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Three Hours
Three Hours
Oct 26, 2024 7:26 PM

Author:Rosamund Lupton

Three Hours

'If you read only one thriller this year; make it this one' Daily Mail

'Gob-smackingly, heart-stoppingly, breath-holdingly brilliant' Ruth Jones

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THREE HOURS TO SAVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE

In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege.

Pupils and teachers barricade themselves into classrooms, the library, the theatre. The headmaster lies wounded in the library, unable to help his trapped students and staff. Outside, a police psychiatrist must identify the gunmen, while parents gather desperate for news.

In three intense hours, all must find the courage to stand up to evil and save the people they love.

A TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

THE TIMES THRILLER OF THE YEAR

A BEST BOOK OF 2020 IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, TIMES, GUARDIAN, MAIL, MIRROR, LITERARY REVIEW, STYLIST, RED AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

A TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES THRILLER OF THE MONTH

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'Brilliant' Lee Child, Better off Dead

'A brave, timely and intricately crafted work' Emma Stonex, The Lamplighters

'Superb' Kate Mosse, The City of Tears

'It's beautifully, elegantly written, SO gripping, intelligent, timely, affecting and moving' Marian Keyes, Again, Rachel

'A brilliant literary thriller... moving, masterly' Sunday Times

'Kept us on the edge of our seats from start to finish' Independent

'A novel that you live rather than merely read' Daily Telegraph

'Amazing' Davina McCall, Menopausing

'An electrifying, pulse-racing novel' Red

'Wow! This is a stunner of a book, staggeringly good' Jane Fallon, Just Got Real

'An emotionally devastating and beautifully observed literary thriller' Observer

'Astonishing, powerful, terrifying, heartbreaking' Emma Flint, Little Deaths

'Intersperses scenes of breath-sucking tension with stirring meditations on human nature' Guardian

Reviews

Three Hours is both a gripping thriller and a beautiful meditation on the nature of family, friendship, courage and unintended - lethal - consequences. Superb.

—— Kate Mosse

Wow! This is a stunner of a book. Staggeringly good

—— Jane Fallon

ASTONISHING. Powerful, terrifying, heartbreaking

—— Emma Flint

It's beautifully, elegantly written, SO gripping, intelligent, timely, affecting and moving

—— Marian Keyes

There's no one else writing quite like Rosamund Lupton in fiction today - the way she combines high tension with a compassionate and humane take on the world is unique. Three Hours is exceptional - at turns heart-breaking, warm, terrifying, perceptive and grippingly page turning

—— Kate Hamer

Three Hours is Rosamund Lupton's best book yet, and that is high praise. A monster story for our fractious historical moment -- the age of the internet and of Columbine, of terror and mass migration -- when the monsters often look an awful lot like our own children. Chilling, suspenseful, humane, and brave

—— William Landay

An incredible, unbelievably powerful book... I forgot how to breathe as it explored what it means to be human - for better or for worse. It's taut, it's tight, it's appalling, it's uplifting, it's extraordinary. Simply stunning

—— Dinah Jefferies

This is an incredible novel: a heady combination of elegant writing, nuanced characterisation, deep emotion and heart-stopping tension. I was torn, all the way through, between wanting to slow down in order to relish the detail, and wanting to speed up in order to find out what was going to happen'

—— Elizabeth Brooks

I read Three Hours in two days, in awe. It's breathtaking. A modern rumination on the issues that divide 21st century life, a celebration of refugees, of mental health, of love and hope and bravery. I loved it more than I can say'

—— Gillian McAllister

Three Hours is about hate crime, but what rings out from its pages - what is likely to stay with you long after you've read that magnificent last line - is love. I wanted to read Three Hours slowly to savour every beautiful word, yet it is so compelling that I couldn't put it down. This one is destined for the best-sellers list, I reckon, and rightly so. It is phenomenal

—— Fiona Mitchell

Beautifully written, emotionally note-perfect and nail-bitingly tense. It's BRILLIANT

