Synopsis:
School should have been the safest place…
For Lizzie Riley, switching her eight-year-old son Tom to the local academy school marks a fresh start, post-divorce. With its excellent reputation and outstanding results, Lizzie knows it’ll be a safe space away from home.
But there’s something strange happening at school. Parents are forbidden from entering the grounds and inside, there are bars across the classroom windows.
Why is Tom coming home exhausted, unable to remember anything about his day? What are the strange marks on his arm? And when Lizzie tries to question the other children, why do they seem afraid to talk?
Tom’s new school might seem picture-perfect. But sometimes appearances can be deceiving…
Review:
I’ve waited a week or so before writing my review on this one, with aims of seeing if I’d change my opinion on it.
I am equally annoyed and impressed by the plot and twists. Part of me loved the unexpected but somehow also expected twist and the unreliable narrator which I saw coming but really hoped I was wrong! The other part of me HATED that that was the reveal and how it ended.
I was disappointed in there not being more to the school and to the mystery there, it felt like it could have been more.
Despite all of this though, I have thought about the book since finishing, felt compelled to finish it and devoured it quickly. Therefore on balance I’ve gone for 3/5 stars.
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