Siege by Sarah Mussi

16 year old Leah is counting down the minutes she has left in detention, when all of a sudden a gang of Year 9’s calling themselves ‘The Eternal Knights’ burst in and shoot the teacher. Dead. Terrified for her life, she runs and hides up in the ceilings and air vents. As she waits, a multitude of thoughts occupy her mind. Could her brother even be involved in this? What would happen to her sister if she died?

Suddenly, she can’t stay trapped any longer. She has to save people, help out, and find out who... or what, is at the heart of all this. So she jumps.

Right into the middle of the gym, where students are being held hostage.

And suddenly, all eyes, and guns, are on her.

Thrown in headfirst from the start, this book has one of the most gripping and intense openings ever. This is the only ‘school shooting’ story I have ever read, and it didn’t disappoint.  Fast paced, clever and full of action, I didn’t want to put it down for fear of missing something important, and there were so many moments where my heart absolutely stopped.

Our main character, Leah was brave and utterly selfless.  I definitely wouldn’t have been as level headed as she was in such an adrenaline-fuelled situation like that. Her mother has severe depression and cannot physically drag herself out of bed some days, so the maternal role regularly lands on her. As the oldest child of three, she, unquestioningly and without complaint, cares for both her siblings We slowly watch as Leah battles with the idea that her own little brother could be one of the gunmen down on the ground. Would he actually shoot his own sister if it came to it?

There was also a huge complex dystopian aspect to this book. All schools are privatised, although extremely underprivileged children go to free academies, which Leah attends regardless of her intelligence. These buildings go into ‘lockdown’ during the day to stop kids going in or out, essentially trapping everyone in the school for the duration of the shooting. 

I did feel like the last third of the book was a slight disappointment however. The whole ‘big brother’ government involvement was only briefly touched on, and I feel like the overall story would have worked so much better if the motivation for the shooting had just been a group of teenage boys messing around and wanting a bit of attention. Saying that, the ending was so perfect and it left a gaping hole in my heart. Definitely recommended.