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.

Wow wow wow, I could sing the high praises of this book for ever. Such a tightly knit story, taking place over the three hours that a school is being held under siege by masked gunmen. Opening with a bullet, and moving between different key characters, Three Hours doesn't waste a word. It feels so current and now, and unfortunately all too likely to be real. If you like your crime thrillers to keep you on the edge of your seat, desperate to turn the page but nervous to find out what's going to happen - this is it. It deserves all of the praise that I have seen being heaped on it, go and read it!
Thank you so much for giving me the chance to read it

A progressive rural school with refugee pupils is taken hostage by student gunmen, full of hate.
Drawing on tragedies such as the Columbine massacre and the wider societal anti-Muslim rhetoric, Lupton turns a lens on how this happened and the bravery of a school that fights back.
Although the focus is narrow - the three hours as the events unfold - the pace is fast and the characters distinctive and compelling.
They include the loving headmaster, Muslim refugee brothers, and the school drama group whose performance of Macbeth is a compelling backdrop to the tragedy unfolding.
Lupton focuses on hope, bravery and redemption as much as hate.
Thoroughly recommended: fast-paced, raw and full of emotion.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton is an intense, nail-biting thriller, one which I could not put down until I leafed through the last page.

In rural Somerset, in the middle of a blizzard, a school is under siege. As the title suggests, the book renders a blow-by-blow account of those harrowing three hours from the perspectives of the people at the heart of it.

From the injured headmaster, to the teenage students frightened and angry at this onslaught on themselves, to the courageous teacher who is doing her best to protect the toddlers under her charge, to the sixteen-year-old Syrian refugee boy determined to protect his little brother from being terrorized in peaceful England, to the anguished parents waiting for some news of their trapped children with bated breath, and finally to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen and figure out a way to stop them, Three Hours presents the point of view of each and every player, barring the gunmen themselves. Their psyche, instead, is pieced together by sifting through the trail of evidence they leave behind. As a result, I had a complete picture of how the events unfolded.

Each voice is remarkably distinct. I had no difficulty in distinguishing between the characters.

Notably, the narrative is not linear. It jumps back and forth between the start of the siege and the middle of the siege. Sometimes, it goes even backward giving us a glimpse of an important event that set the things in motion. However, the transition between the timelines is seamless.

The book is fast-paced and maintains the same momentum till the last page. Further, it is vividly descriptive. I could see the action unfolding before my eyes and feel the children's fear.

Despite being fast-paced, Three Hours poignantly lays bare the fractures in the society that have emerged because of the arrival of the Muslim refugees. Even during the siege, in absence of any concrete information, some of the anxious parents immediately suspect the Syrian brothers as the orchestrators.

Although the book is set in England, this could easily happen anywhere in the world since the intolerance towards the refugees (and their difficulty in acclimatizing with the culture of their host country) is being seen all across the world.

Lupton kept me spellbound. The book is rich in imagery but does not contain any fluffy words. Consequently, I finished the book in a day. I had no choice. I could not focus on any other task until I knew the children were safe. Speaking of safety, at 93% (Kindle version) my heart lurched into my mouth. You need to read the book to know why.

To conclude, Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton is a brilliant thriller taut with suspense, brimming with action, and peopled with relatable characters.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC via Netgalley.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Having read the author’s other books I thought I would enjoy this one and I was not disappointed. What a scary and compelling story.
It was so believable and the characters well portrayed
I finished it in one day
Thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy of this book

As a mother I found this a very difficult read - a school is under attack by one or more gunmen.

After a slow start I found the plot picked up pace and it was a real page turner.

The characters were interesting and their fear flowed from the pages. However, at times it felt there were too many characters to really get to know any of them as well as I would have liked.

I enjoyed the side story of the two refugee boys... certainly put a new view on how past trauma can affect kids.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review :-)

Such a great escapism! Really enjoyed this book. Have been recommending to friends since! Great characters and back stories, enjoyed this one!

Gripping read especially from the start. Well written .like all books author gas written. Look forward to next one.

This was my first book by this other. I absolutely loved it. I was hooked after a few pages and stayed up way too late into the night trying to finish it. I would definitely recommend this book to others and I am certainly going to be reading more of the authors books.

Tense, fast-paced thriller with some unexpected twists and turns. Rosamund Lupton is always a great read.

Three Hours grabs your attention from the first page and holds you until the very end. The story of a remote school under siege for three hours is cleverly narrated from all angles, you have the fear and bravery of the children and teachers involved, the anguish of the parents waiting for news, the thought process, concerns and skill of the police team assembled to deal with the crisis. It is easy to immerse yourself in the story and really feel for the characters in the story.

One of the best books of 2020 so far.

This throws you straight into a scene of brutality as a headmaster Matthew Marr experiences the terror of being shot in the head by gunmen who have placed his school under siege.

Lupton ratchets up the tension by using a very tight timeframe, grounding the action by placing the clock at the start of each section. The reader feels the claustrophobia and fear that the characters do as they realise their predicament and the snow starts falling.

Lupton conveys a vast range of points of view. We experience the horror as viewed by students trapped in different areas of the campus, the teachers facing the huge responsibility of trying to ensure the kids under their care get through this alive, the parents desperate for news who are frantically trying to reach their children, and the police who are trying to establish who is carrying out the atrocity and why.

This is a well-written pacey thriller that cries out to be gulped down in one sitting, however it is far more than an entertaining read. Lupton invites empathy and compassion for all concerned. Themes of heroism, self-sacrifice, cowardice and fear invite you to ponder how you would react in a similar situation. The way that the waiting parents and media begin to fill the vacuum with supposition and rumours demonstrate how quickly we can designate someone as 'other' to try and lay blame and provide explanation for a situation.

Highly recommend.

Oh but this book. Tense and tightly woven and emotional and so gripping that I don't think I breathed for about the last 15 percent. I absolutely loved it.

This came as no surprise actually, because I am a fan of Rosamund Lupton.

It's about a school shooting, but not in the USA, but rather a sprawling English private school, a school where everybody is equal and acceptance is key and things like this Should Not Happen. The story unfolds over three hours - which you totally could have guessed from the title, right? - and follows several different viewpoints - teachers and students and parents and police until it reaches a climax that takes your breath away. This is one of those wow that ending books that leaves you sat there a little breathless, and sad. It ended the way it had to end, but it ended in a way that hurt. Holy emotional sucker punch, batman,

Three hours. Doesn't seem like long, but at the same time is just long enough.

This is such a tense read, I'm not even kidding. I read it with my hands curled into fists and my chest tight; you're dropped right into the drama - headteacher Mr Carr has been shot and is barricaded in the library with some children trying to keep him alive whilst the gunman prowls the corridor outside; the drama club are hiding out in the theatre, practising Macbeth and trying to pretend it's all ok (and the juxtaposition of this story against that of Macbeth is something else, so impressive), parents are gathering on the outskirts of the school in terror, Rafi a refugee from Syria driven by his love for his younger brother and his girlfriend and suffering from PTSD is desperate to save everybody even at risk to himself and outside in the woods a second gunman points a gun at the window of the pottery class where the infants hide under the table. I feel a little bit goosey just thinking about it.

“Rafi told her once that for him it isn’t Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who are the frightening characters, but First Murderer, Second Murderer, Third Murderer, men without names; unknown killers in the darkness.”

The narrative goes back and forth in time, moving also from classroom to classroom and back again and I love that, always here for the split narratives and the time jumps. It's chilling and atmospheric and so very very timely. It's a thriller I guess, if I had to put it into a category, full of of twists and turns and red herrings and just as that alone it's standout, but somehow, amazingly, it manages to be more than that: it's also a social study - it touches on white supremacy and Islamophobia and radicalisation - and it's a book with so much heart, a book about love and how it is all we need.

What a fantastic book. Intense & gripping right from start. Great writing, that really pulls you into the situation & keeps you reading on and on.

This book started in an explosion and for me I found it very uncomfortable. I then started to settle into and it is beautifully written but I felt it is perhaps better suited to a young adult. I adore Rosamund Lupton and her writing is always flawless

I read it in a couple of seatings I think that says it all. Absolutely love the story. I’m not used to reading books with loads of characters which made this one a little challenging but I The characters themselves were well round and easy to identify once you get used to the intensity of this story.

Lupton has an incredible pen, her voice and characters are well thought of the story is realistic yet a little fantasy thrown to us to keep the mood going.

I’d consider adding trigger alerts as many people would find the white supremacist and racism offensive, having said that it’s all very well place and not overly done to get the point across.

A fantastic, gripping book about a harrowing subject. Filled with likeable characters ... it’s fast paced and totally consumes you, it leaves you thinking about it when you’re not reading it and when I was reading it my heart was beating so hard in my chest.
An All absorbing read, this is the first book I’ve read by the author, but I am most certainly going to pick up her other works.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read in return for an honest review
5 stars