—— Tammy Cohen

I finished Three Hoursin the wee small hours of this morning. It's mind blowing. I'm still feeling jittery. It's so fast-paced and credible that at times I felt like I was watching rolling news coverage of a real incident where I knew the victims. I had that same pulse-racing, queasy feeling - the same inability to look away. It's a horrifying story but told with such compassion and humanity. A large cast of characters and yet you feel genuinely emotionally engaged with each one... Amazing

—— Francesca Jakobi

Three Hoursis a brilliant novel - moving, relevant and honest. Rosamund Lupton takes us through the story of a siege in an English school, building on the tension and our emotions as the story speeds to its conclusion. She handles difficult subjects with sensitivity and intelligence, focusing on the heroism of the individual. An exceptional and heartbreaking read

—— Jenny Quintana

Lupton tells her story with searing beauty and unbearable tension. Exquisite. Compassionate. Painful. Fantastic. A work of powerful imagination that wears its intelligence lightly. Absolutely terrifying and nail-biting. Don't read this if you want to be able to put it down.

—— Kate London

Three Hours has a voice all of its own. Character and plot leap out at you from the first line. Rosamund Lupton makes you race through the pages with her irresistible storytelling. Impossible to stop until you reach the poignant end!

—— Jane Corry

I've just finished reading this. Exceptional - so well planned and written. I'm also in awe of Rosamund Lupton

—— Sarah Edghill

Like a breath of icy air. . . Not since Smilla's Feeling for Snow have I shivered like this.

—— Emma Donoghue on 'The Quality of Silence'

Like Kate Atkinson, Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell

—— New York Times on 'Sister'

Devastatingly good, and announces the arrival of a truly original talent

—— Daily Mail on ‘Sister'

Three Hours is one of the most exhilarating reading experiences I've ever had. Rosamund Lupton takes a dark, painful subject and turns it into a novel full of hope and compassion. An amazing achievement.

—— Emma Healey, bestselling author of 'Elizabeth is Missing' and 'Whistle in the Dark'

The most thought-provoking exploration of motherhood I've come across since We Need to Talk About Kevin

—— Clare Pooley

The Push is a freight train of a read - it barrels into you and propels you along, taking you places you're not sure you want to go. I found it disturbing, upsetting, and utterly compelling

—— Beth Morrey, author of Saving Missy

Intensely absorbing, gripping until the final page, The Push excavates the myths of motherhood, deftly exploring the shape-shifting landscape of parenting, the powerful impact of the past on the present, and the deep unease of our inability to ever fully know even those we hold the closest

—— Kim Edwards, bestselling author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Suspenseful with extreme We Need To Talk About Kevin vibes, this is the Book Club Book that'll have everyone talking next year

—— Grazia

Stayed up too late finishing [Audrain's] deeply unsettling The Push about the darkest reaches of motherhood . . . Visceral, provocative, compulsive, and with the most graphic and relatable description of childbirth I've read (or written)

—— Sarah Vaughan, bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal

I loved it - such a dark and compelling exploration of motherhood. Absolutely haunting: a brilliant, thought-provoking page-turner

—— Caroline Lea

The Push is written on the edge of a knife. It's a howl in the face of what we think we know - or want to believe - about motherhood. Relentlessly compelling, distressing and beautiful, Ashley Audrain's debut is the next Gone Girl, with shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I devoured it whole

—— Marissa Stapley, bestselling author of The Last Resort

The Push is not a book you'll be able to forget easily . . . an unputdownable story that will be the book everyone is talking about in 2021

—— Grazia

Compelling, beautifully written and wickedly entertaining... A tremendously thought-provoking read

—— Liz Nugent, author of Little Cruelties and Lying in Wait

Astonishingly good. Beautifully written, gripping, disturbing

—— Jane Fallon, author of Queen Bee

A tense and unsettling thriller that's immersive, chilling, and provocative. A book that's best read in one sitting

—— Iain Reid, author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Ashley Audrain's The Push is not only a propulsively entertaining, read-in-one-sitting novel, it is also a deeply provocative and fearless look at motherhood written in some of the prettiest prose you'll read all year

—— Aimee Molloy, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Mother

Written with a courage that borders on audacity, and with uncanny emotional and psychological precision, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a taut, tour-de-force literary thriller that draws you in from the very first pages and plunges you into the most harrowing of journeys: parenthood

—— Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have A Family?

