Ice-cold terror of school siege

THREE HOURS by Rosamund Lupton (Viking €17.50)

IT IS early days, but this could be one of the thrillers of the new decade. Intense, horrifying and brilliantly told, it charts the siege of a school in rural Somerset by at least two armed men during a violent winter snow storm.

In the school theatre, the pupils are doing a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, which provides the counterpoint to the evil drama unfolding around them. The headmaster is brutally wounded as the story opens, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff.

There’s a group of sevenyear-olds in the pottery room with a gunman peering at them through the window.

There’s 16-year-old Syrian refugee Rafi, only too aware of what happened to him in Aleppo, who is desperate to rescue his little brother Basi once again. There are anxious parents congregating in the leisure centre, and a police psychologist trying to identify the gunmen’s motives.

If you read only one thriller this year, make it this one: it is that good.

MR NOBODY by Catherine Steadman (S&S €18.19)

THE multi-talented Steadman burst onto the scene with her best-selling first novel, Something In The Water, in 2018. But this is even better.

A man is found wandering on a Norfolk beach unable to speak, with no ID or awareness of who or where he is. He’s the subject of intense speculation, not least in the media, who call him Mr Nobody.

Neuropsychiatrist Dr Emma Lewis is asked to assess the patient. She concludes that he could be trapped in a fugue state as a result of something horrifying. But she has her own demons and is all too aware that she risks unleashing her nightmares.

Exploring the question of identity, this tale is utterly compelling.

THE GUESTHOUSE by Abbie Frost (HarperCollins €9.40)

THIS engaging, old-fashioned haunted house mystery is set in a remote, gloomy Irish mansion. It has been converted into a B&B with rooms you book online.

Hannah has lost her husband in an accident and wants to get away from it all, so she finds herself there on a cold and windy afternoon with a musician named Lucy, a doctor called Liam, his wife and daughter, and a former garda and his son.

The host is conspicuous by his absence, though there are groceries in the fridge and the village shop is not far away. But then a thick fog falls and Hannah sees a shadowy figure in the garden.

Is it the owner, or is someone else there? It emerges that not everyone may come back from their holiday alive.

Addictive and fun.