I enjoyed this book, read it in one go. Characters were well-developed, dialogue natural and not forced.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion about this book. Lockdown by Laurie R.King was a page turner for me. This was my first introduction to Ms. King. The story is about students, a school principal, her husband, the school police officer and janitor and what precipitates a school shooting and school lockdown. It takes place at Guadeloupe Middle School in California, and is told in various points of view in all the characters. I found it so relevant because of what has been happening in our schools today. Great read.

I enjoyed reading the Novel Lockdown by Laurie King. This novel explores the lives and secrets of many characters and their connection to a school. The novel is written in a very easy to read format and is realistic in its depiction of a public school setting. I found it interesting how all the individual characters' lives were illustrated and then their connection to the school was explored. I teach at a public school and a lockdown is a very real and scary event that could occur at any time. I would recommend this novel. I have been given this novel by net galley in exchange for a fair review.

In LOCKDOWN by Laurie R King, Guadalupe Middle School is having its Career Day, where students ponder what they want to do with the lives and the school host speakers who talk about the careers they have. The reader is introduced to several of the students, teachers, the janitor, one cop providing security, and principal and her husband. Everyone has their secrets, whether its in the past, or current items that they have been careful not to reveal. As Career Day progresses, more and more is revealed about each person, until the book reaches the climax of the novel, where one person's secrets become everyone's problem.
Slowly doling out each character's story, King keeps the reader engaged to a point. However there is an unevenness to the background stories, as some character's get multiple chapters, while others only get small bits On a side note, King writes some of those lengthy back stories with such detail that one wonders if she could spinoff each of those characters into their own story. I found the ending rather predictable, and maybe that was the point, but the mystery was mostly lost on me fairly early in the book.
An interesting concept with decent results, LOCKDOWN can be looked at like a character study as much as a mystery/thriller. Though a little unbalanced, LOCKDOWN does present a feel good ending on how community unites against hardship.

It's Career Day at Guadalupe Middle School and tensions are running high. Things have happened that make the school less than a restful place. Last year, a girl was shot outside of school but she was a student and the cousin of the boy who shot her goes to the school also. That trial is now going on. A new sixth-grader, the daughter of the local car dealer, disappeared and no word has been heard of her. Was she killed somewhere or did she run away?

There is a new principal who is trying to turn the school around. Linda comes from the Midwest, a strange match with her mainly Hispanic students, but seems to be making progress in helping the school. Her husband Gordon is English and a bit of a mystery. He helps out along with Tio, the janitor and Coach, a retired educator who has come back to help out. Olivia is the local policewoman who watches over the town which means she is worried about the school as well. Together they all try to help the students who have issues and keep things simmering under the surface instead of breaking out.

The students have shifting alliances and moods. There is Brendan who is broodingly handsome and a basketball star but who is obviously troubled and seems to be ready to blow. Sophia is the sister of the girl who was killed last year and is just starting to emerge from a cloud of grief. Her best friend, Mina, has come to the area with her Iranian parents who are always worried about her security. Nick was the missing girl's best friend and he has been lost without her and has started a viral campaign against her father. All while these kids are supposed to be getting an education. Will the school blow before Career Day is ended?

Laurie R. King has written many well-received mysteries. Her series about Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell has been a major best seller. She has four novels in a series featuring a female detective, Kate Martinelli. This book is a stand alone but her ability to set a tense atmosphere and move the action along to a chilling climax is well demonstrated. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Ripped from the headlines thriller. Good book to generate discussion among readers. How would you react in this situation ? Recommended !

I normally love the writing of Laurie King however, the style of this book was such a departure from her norm that I couldn't get through it. It was choppy, switching from character to character never really giving me a chance to connect with any of them. I was very disappointed with this different style

It's career day at Guadalupe Middle School and Linda, the Principal, is determined to bring the students together and show them what wonders life could hold if you go in the right direction. The school is riddled with truancy and violence and Linda wants to give hope to students who could possibly face a dreary future. Told from multiple perspectives, the author gives us insight into the worlds of several characters in the novel, including Linda, Linda's husband, a police officer, the janitor, and several students. As career day approaches, the reader can tell that something big is coming to fruition. Could all of the turmoil turn career day into a nightmare or finally bring the students together?

