A review by silverliningsandpages
Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Three Hours is a book that blew me away.  Sometimes I stubbornly run the other way from hype, only to eventually realise the buzz was justified.  That was the case here: Three Hours is very deserving of its elevated status on bookstagram.

{TW: violence - also see comments}

I don’t often read thrillers, but this is an elegant literary thriller in its own league.  I was captivated right from the first page, when the headmaster of a school in rural Somerset is hit by a bullet to the head. Remarkably, the emphasis is very much on the emotional impact rather than gory carnage, detailing how shrapnel from a WW1 medals cabinet comes “piercing through the bone that protects the part of him that thinks, loves, dreams and fears; as if pieces of metal are travelling through the who and why of him.  But he is still able to think because it’s he who has thought of those boys, shrapnel made of gallantry, tearing apart any sense he’d once had of a benevolent order of things.” 

And so a tone of dignity and grace is set for this stunning story about a school under siege for three hours.  It follows pupils snd teachers barricaded into classrooms, the library, the theatre.  Outside, a police psychiatrist works frantically to identify the gunmen, while parents gather, desperate for news.  The characters are strongly developed, and these are real people that I cared about.  And also, importantly, I was impressed that the gunmen do not have a POV in the story, we gradually learn ample information about them as the storyline develops.  I’m trying not to be spoilery, but at the core of the story is a challenge to consider what it is to be human.  It’s essence is the celebration of tolerance, courage, selflessness and compassion.  Before the headmaster is shot, “Mr Marr {said} that love is the most powerful thing there is, the only thing that really matters..” and so that thread is delicately weaved through the entire story.  Beautifully written with immense perception, this was for me a truly emotional,stirring reading experience