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I listened on audio and it was pretty intense! About a shooting at a zoo and a mother's strategies to keep herself and her son safe. The writing was mesmerising, original and very relatable. It really made you feel like you were there with them, making tough choices. There was beautiful writing about the feeling of motherhood and the way you kept getting Joan's memories popping up from childhood was interesting.
Graphic: Gun violence
So the premise of this book is undoubtedly intriguing--it's a suspense novel that takes place over the course of three hours, following a woman and her four-year-old son as they attempt to survive and escape a shooter who is loose at the zoo. And for the first third or so of the book, I'd say it lived up to my expectations; it was extremely suspenseful and made you want to keep reading while still devoting time to characterization. The problems for me came later in the book; without giving anything away, I felt that not enough really happened over the course of the book. If you're going to write a short novel, you really need to make every conflict and scene count, and I don't feel like that's what this book did. It was too much buildup for not enough payoff.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have so many, too many, questions after reading this book.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Recommended by my favorite podcast - Currently Reading
This story takes place over just 3 hours. A mother has her 4 year old at the zoo when she finds herself in an active shooter situation. She immediately finds what should be a secure hiding place but when the situation continues to drag on and on - she needs to somehow keep her 4 year old child quiet. Any parent knows that keeping an active 4 year old quiet at the best of times is nearly impossible but when that 4 year old is also scared, cold, tired, hungry, and thirsty... And also, why is this active shooter situation lasting so long when they heard the sirens a while ago.
This is an edge of your seat incredibly tense read from start to finish. The writing is emotive and truly creates a vivid picture of this mother's fear, desperation, and determination to keep her son safe. I will say that the last few chapters push past what I would consider plausible coincidence but I still thoroughly enjoyed this propulsive thriller.
This story takes place over just 3 hours. A mother has her 4 year old at the zoo when she finds herself in an active shooter situation. She immediately finds what should be a secure hiding place but when the situation continues to drag on and on - she needs to somehow keep her 4 year old child quiet. Any parent knows that keeping an active 4 year old quiet at the best of times is nearly impossible but when that 4 year old is also scared, cold, tired, hungry, and thirsty... And also, why is this active shooter situation lasting so long when they heard the sirens a while ago.
This is an edge of your seat incredibly tense read from start to finish. The writing is emotive and truly creates a vivid picture of this mother's fear, desperation, and determination to keep her son safe. I will say that the last few chapters push past what I would consider plausible coincidence but I still thoroughly enjoyed this propulsive thriller.
OMG!!! My heart is still pounding--- and pounded all the while reading this book! Amazing! I don't read lots of thrillers --- but when I do can they all be like this?!?!?
This is a fast, intense read that makes you wonder what you would do in a similar situation, but it is also a testament of the ties that bind you to your children and your parents. I could not put this book down, and I think my heart raced the entire time. It is well-written, terrifying, timely and thought-provoking.
A day at the zoo turns into a nightmare for on mother and her young son.
If not for book club I wouldn't have picked this up, but I enjoyed it. The plot was okay, with a mass shooting and hiding in a zoo and a bunch of editorializing by villains. The part I really enjoyed was the protagonist's mussing on her experience of motherhood. How the child you love is always turning into a new version of themselves, and while you try to memorize them in this instance, so many of the details seem to slip as the new iteration emerges. How the whole world is recreated anew through their observations of it, and the words you collaboratively design to describe it. Those details felt true and insightful.