I believe the author was trying to combine multiple personalities and relationships to give the reader a broad view of the school and the events that led up to career day. However, there were so many different alternative perspectives that even at about 40% through the novel I had essentially no idea who the characters were or where the novel was heading. Honestly, I almost gave up. But I powered through and at about 70% through the book, everything was finally coming together and I got a bit of that "I can't put this down" feeling. Unfortunately the ending wasn't the powerful punch that I had hoped. I was left feeling kind of "eh". Additionally, there was some character history (like that of Linda's husband) that seemed way too detailed and unnecessary for the story. So, all in all, I believe this author has a lot of potential but I couldn't rate this more than 3 stars.

I received this book through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley.com, to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and to Laurie R. King.

In my eyes, Laurie R. King can do no wrong. She has been on my Indispensables List for over two decades, and she is absolutely one of those writers whom I will follow anywhere. I doubt I would normally read a book about a school shooting; there are still too-fresh scars in this neck of the woods for me to choose such a subject for entertainment. (That's so in lots of necks of lots of woods; here it's because of Sandy Hook and twenty tiny dead children.)

All the different strands of this story – the students, the parents, the teachers, the custodian, the killer among them - weave a stressfully tense story. The humor and normalcy of early events are deeply overshadowed by what you know is coming, and the fear of how bad it's going to be. Who among the characters you come to like, to care about, will still be standing at the end? How deep will the scars be?

One of the hallmarks of a good murder mystery is that no stone is left unturned, and no secret is left unexposed. This is a sort of inverted murder mystery, and it comes to the same thing. Checkered pasts, private opinions, other lives – none of that is likely to survive the storm that is about to roll over this town. Scars? No one is getting out of this story without one.

The blurb talks about the plot being ripped from the headlines … I hate that. I do. I had to stop watching "Law & Order" long ago, because it made me queasy to see real people's pain being used for yet another mediocre drama. But … Laurie R. King. There's a big difference between a thinly veiled fictionalization of something that just happened, where the people involved are probably still in pain, and this: a tale that is in a way a composite of true horrors without trying to cash in on any specific real grief. It's all the grief and anger and horror of all those senseless days. It's catharsis.

I sincerely hope LRK continues to use her power for good. I trust her enough that – well, I read this. I don't think she'll ever lead me to a place I'll regret.

Favorite quote:
By Tuesday, she loved Guadalupe Middle School as ferociously as an elderly cat-lady with 712 runt kittens.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

It took me awhile to get into the rhythm of this story. Each chapter is told by several different main characters. Initially I had a hard time connecting the dots regarding who was who and how they all related to the overall story.

That being said, I am glad I stuck with it as I found the ending to be very exciting.

ARC from Random House - Ballantine Bantam, via Netgalley.

I just could not get into this book. I tried, but was unable to commit to characters who did not capture my attention. Thank you for the advanced copy.

I was really intrigued by a new standalone book from Laurie King. I've enjoyed her strengths in characterization and empathy in the past.

The structure of this book reminded me of a book by John Sanford with ADD. Each chapter was a couple of pages long at most, sometimes only a paragraph or two. So while the book looks like it's over 300 pages long, I'd say there's only about half that much content to read, tops. Each chapter is a time of day. It starts at about midnight of the fateful day of Lockdown, and progresses excruciatingly slowly towards what we're all waiting for. I began to skim, and I was about 80% of the way into the book by the time we get to the lockdown situation. Which was not even a very effective lockdown.