A meteoric debut. Ashley Audrain's The Push is a force of nature, an unforgettable arrival that will linger in your heart--shimmer, darken and then haunt you. Every sentence is just so achingly alive. Audrain descends with near pointillistic precision into the gore of motherhood and love. Perhaps if Stephen King had experienced motherhood--the singular exaltation and morbid terror of that state--he might have been able to dream up this book. Wise, monstrous, and tender, The Push operates at a different frequency. It seemed to pulse in my hands. I could not put it down. I could not look away

—— Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker and Stunt

One to watch ... The Push is told from the point of view of Blythe Connor, whose experience of motherhood is not what she hoped for

—— The Bookseller

Staggering - it is an intoxicating rush of a book that grips you tight from the first few pages and will not let you go

—— Cambridge Edition

Most anticipated books of 2021 'Pre-order now and thank yourself later'

—— Marie Claire

A thrilling debut

—— Harper's Bazaar, This Winter's Best New Releases from Rising Novelists

The Push is a vivid and complex spiral of questioning your grasp on reality, of uttering unspeakable thoughts, when the world tells you it's all in your head. Book blurbs often say they'll be devoured in one sitting - it's rare it proves so true

—— The Skinny

Suspenseful, dark and intriguing . . . It's going to be a big discussion point in 2021

—— Stylist, Book to Watch 2021

A haunting tale about the expectations and reality of motherhood. Stunning . . . You end up staying up all night to finish The Push

—— E! Online

Visceral, compulsive and astonishing. I could not put this down

—— Raynor Winn, bestselling author of The Salt Path

'Best books to look forward to in 2021'

—— Cosmopolitan

The chilling novel that caused a bidding frenzy more than lives up to the hype

—— Red Online

A terrifying, psychological suspense tale of motherhood and nature versus nurture

—— Sunday Mirror

This chilling tale barrels along towards a dark, thought-provoking ending

—— Good Housekeeping

The tense, gripping novel - which, after a nine-way bidding war, has already been optioned for film by the producer of ugly-cry-inducing Marriage Story - will stay with you long after you finish the last page

—— Refinery29

This psychological family drama will be your next one-sit read . . . you won't want to miss it

—— Silversurfers

A creepy, nuanced story that, with a growing sense of dread, subverts the ideals of motherhood so often presented as inviolable

—— Publishers Association

Buckle up for a riveting read . . . will have you alternately whizzing through the pages to see what happens next, and reading slowly with widened eyes

—— Prima, 'My Book of the Month'

[An] exploration of love, obsession and the dark truths of motherhood

—— Cosmopolitan, Best Books 2021

Reminiscent of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ashley Audrain has delivered a provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood

—— Vogue UK

Compelling . . . A disturbing and complex tale about dysfunctional mother-daughter relationships. It's not always an easy read but it's absolutely one you won't be able to put down

—— Culturefly

Included in 'Books for 2021'

—— Sun

The mother of all thrillers! Like The Girl on the Train - but better!

—— Daily Mail

Utterly mesmerising. Ashley Audrain's powerful debut novel explores the challenges of motherhood and the terrifying isolation of being trapped within a sinister truth that no-one else believes.

—— Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of The Beekeeper's Promise

One of the most anticipated novels of this year . . . fast-paced, it has the ability to distract you from anything. Exactly what we need right now

—— Grazia

Written with an unflinching eye and a stylistically sharp, tight economy The Push is a single-sitting read, as suspenseful as any thriller, as thoughtful as any literary novel, with an almost physical force behind each of its turns and revelations. By the end, the reader will feel wrung out in the way only the best of books leaves you. Audrain's debut is a stunning, devastating novel and, frankly, one hell of a way to start a year of reading

—— Toronto Star

Included in 'Books to Watch 2021'

—— Evening Standard

Hooks you from the very first page and will have you racing to get to the end

—— Book Club Selection , Good Morning America

Included in 'Best New Books'

