are living out their last hours, and also from the psychologist, under pressure to create an accurate profile to find out who the culprit is still lurking around the school grounds, this is a tense thriller which keeps you reading right to the end.

A shot headmaster and a school held hostage by unknown gunmen.
The story is told from multiple POVs from teachers, pupils, parents and police over a 3 hour time frame and had me holding my breath all the way through.
The book explores love, hate, loyalty, radicalisation, white supremacy and the plight of refugees.
Rosamund Lupton brings all the characters to life, especially brothers Rafi and Basi. Their back story about fleeing Aleppo as refugees was thought provoking and brought me to tears.
I could not read this book quick enough and highly recommend it to all.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In short, ’Three Hours’ is the story of a rural Somerset school under siege from multiple gunmen. It’s told from the point of view of the staff, pupils and parents over a three hour period. 

I hate to say it… I didn’t love this one! My expectations were high before starting because I’d seen multiple five star reviews, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to the hype for me.

I love that the story was told from multiple points of view, and the style of writing changed subtly depending on who was talking. However, I thought there was perhaps one too many perspectives. For instance, I think it would have been better to read about ONE pupil’s experience, rather than multiple. I also think the opportunity to hear from the gunmen’s point of view was wasted. 

I think aspects of the story were totally unrealistic… There’s multiple gunmen in the school grounds, and the teachers encourage the children to carry on rehearsing the school play? I guess you can argue that it’s a distraction, but I think if I was in a life-threatening situation like this, I would be hiding and keeping as silent as possible. 

Finally, I thought the ending was predictable and a bit of an anti-climax! 

‘Three Hours’ tackles incredibly relevant subject matters including terrorism, radicalisation and even the refugee crisis. However, I don’t think it will be a book that I’ll still be thinking about a year from now.

As suggested by the novel's title, the story progresses over three hours of real time, from the moment the first gunshot rings through the halls of an innovative school set in woodland surroundings close to the Somerset coast. Cliff Heights is a co-ed, progressive school for students from infants through to senior school ages. and through the reflections of the characters it's clear that staff and students alike genuinely experience the school's ethos to care.

Snapshots of plot development come from the various areas of the school under lockdown: New School, Old School, Junior School and the isolated Pottery room in which a sole teacher and some of the youngest students are trapped with no means of communication. Gradually, the circumstances which have led up to this point in time are revealed through flashbacks: we learn early on that at least one gunman are holding siege on the school; the headteacher has been shot and is being cared for by students who have barricaded themselves in a classroom; a lone policeman has also been attacked and has taken refuge in the school's gatehouse; a homemade bomb has been set off in the woods...

Layer upon layer of story build up the tension to boiling point. Whilst reading Three Hours I found it impossible to put down: the need to know what happened next was overwhelming, though my compulsion was not simply the based on the thrilling elements. Lupton weaves humanity throughout her masterful novel: her characters become larger than life, feeling as though they are actual people with all of their emotion, flaws and empathy laid bare on the page. There are so many themes flowing through like threads that slowly wrap around to reveal in the final pages the most beautiful tapestry of a novel which I'm sure will stay with me for a long long time (and which will demand periodic re-reads).

Despite the difficult themes of terrorism, racism and mental health, I found the prose beautiful and soothing. It takes a master storyteller to portray such horrific and terrifying scenes such as are portrayed in Three Hours as a work of art, but that is indeed what Rosamund Lupton has achieved. I will treasure this book, and have already pressed copies into the hands of friends with the words "trust me, just read it". No explanation of why is needed beyond reading that initial page.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton will be released in paperback on 29th October 2020 and can be purchased from Waterstones, Amazon and all good booksellers.

Three hours is an incredibly compelling and intelligent tense thriller that kept me hooked from the start. I have no hesitation in giving it five stars and would give it six if I could.
The novel takes place on a snowy day in a school in Somerset where a number of gunmen have occupied the building. How many gunmen are there and what is their motive for attacking the school?
The story moves in small sections across the different groups of people affected by the incident in the three hour timeframe. The psychologist trying to understand the gunmen’s motive, the IT expert trying to break into their computer and groups of children in different parts of the school. Two of the children, Rafi and Basi, are Syrian refugees who have escaped a war zone and made a treacherous journey to end up in England. The author builds up the tension to an almost unbearable level.

The school is a microcosm of our England and captures the problems we face with intolerance sometimes encouraged by far right politicians and misleading newspaper stories.

A brilliant novel, elegant in its prose and strong in its message of love, friendship and community to overcome hate and intolerance. A great thriller, but really it’s much more than that. Highly recommended.