What does King spend her time doing for the rest of the book? Tiny little vignettes about a huge cast of characters. About half a dozen kids in the middle school where the action takes place, a dad of one of the kids, a cop,a janitor (this one seems to be included because King had a soapbox issue that she wanted to do) a very neurotic principal and her husband. When I was first introduced to this principal, she didn't seem capable of dealing with a classroom of students, much less an entire school of them. She came across as soooo concerned what everyone thought of her that I was turned off.

Most of the students are Hispanic, and their voices also made me cringe. Lots of "pinche" and "puto" and it just felt very forced. Not that you don't hear that language with kids, but it seemed like King was trying soooo hard to make sure that we knew that these kids were Hispanic, yep, definitely they use Spanish words! And cuss words, too, so we know they're trying to be tough!

And at the end, well, the bad guy has already been made out to be so bad that there's no sympathizing with him, and he seems like a cardboard cutout. King pulls her punches at the end. I'm glad I skimmed it.

Lockdown is an outstanding novel of psychological suspense set at a middle school in a farming community in central California. We know something bad is going to happen the school's Career Day, though we aren't sure what. Told from a diverse cast of characters, the tension builds and it becomes clear that everyone has their secrets. Eventually a boiling point will occur that will inevitably change all of their lives forever. The chapters are short and powerful really making it impossible to stop reading. The format works well with this type of story giving us so many POVs really setting up the full picture. The characters are used in a brilliant way. It is hard not to become emotionally-invested in the characters and the story itself. Readers of psychological thrillers should be sure to check out Lockdown today!

I've been a fan of Laurie R. King since I read her first Kate Martinelli mystery!!!! LOCKDOWN definitely lives up to the outstanding writing I've come to expect from King. I especially enjoyed the brief reappearance of Martinelli. King's ability to maintain reader involvement while rotating among multiple voices and points of view is particularly impressive. Adding a number of switches from the present to the past for those same characters increased the complexity of the story. The revelation of the identity of the person responsible for the intense scenes of violence near the end of the book was a bit of a surprise. This was one of the best mysteries I've read this year, and I really look forward to King's next stand alone novel. Random House has joined Penguin as a favorite publisher. I appreciate their working with NetGalley to provide electronic ARCs of their outstanding publications!!

Linda, the new principal of a troubled school, is working hard to turn this school around and build a sense of community among its students. Many people in this small coastal town in California are involved in the effort in one way or another. As in many small towns, everyone seems to know a lot about everyone else, and what goes on in their community. However, some of them are keeping secrets which could have life threatening consequences.
This community is still reeling from several traumatic incidents. One is the murder of an innocent student by a gang member. Another is a young girl who has gone missing. The trial of the murderer is ongoing, and the search for the girl winding down.
Trouble is brewing in this town, and there are many indications that something bad is going to happen. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the main characters. Gradually we learn more about their histories and motivations, and begin to form different guesses as to what is going to happen. As you might have guessed from the title, this is about one of a parent's worst nightmares: "lockdown" : an emergency requiring the school to lock all doors and windows, corral and protect students, and prepare for possible violence.
There are chapters about the staff: the hard working principal, her fugitive husband, an astute school psychologist, a skilled cop, a janitor with a past, a pushy but helpful volunteer, a hastily recruited coach, and also one of the parents. We learn the intriguing back stories of these people, who have come from various places, with various cares and concerns. There are also chapters from the perspective of some of the students, with their own unique perspectives.
The main reason I liked this book was the wonderfully vivid characters. They are so clearly described, and their histories and motivations so believable, that I was easily drawn in to their world. I especially liked the parts set in New Guinea, where Linda met her husband, whose experiences there would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Obviously, the author has more than a passing knowledge of this fascinating culture, and I'd love to read an entire book set there. Regardless of setting, I plan to read more from this author. I think you'll enjoy her writing as well.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

While the book had a lot of detail and clearly well thought out, I did not relate to any of the characters at all. Over all, I found myself not caring what was happening in the building. This is particularly interesting to me because I am an educator and have spent my entire life within school buildings.

