HR - Writing Style - 6

Characters - 7

Plot - 6

Plot - 6
Characters -6
Writing style - 7

Uncomfortable reading

Plot 8
Writing style 7
Characters 7

actually 2.5
The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.

Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself—the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines—is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.

i have mixed feelings about this book . I had to finish it to see what happens. But many things about it disappointed me. Too much time spent on the make believe of Lincoln and the mother in the beginning. Silly to throw the phone away. Find a way to delete the light. Call the police yourself...she never did. The shooters could have looked at the phone and seen her texts to see what she had already communicated.
The ending: incomplete and abrupt. Did she live? what about the others? what about the baby?
maybe that would have been too pat an ending but it would have competed the story.
Having said all that, it was a good description of what people may / may not do in a horrific situation such as this.