This is a disappointing book
It is nothing about a lockdown just a normal detective novel.
It was written ok.

I decided not to read this last year due to lockdown, but have now read it.
A good book and as usual very well written - Peter can do no wrong in my eyes.
Should I have read it last year during lockdown, who knows, but whatever I still enjoyed it.

A perfect book to read during the pandemic, you really realize how much worse things could have been! Worth reading for the atmosphere, though the story was relatively humdrum in the end.

How spooky that Peter May originally wrote this book a number of years ago and couldn’t get it published because nobody thought it was possible!
The parallels as I sit here reading this in ‘Lockdown’ are so true. The underlining murder story had me gripped from the start but the link with todays global lockdowns had me read it in one sitting. Well what else is there to do? Except, read all Peter May’s other novels!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley a while ago now but was hesitant to read it as as the subject of pandemic flu felt a little bit close to home. However, I finally picked it up recently and I’m really glad that I did. The flu pandemic is the backdrop to the story and it affects the way people behave but it’s not the main story. This is a novel about a horrendous crime that the main character is in a race against time to solve and the pandemic restrictions aren’t helping. I found this a really compelling story and one that I devoured in two sittings. I wasn’t expecting to be so gripped but I didn’t want to put the book down until I knew how it was going to be resolved. I enjoyed following D.I. Jack MacNeil as he tried to track down the killer but my favourite character was Amy. It was great to see some disability representation in this novel that was entirely believable and true to life. This was the first book by Peter May that I’ve read but I’ll definitely look out for more of his work in the future!

With lockdown in the real world I wasn’t sure if it was advisable to read at the moment but I am very glad I did. Peter May never disappoints.

It is DI Jack MacNeil’s last 24 hours in the police force and he has just been called to a discovery of some human bones. The bones are found in a hold-all and the workman are sure that the bag wasn’t there when they finished work the day before.

Jack takes on the case and hopes to have all the lose ends tied up before the end of his shift but will he find all the answers ? Jack also had a family tragedy to cope with but will that help or hinder ? With the help of Amy, who gives the bones a face, will Jack solve the mystery before it’s too late ?

This is a great book that will have you hooked from the very start. Thankfully out lockdown is very different to the book but it does make you stop and think. If you love a good thriller mystery you will love this.

Thank you to Quercus Books and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

Lockdown was released during the actual UK Covid19 lockdown and I read it because I wasn't already stressed enough about the global pandemic. Peter May paints both a familiar but also much darker picture of a city under lockdown due to a disease. But the novel isn't about the lockdown itself, that's just the back drop, the plot focuses on a police officer who still needs to go about his daily job of investigating murders.

Well-written and pacy, there are some really heart-wrenching moments. There is also a cast of diverse characters that were interesting and engaging. The story takes so many twists its like stumbling through a labyrinth. Was the motive for the crime a little far-fetched? Maybe. But that doesn't stop this being a corker of a thriller just begging to be adapted for TV.

Thanks to NetGalley who provided a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It did feel very real, though admittedly I was reading it during an actual lockdown with a killer virus on the loose. The plot had a great pace, and I thought that the murder investigation worked well when combined with dystopian thriller, providing a rollercoaster reading experience. I loved the London setting too.

2020 has resulted in at least one good outcome - Peter May's very own Lockdown - another addictive and very topical thriller. The original novel was written 15 years ago, but was rejected as unrealistic!

Great novel with shocking parallels to the current coronavirus outbreak, especially as it was written a good number of years earlier.

Quite why I thought it would be a good idea to read about a fictitious lockdown when we were in fact in the early stages of an actual lockdown is simply beyond me! It has taken me some weeks to want to review it (maybe because I wanted to check things didn’t get worse first? Not sure…!)
Written during the bird flu pandemic and shelved for more than 20 years it scarily mirrors details of the restrictions placed on us in real life and our ‘new normal’ as restrictions begin to lift.
Imagine having to investigate the murder of a child with all our restrictions (and more) but that is exactly what DI MacNeil faces even when the virus has a devastating impact on his own family.
I thoroughly recommend this book.
Thanks to Quercus Books for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review.

Only my second Peter May book. Interesting to read this at the current time. It was an easy quick read if a little dystopian. Reminded me of Silent Witness in places with Amy and her wheelchair. Some pretty nasty characters and a bit gruesome in places.

Thank you to Quercus Books for the digital review copy of Lockdown back in April 2020. Apologies for the delay in reading and reviewing my first read of a Peter May book.

I finally started the book during week 11 of lockdown in the UK. It was fascinating to see how Peter May had imagined a pandemic would affect London - the army checkpoints, curfews, the mass cremations etc - a very sobering read.

However the majority of the book is actually a murder investigation by D.I. Jack MacNeil, a Scottish man living and working in London. This is his last day working for the police before leaving to spend time with his young son - a day (and night) spent investigating the death of a young girl.

Despite the gruesome subject matter of murder and pandemics I enjoyed the majority of the book and would have given it a 4.5 star rating. However, the last 10-15% of the story was so unbelievable that my enjoyment of the book and subsequent rating was dramatically reduced.

I know other readers have enjoyed the book and that this is my personal opinion, but I would love to see the ending rewritten because the majority of the book was an excellent read.

I recommend the book to be read to see how close to the real events of 2020 Peter May had imagined in 2005, but not as realistic crime fiction novel.

