Plot or Premise

A lockdown happens at school, and five kids on the third floor end up in the only unlocked room they can find — the boy’s washroom.

What I Liked

I downloaded the book because my son was reading it for high school, and given the potentially intense “shooting in a school” scenario, I wanted to be able to talk with him about it if needed. His response to the book was more like mine — “meh”. Good, but not great. It’s great that the five kids are all different…Alice is an introvert, her brother Noah is autistic, Isabelle is the popular clique type, Hogan is a bad boy jock, and Xander is a camera nerd. As they realize it’s not a simple drill but instead that there is an active shooter in the school, the tone of the experience and anxiety levels mount. You find out that everyone has a darker secret or issue they’re dealing with, and the aftermath is mostly decent after the requisite action sequence ending.

What I Didn’t Like

Obviously, the entire premise is a rip-off of the Breakfast Club. It’s more “action-oriented”, and more contemporary for themes, but even some of the sub-themes are identical (and not simply as high-school tropes). And while suitable for some more mature middle-age readers perhaps, I expect most high-schoolers would see some of the plot elements come into focus WAY faster than the characters in the story…the involvement of one of the characters in the overall plot, what Xander took pictures of that got him into trouble, why Hogan is messed up (and why doesn’t anyone in authority know what’s going on, since he’d have about 5 different social worker types on his case?), and what’s going on with Isabelle’s love life. Finally, I found the portrayal of the cops clearing the building to be extremely unrealistic. Almost all large cities have trained their police forces in Active Shooter Response tactics, and they wouldn’t be all hanging out in other parts of the school doing nothing. I also find it also extremely coincidental that of the five people in the bathroom (which btw does have a lock, belying the original premise!), not only are three of them in the same grade (Alice, Hogan, and Isabelle), they actually do all know each other while pretending vaguely that they don’t.

The Bottom Line

Could be decent premise for remake of The Breakfast Club