—— New York Post

This is a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad seed suspense, from an arrestingly original new voice

—— Publishers Weekly

This taut and tense hurricane of a debut is best devoured in one sitting

—— Newsweek

This dazzling debut mixes page-turning suspense with a psychological drama

—— Working Motheer

Once you start in on this story, it becomes difficult to control yourself. A twisted, tight, and exhilarating drama

—— Goop

This psychological thriller about a mother's bond with her daughter will keep you turning pages

—— Woman's Day

This nuanced book challenges the notion of nature versus nurture, and whether a mother's love is enough. It's disturbing, painful and brilliant, holding a mirror up to society

—— Woman's Weekly

The Push is a thriller that is also a compelling examination of motherhood and of how trauma is passed down through generations

—— Herald

A tense, chilling dip into the dark side of motherhood . . . The Push is uncomfortable and provocative, like a train wreck that demands your gaze

—— Washington Post

The most tense, thrilling read that will chill and enthral in equal measure

—— Sun

Disturbingly brilliant . . . will render you speechless

—— Woman & Home 'Book of the Month'

A page-turning debut crafted with shrewd expertise - read it before the inevitable screen adaptation

—— Metro

Unflinching, moving and very, very powerful

—— Grazia

The clever and powerful psychological thriller everyone has been talking about . . . an unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page

—— My Weekly

Audrain has the ability to mesmerise . . . heart-wrenching. A dark, pacy read

—— My Weekly

A compelling, visceral and bruising portrayal of motherhood that once read cannot ever be forgotten

—— Woman & Home

A chilling and beautifully written novel that will strike dread into the heart of any new parent. The ending gave me goosebumps

—— Mark Edwards, bestselling author of Here To Stay

A powerful debut about obsession and our deepest fears . . . will have you hooked

—— Living North

Exploring the dysfunctional lives of three generations of women, The Push deals with the way damage is handed down

—— Literary Review

A thought-provoking novel that delves deep into the emotional crevices of motherhood

—— Courier

Taut and gripping, this is a provocative look at motherhood

—— Psychologies

The Push is an unsettling and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page

—— Eastern Daily Press

A gripping and vivid thriller . . . It's easy to understand why The Push has caught the attention of Hollywood film producers

—— Business Post

Compelling

—— The Herald

Remarkably told story which I couldn't put down. Deftly drawn characters...What a book! And the last line is creepy, haunting perfection

—— Christina Sweeney Baird, author of The End of Men

The danger that simmers throughout is so unbearably tense! A wonderful incisive look at maternal guilt ... the effect is staggering

—— Imran Mahmood

Fasten your seatbelt because this book is a face paced, page turning, psychological drama that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very last line

—— The Avondhu

Challenges the idyllic picture of motherhood, and will change what you know about being a mother. It is tenacious and really makes you think about what it's like when women aren't taken seriously

—— Female First

For fans of mum noir, The Push is an unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page

—— Eastern Daily Press

This dark, psychological thriller offers such twists and turns that we start to doubt what we believe . . . And that sharp-intake-of-breath ending!

—— Manx Independent

I didn't sleep for a week after I finished it, but that's a small price to pay for a great book

—— Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada

An unflinching examination of motherhood. Audrain lets no one in the Connor family off the hook, yet every character managed to elicit my sympathy. Brilliant, insightful, compassionate, and horrifying. I wish I could read it for the first time over and over. One of the best books I've read all year

—— Stephanie Wrobel

One of the most talked-about books of the year. This nuanced psychological book will make you question the notion of nature vs nurture. Disturbing, painful and brilliant

—— Woman & Home

This unsettling debut was so riveting it had me devouring pages and then reading slowly with widened eyes

—— Prima

Addictively readable . . . shines a disturbing light into the darkest recesses of motherhood

—— Daily Mail, Must Read Paperbacks

Compulsively readable

—— Daily Express

An unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

—— Eastern Daily Press

A raw and visceral exploration of a mother-daughter relationship; a haunting and heartbreaking novel that will leave you thinking about it for days after you finish the last page

—— Female First
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