Great read and a scary view into the future where we are now. I think it’s hard to believe this was written so long ago but could be now. Great work.

its very spooky how close to current events this book is, considering how long ago this book was written.
yet again another excellent read from this author.
would highly recommend. 5 stars

I wasn’t too sure what to expect of this book given the current situation. However I’m glad I read it as it was very good and had a plot where the title was less important to the story line. Highly recommended. Thank you.

Is now the time to read a thriller that mirrors the experience we are going through internationally because of Coronavirus? It’s a tricky one, isn’t it? We ran a poll on Instagram Stories asking whether people would choose to read a book full of plague (in the book it is bird flu, H5N1 causing the problems), contagion and authoritarian measures to keep people towing the line – 60% said yes, they would choose to read it.

As the book opens, builders are fast tracking a hospital on Lambeth Green but one morning they make the grim discovery of a bag containing the bones of what turns out to be a girl of around 10, whom the police dub Lyn. She was of Asian heritage, she had a cleft palate and the flesh was stripped from her bones. The pressure of building the much needed hospital is palpable and the site needs clearing of the crime. DI Jack MacNeil is in charge of the case and to help he has Amy Wu, his forensics expert, who will be reconstructing the features of this child to help work out who she was and why she died and why her remains were dumped so unceremoniously.

The manuscript has been around for 15 years or so and the author never found a publisher. That is until now. It was deemed too unlikely a scenario. Well, let me tell you, much of the imagined lockdown, judging from what is currently happening, is spot-on. He did his research well. Police and army on the streets monitoring people’s movements is happening across Europe as I write this. Certain cars are allowed to pass for key people to go about their business. No-one stands too close. The virus hops from person to unguarded person.

What was it like to read a book that so closely reflects the current situation? It actually felt like I had walked onto a familiar set. Often, when I watch TV at the moment and see an older show, I have to remember that it was once OK to embrace someone without thinking, stand close to them, touch them…. Now, of course, that is taboo and in the novel everyone keeps their wary (and weary) distance – much like it is now April 2020.

The author clearly likes to detail setting, and London, even though it is going through a worrying, dystopian period in the novel, is very recognisable. Forest Hill is where DI MacNeil lives with his wife and son – it was where I was born and grew up and therefore I was charmed to find this leafy suburb featured in a book. Over on the Isle of Dogs there is an enclave of people keeping others out; they are virus free and therefore aggressively holed up, keeping themselves safe. The action moves around South London and into the centre and provides a good and graphic backdrop for the fast paced action.

(NOTE TO PUBLISHERS; THIS TITLE WAS VERY POORLY FORMATTED WHICH MADE READ IT NOT MUCH OF A PLEASURE AND MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT NEEDED TO BE!)

Peter May wrote this book in the throes of the bird flu epidemic, which, at the time, many considered could be the cause of up to 200million deaths. Fortunately, it did not come to that but Peter May had the foresight to predict what London may look like if such a pandemic did break out. Our current circumstances are not yet as severe as those in ‘Lockdown’.
Although it is the pandemic that has brought this book to the market, ‘Lockdown’ is so much more than just a story about a pandemic, it is a really excellent police procedural about a murdered unidentified child and how DI Jack MacNeil is fighting against the clock, and those trying to stop him, to solve the murder before he is due to retire in a matter of hours.
This is a really high quality book of its genre, so well written. The setting of the pandemic makes it very relevant.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw that this book was being released, I was in two minds about it. On the one hand, how could it be more timely? On the other, was it too close to the bone, as we all struggle through these difficult times? But I wanted to give it a try.

I’ve never read a book by this author and I feel I’ve missed out. The writing is superb. It’s beautifully written, and his ability to create atmosphere is clear. The descriptions of the empty city are so evocative, and the eerie atmosphere is heightened by the weather, cold and foggy and dark. The characterisation is so authentic, with very relatable characters.

The scenario of the pandemic is chilling, but at the heart of the plot is the crime to be solved, the murder of a child. The two dovetail perfectly.

This book manages to combine the genres of thriller, police procedural and dystopian fiction into one chilling and gripping read. This is a book that will stay with me for quite a while.

I found it fascinating, on reading the foreword, that it was written 15 years ago, but considered too unrealistic. Thankfully, the scenario painted here is much worse than the reality that we’re experiencing at the moment, but there are many parallels.

Really worth a read, it’s above all else an excellent book. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy of the book.

When I first heard about this book through Twitter I could not believe anyone would at this time want to read a book set in such a scary situation we all now find ourselves. Far too close for comfort. However a few weeks into lockdown and I got my reading mojo back (I couldn’t read at all initially) and I became intrigued as to what, if any, similarity with the situation we are now in would the book have, having been written but not published 15 years ago.

There are a few similarities. The PM catches the flu and ends up in St Thomas hospital at the beginning of the story being just one, but there are also sufficient differences to read this as purely fictional. And a very good read it is.

Although titled Lockdown, the main storyline is about the murder of a child which has happened as London is locked down with a serious flu pandemic. No-one is allowed outside the M25 and soldiers are guarding the outer limit with rifles ready to shoot anyone trying to leave.

As builders are about to fill the foundations of a huge new overflow hospital, one of them notices a bag in a ditch. When opened it is found to be full of human bones. Police are called in and an investigation begins. The investigating officer is due to retire the following day but promises himself he will solve this case before he does.

Full of non stop action and shocking scenes which will have you gripped until the last page.