This book wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The story is so disjointed and badly written. I was extremely disappointed

This is a well written and complex book. The story spans several decades which whilst seeming contrasting and only loosely connected initially weave together by the end of the book. I didn't feel that I engaged fully with this story, the themes of child neglect/bullying in the earlier decade didn't sit comfortably with me and the present decade story made me uncomfortable in expecting the worst outcome. Whilst this didn't happen it did feel to me as though the linking of the two stories was slightly tenuous and forced. Well written but not one for me personally.

This was very much your standard thriller. Nothing super special but it kept me interested until the end.

A really interesting book, thats not in my normal genre, but glad I gave this a read. Had me gripped enough to keep reading.

Excellent read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I picked this up because I loved Sophie Ward's debut novel 'Love and other thought experiments'. This was very different. It felt a bit like an old-fashioned but not necessarily bad British TV police series, something like Inspector Morse. The mystery kept me interested and I read it very quickly, but it completely lacks that special literary quality of 'Love and other....' You hear stories sometimes of literary authors that put out a straightforward thriller in order to pay the bills - perhaps that is what she is doing here? Anyway, I hope her next one will be a return to the style of her debut.

A solid read. Enough twists to keep you interested however not as strong an outing as expected from the author. The subject matter is intriguing enough but it felt like some of the characters lacked depth.

i did not expect this to be a crime/mystery book in the way that it was, but it was wonderful, well-plotted, empathetic and engaging.

I honestly didn’t know what this story was trying to portray. It seemed like general fiction but it could also be a mystery. The premise of the story was interesting enough to keep me captivated but I must say that the writing is a little underwhelming.

This story is set between two time periods, the past and the present. Isobel works in a library In North London and tries to forget about her past and what happened in the Schoolhouse, a school for disabled and juvenile kids. When a little girl goes missing and Isobel recognizes her, she is torn between wanting to help and digging up her dark past. There are also sections of Isobel’s diary when she was eleven that adds more depth to the story. How can Isobel help and is her past going to come back and haunt her?

It’s fine that there were two different plots going on but I felt like there was no connection between the plots? I just don’t see how the plots could come together. The missing girl probably reminded Isobel of her past but what happened after seemed unrelated. In the blurb, it talks about the Schoolhouse being an experimental school and how Isobel copes with what happened to her but there really wasn’t much context to the school and the story isn’t what I expected.

There were also quite a chunk of the story that focused on the police trying to locate the missing child which was once again, not particularly useful to Isobel’s past, not till the end at least. They were going around in circles for a good part of the book and things only started getting interesting once they found Isobel’s link.

I enjoyed reading about Isobel’s past and what drove her to become who she is but other than that, the rest of the plot fell flat for me. Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the arc.

At the beginning I found the story a bit confusing due to to the changing of the time sequences. It was also a bit to much concerning the names but after a while I got used to it and managed to follow the story more easily. At the end I was quite sucked in and couldn’t stop reading. I really liked the characters and their development (or better to say what we learn about their past and thoughts throughout the book). It is not a light story to read but enjoyable after all.
I recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
The book starts with a combination of journal entries from the past (although we have no idea who is responsible for writing it) and a description of Isobel's current life working in the library. We are introduced to various members of the police as a child is reported missing. All the elements for a thriller are present but I found the multiple story plots and numerous characters together with moving from the past to the present and back again made the book so jumbled that it was difficult to maintain interest. The journal entries, written by an 11-year-old girl, reveal little until close to the end of the book so they slowed the story delivery too much for me. I have given the book 2 stars because the feeling of menace / threat is woven into the book very well but I didn't particularly like anything else about it.

This book wasn’t for me. I felt that it didn’t live up to the intrigue I felt after reading the blurb. The writing was a bit clunky and it didn’t capture my attention. There were two separate plots running through the book, and I spent most of the book wondering how they were connected. Isobel’s story centres around her living with her past and of what happened at The Schoolhouse in 1975. Then we have the story of a missing schoolgirl in 1990, with Isobel randomly appearing as the only witness to having seen the girl. It just didn’t really make sense, something done more to force the two plots together. The diary sections which are told from the point of view of an eleven year old are quite jarring, and didn’t quite fit with the writing of the other sections. I’m sorry for quite a negative review but this was a disappointing read and I was happy to reach the end.

I enjoyed her first book and this was a total departure - a police procedural set in both the past and present.

It worked just fine for me - beautifully written and well plotted. The characters were well drawn and the plot original and fascinating.

An excellent read.

A very interesting idea, although I found the execution a little dull and think the book could have benefitted from stronger suspense and better pacing.

Thank you to Sophie Ward and NetGalley for a free copy of the book for an honest review.

I was drawn to the book as I have recently finished Sophie's novel “Love and Other Thought Experiments” which I really enjoyed. Similarly, the Schoolhouse did not disappoint.

At first, it did take me a bit to get into and understand the characters but as soon as I was a few chapters in, it was very easy to follow the story. I felt that all of the characters were developed well, with getting understanding on each of their stories. I also did enjoy the thriller elements and found that there was the right amount of mystery to the story.

Would highly recommend the book.

This was an immersive and intense novel, with two compelling protagonists. Isobel is especially so, with a particularly gripping narrative voice, both in her childhood diary entries, and her contemporary life. As a hearing person I can't assess the representation of her Deafness, but I did like seeing a Deaf protagonist.

DS Sally Carter was given slightly less depth- I found myself wanting greater involvement into her, her past, and her personal life outside of her work. But she too was a character that I found myself drawn to and who I supported, especially through her exposure of the misogyny and homophobia in the police force.

An often painful, but fundamentally hopeful, book.

Set between the past and the present, The Schoolhouse is a masterful and gripping novel about childhood, secrets and trust. Such a wonderful book. Utterly unique, exquisitely crafted and quietly powerful.

Alternating between two storylines - one past and one present - this novel moves between police procedural and teenage diary to narrate the story of two missing children.

A carefully crafted whoddunit mystery with an immersive plot. A bit of a slow read but it is totally worth it. There is a dual timeline of two different characters and the atmosphere of the book is amazing.

The Schoolhouse is a novel about an experimental school, a tragedy, and a missing child, set between two time periods. Isobel works in a library in North London and tries not to think about the circumstances as a child that changed her life, part of a wider series of events at The Schoolhouse, the experimental school she attended in the 1970s. When she recognises a picture of a missing girl, she wants to help, but her past also seems to lurking.

The premise of this book, particularly focusing on an experimental school and living with trauma after it, interested me, but unfortunately it wasn't quite as I expected. The book has three elements interwoven: Isobel's narrative in the 'present' of the book, Isobel's childhood diary, and the narrative of a police officer working on the case of the missing girl in the 'present'. Quite a lot of the space is dedicated to the police procedural element, which was a case of a missing child that wasn't particularly gripping, and the hints of character given to the police officer don't really go anywhere. Isobel's story was more intriguing, layering together the treatment of children who are different in some way with a dark past. There wasn't as much of the school as I'd expected, and the diaries were written as if by a child, which wasn't for me.

There was a lot in this book, with it combining two different kinds of stories (police investigation and unusual protagonist with a traumatic past) and not quite resolving or bringing together all the plot points in my opinion. Unfortunately, I think it just wasn't quite for me, so though I did find the narrative gripping, it didn't satisfy me by the end. I think other people who perhaps expect more of the investigation elements might enjoy it more than me.