----------
"...a dispassionate corner of his mind remarked on how rage could shift from hot and uncontrollable into cold and deliberate. All it took to restore sanity was a step into decision. Once a man had committed to a course of action, the chatter of rage fell away, and life grew simple."
----------

WOW. Just, wow. This was an amazing story - the pacing, the build, the Big Reveal, the resolution... It was all spot-on perfect. I love Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series - I devoured all of the books (even the not so great pirate movie one buried in the middle) and am really hoping she keeps writing them. I haven't tried the Kate Martinelli yet - I loved the period pieces of the other series so much that I was having a hard time conceiving of her writing in a contemporary voice. Then I saw this latest book on NetGalley and decided it was worth a try, given how much I liked her writing style. I am SO immensely glad I did - and now Kate Martinelli is rocketing to the top of my To Be Read list...

The topic of this one - a school shooting - initially turned me off. I have a little girl about to enter Pre-K in the fall, and teenage step-kids (one in high school, one just starting college), and the thought of them learning lockdown drills horrifies and saddens me to no end. School should be a safe place, period, end of sentence. But increasingly it is not - for many reasons, not the least of which is school shootings. So I wasn't sure I'd be able to read this one without getting myself all worked up. Well, I DID get worked up, but not in the way I feared - that is how deftly Ms. King manages her subject matter...

----------
"Sometimes, what people were hiding could remain hidden, without the world coming to an end."
----------

To say the book is a slow build is rather an understatement. It isn't until 83% in - yes, more than 4/5 of the story! - before the lockdown/Big Action even occurs. I kept thinking, with each new chapter, that it HAD to happen soon; it was knife-edge suspense, built so artfully and paced so perfectly, that I simultaneously dreaded and couldn't wait for every turn of the page... But it wasn't like I spent the book waiting - the back stories and underlying character and plot development were so intricately intermingled and so well crafted that I didn't even realize how deep into the story I was getting, while still technically waiting for the story to actually start! Suspense like this is an art form, truly; it takes a very skilled hand to tease the reader along for the vast majority of the book without ever causing said reader to stop and wonder where things were going or why the eponymous action hadn't kicked in yet.

The characters are just as marvelously detailed and play out just as brilliantly as the plot development. There are so many layers to each character; no one is who they seem and the blend of expectations, assumptions, and realities is heart-breaking and uplifting and so utterly redolent of being in middle school. These kids aren't kids. But they aren't adults either, despite what the world has shown them. Then again, neither are many of the age-determined "adults" in their world. Everyone is human and frail and broken and reassembling themselves piece by painstaking piece, and all of that chaos is reflected in the world around them up to and through the actual event of the lockdown. It's all simply brilliant - pitch-perfect storytelling...

This is not what I expected from this author, but it was amazing. I highly recommend this book.

I was disappointed in this book. I was looking forward to it, but it just seemed that the plot has a been used before more successfully.

Remember when "active shooter'' wasn't part of our everyday vocabulary? I didn't think I was up for Laurie R. King's new standalone Lockdown (Bantam, digital galley), no matter how timely, having seen way too much of the real thing on the evening news. But King delivers more than a tick-tock countdown of Career Day at Guadalupe Middle School, which begins with the high hopes principal Linda McDonald has for her diverse student body. The school bubbles with "hormones and suppressed rage, with threats all around it,'' and is currently troubled by a murder trial involving student gang members and the mysterious disappearance of a seventh-grade girl. Readers are aware of a more ominous hazard headed toward the school -- a heavily armed white van -- but not who is driving. As the minutes go by, King switches among many perspectives -- various students and teachers, the principal, her husband, the school janitor, a cop on duty at the school, parents preparing to participate in career day -- and a number of backstories emerge. Perhaps there are too many, given that several could have made books on their own. Still, by the time the action really begins, readers are invested in a handful of sympathetic characters who may not survive lockdown.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever