Three Hours
The Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller
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5.0, 5 Ratings
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
THREE HOURS TO SAVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE
A TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Sister comes an electrifying, pulse-racing new novel that takes us deep into the heart of what it means to be human
'Superb' Kate Mosse
'ASTONISHING. Powerful, terrifying, heartbreaking' Emma Flint
'One of the most exhilarating reading experiences I've ever had' Emma Healey
'A stunner of a book. Staggeringly good' Jane Fallon
'SO gripping, intelligent, timely, affecting and moving' Marian Keyes
Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds.
It is a morning's lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods.
It is an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible.
It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.
In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. From the wounded headmaster in the library, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the parents gathering desperate for news, to the 16 year old Syrian refugee trying to rescue his little brother, to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the students taking refuge in the school theatre, all experience the most intense hours of their lives, where evil and terror are met by courage, love and redemption.
'A brilliant literary thriller... moving, masterly, flawlessly orchestrated' Sunday Times
'Three Hours intersperses scenes of breath-sucking tension with stirring meditations on human nature. . . The message Lupton's novel delivers is that only love can save us' Sara Collins, Guardian
'It is early days, but this could be one of the thrillers of the decade. Intense, horrifying and brilliantly told... If you read only one thriller this year; make it this one: it is that good' Daily Mail
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This is a fiercely riveting thriller about a three-hour siege at a Somerset school, but to call it simply a thriller feels woefully inadequate. Framed within those tense 180 minutes is a beautiful and moving study of humanity, as various characters—teachers, pupils, desperate parents, counter-terrorist police—reveal fortitude, courage, love, hatred, fear and countless other emotions in the most intense circumstances. Three Hours may provide a chilling portrait of how atrocity and terror can emerge in modern society but it’s also a hugely uplifting tribute to the strength of human spirit.
Customer Reviews
WOW, gripping, engrossing read
I have literally just finished reading this book, I am sat here my heart is pounding, and a single tear runs down my cheek, what a read, despite this not being out until the beginning of January I have to put it in my top reads of 2019. This is most definitely a book to look out for early 2020.
Gripping, engrossing, thrilling, heart pounding, exhilarating, terrifying.
When the pupils of Cliff Heights School arrive for their daily lessons little did they know that the next three hours, 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds. Would possibly be the longest three hours of the pupils lives, the most scariest, and life changing.
When their school is under siege, the headmaster Matthew Marr is injured and two pupils Hannah and David who have undergone first aid are battling to do what they can to save him, until emergency services can get to him. The pupils are in several different locations, with a gunman walking up and down a corridor outside where some of them are situated, another one in the woods outside, but is there a third one? With snow falling, the weather is hampering a rescue.
Rafi Bukhari and his younger brother are refugees from Syria the headmaster has brought them to Somerset, and they are with a good foster family and have just settled into school life, after seeing atrocities in their young lives that no one should have to see, there are flashbacks given in the story as to what they went through to escape Syria, to get to the UK. Never to see their parents again.
Beth Alton is desperate to find where her son is, as he is not in any of the places the other pupils are, she goes over everything they have been through over the previous few months, from being bullied, to finding and reading his diary. She desperately keeps calling Jamie’s mobile wondering if he is dead or alive.
Det Inspector Rose Polstein is in charge of trying to work out who and why the school is being attacked and by who, she is a Forensic Psychologist assigned to her are three officers she has never worked with DS Thandie Simmonds, DS Amal Ayari, and DC George Hail they have their work cut out trying to find out any information they can, anyone with a grudge, ex employee’s or ex pupils from the school.
Simon Letwynd Bronze Commander in charge of the armed men on the ground, once the know what they are dealing with, relying on information gathered by DI Polstein.
The parents all anxiously waiting for news about their children, all sitting in a hall together, sometimes silent, sometimes trying to guess who is to blame.
How brave can some people be when under this situation?
This book literally grabs you from the first page until that last word literally, if you buy one book in 2020 I highly recommend this one you will not be disappointed. The characters are all relatable, likeable, except for the ones responsible for the siege of course. A read of the times we live in, with racial tension, political uproar, social media.
