Three hours ** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

I've just finished this. The only thing I'm confused about is the reference to an overturned school minibus at the end, a branch was used as a lever. Was this just done beforehand to block in anyone leaving? I thought perhaps the fake PC Beard had offered to drive the kids/staff to safety and then crashed it but that doesn't seem very plausible?!

I guessed the Jamie thing (quite late on though) and all the mentions of the theatre being the safest place in the school alerted me that something would go down in there. Plus the crowbarred in locations in the encrypted messages 'I will shoot in the library and Old School' or whatever, seemed really unlikely so I guessed they were decoys (and don't forget that old trope, the harder information is to come by - heavily decrypted etc - the more faith one tends to put in it).

I didn't predict the PC Beard twist though!
Earlier on I thought it was going to be a misogynist group/student rather than a White Supremacist.

Very 'enjoyable' (if you can call it that) read but feel a bit exhausted now.

I’ve just finished reading this and was surprised by the twist at the end.
I was confused by the ending and had to read the last few pages again.
Kept thinking one of the students in the theatre would turn out to be involved.

Have you read Blood Orange? I really enjoyed that.

I can recommend When The Lights Go Out, by Carys Bray and Summerwater, by Sarah Moss.

Have you read My Dark Vanessa? One of my favourites this year along with Troubled Blood and The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo.
Oh actually! Try To The Lions by Holly Watt?

Absolutely loved this book. Didn't see the twist of the children becoming trees.. Thought we had just killed them all. And I thought Mr Neilbright was going to have something to do with the 3rd terrorist when he stayed behind. Clearly behind.
Loved the brothers bond.

I read this in June in one day, I thought it was brilliant, such a page turner.
It reminded me a bit of the similarly titled Jodie Picoult book from about ten years ago but this was better as it was less formulaic.
We have training in lockdown procedures at my school. I think it's mandatory now.

I tell the children they don't need to worry, he's just looking to see if he can come to tea

The school my 16yr old goes to has a lockdown procedure - I just asked him. It doesn't sound very comprehensive though - they have to hide under their desks and keep silent and still, while the teachers close blinds and lock doors.

Interestingly, my other 3 dc who are older, went to the same school but there were no such procedures when they were there. It sounds like a similar layout to your school @Someonesayroadtrip - big senior school joined to an infants and junior school with playing fields in between.

Hmmm, it's maybe something I should raise that our school need then. It's a small primary (280 children) but a massive site. I have H&S governor responsibilities so maybe something to look into. We are right literally next to a comp so they would be the bigger target, I suppose it's worth looking into just incase. Who would of thought 2020 would turn out the way it has?

We do have policies for such events btw. Where to sit (away from windows), how to hide, how to communicate with each other and the outside world during an incident. It's pretty chilling to read and run through the Lockdown Procedure (confusingly named now!) and tell primary age pupils it's because of a vicious dog in the playground hypothetical scenario. But we do it, so if it should happen we can get to our designated areas.

So true. Good point about it being private, I guess that would change a lot of aspects about how it was run. I just kept thinking about staff dismissal and thinking the staff wouldn't likely know or hopefully not have the details but the governors on the disciplinary panel would. But then if it's private those sort of things may be different anyway.

Now need another book 😂

I know what you mean about the school. I started off with a picture of a standard state school in my head then had to adjust it to a Summerhill/forest school sort of place when they mentioned pottery rooms, woods, beach......
I liked the little flashes of ‘normal’ children - the girl painting tree camo like a YouTube make up tutorial, Zak falling out with Jamie then feeling bad about it, the girl Jamie had a crush on being not as much of a Princess as people thought.
I think they would be a bit different to pupils at a standard school because the ethos was very nurturing. It was private, not state too. Not that state schools can’t be nurturing (they definitely can with the right leadership) but it was free to develop staff/pupil relationships in perhaps different ways. As it was a metaphor for an idealized Modern Britain I allowed the author some artistic licence with the range of activities and viewpoints anyway
Plus, it had to be that sort of school to demonstrate how insidious white supremacy is in getting in the minds of young people. Jamie and Victor had every privilege available, not to mention understanding and allowances for their behaviour, supportive peers etc. Yet the relentless drip, drip of hate from mainstream media, let alone being targeted by the more overt terrorists online still managed to get through.