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Internal Lockdown
Over a morning, you can tend to your garden, paint a room, watch the morning news repeat its talking points. Over a morning, you can do the laundry or visit the doctor for a check-up; you can run errands...Over a morning, you can stop a school in its track, or lockdown an AP English class. Over a morning, you can get revenge.
Green Hill is a small, ordinary Pennsylvania town where nothing ever happens until the morning its normalcy is crushed by a shocking act of violence. One morning the school is interrupted by the frantic announcement calling for a lockdown. AP English teacher, Mike Zarlapski, swings into action, following the lockdown procedures. Although his students help pile as many desks in front of the classroom door as possible, their panic is not allayed as they communicate with what is now the outside world first-in responders, police entering the building, and the shooters who remain at large via cellphone.
Internal Lockdown, Ernie Quatrani's, first novel is raw, honest, and his most important novel, although it's his first. The book is told in a straightforward style from different viewpoints, but mostly through the lens of the kids locked in the classroom. Before there was Columbine, a student Mr. Quatrani taught murdered a classmate in a biology lab. The student walked out of the high school after deciding against shooting up the cafeteria. Mr. Quatrani was in the cafeteria proctoring a study hall. As a high school teacher, he functioned in a world where lockdown drills became routine, but there was much more to a lockdown than can be imagined, as Internal Lockdown reveals. The novel is based on his unfortunate experience and years of research.
Green Hill is a small, ordinary Pennsylvania town where nothing ever happens until the morning its normalcy is crushed by a shocking act of violence. One morning the school is interrupted by the frantic announcement calling for a lockdown. AP English teacher, Mike Zarlapski, swings into action, following the lockdown procedures. Although his students help pile as many desks in front of the classroom door as possible, their panic is not allayed as they communicate with what is now the outside world first-in responders, police entering the building, and the shooters who remain at large via cellphone.
Internal Lockdown, Ernie Quatrani's, first novel is raw, honest, and his most important novel, although it's his first. The book is told in a straightforward style from different viewpoints, but mostly through the lens of the kids locked in the classroom. Before there was Columbine, a student Mr. Quatrani taught murdered a classmate in a biology lab. The student walked out of the high school after deciding against shooting up the cafeteria. Mr. Quatrani was in the cafeteria proctoring a study hall. As a high school teacher, he functioned in a world where lockdown drills became routine, but there was much more to a lockdown than can be imagined, as Internal Lockdown reveals. The novel is based on his unfortunate experience and years of research.
340 pages, Paperback
Published October 30, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 21, 2018
My review available at facingthestory.com
Suspense and tragedy play a huge part of this book and I was very impressed with how the author developed both of these key themes to create an intriguing and thought-provoking story. We are immediately introduced to several key characters who would later endure a school shooting with many lives at stake. The plot delves right into action with a brief introduction of the main character, Mike Zarlapski, and sets the scene of what appears to be a normal morning at school. From here on, the action-filled plot unravels quickly as the characters are subject to the terrors of the shooting and law enforcement is called on the scene. I especially liked how the third person narrative was used as an asset to justify and analyse the decisions that each character took.
With reference to the characters, I must confess that I sometimes found it difficult to keep track of where each teacher and student was located in relation to the shooters and this could perhaps have been made easier with the use of an attached map of the school. I felt that there were too many characters which prevented the opportunity to fully connect with each one. However, I understand the author's decision to proceed this way as situations like this always affect a wide range of the population and consequently this should be reflected in the story line.
Internal Lockdown is a difficult but compelling read and I encourage anyone interested in developing a better understanding of the implications and lives involved in school shootings to consider reading it. The final chapter, although bittersweet, offered the best possible conclusion to a series of tragic events affecting this community. I applaud the author for handling such a sensitive topic and hope to read more by him in the future.
Internal Lockdown is available to buy now!
Many thanks to Laura from Prodigy Gold Books for providing a free advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.
Suspense and tragedy play a huge part of this book and I was very impressed with how the author developed both of these key themes to create an intriguing and thought-provoking story. We are immediately introduced to several key characters who would later endure a school shooting with many lives at stake. The plot delves right into action with a brief introduction of the main character, Mike Zarlapski, and sets the scene of what appears to be a normal morning at school. From here on, the action-filled plot unravels quickly as the characters are subject to the terrors of the shooting and law enforcement is called on the scene. I especially liked how the third person narrative was used as an asset to justify and analyse the decisions that each character took.
With reference to the characters, I must confess that I sometimes found it difficult to keep track of where each teacher and student was located in relation to the shooters and this could perhaps have been made easier with the use of an attached map of the school. I felt that there were too many characters which prevented the opportunity to fully connect with each one. However, I understand the author's decision to proceed this way as situations like this always affect a wide range of the population and consequently this should be reflected in the story line.
Internal Lockdown is a difficult but compelling read and I encourage anyone interested in developing a better understanding of the implications and lives involved in school shootings to consider reading it. The final chapter, although bittersweet, offered the best possible conclusion to a series of tragic events affecting this community. I applaud the author for handling such a sensitive topic and hope to read more by him in the future.
Internal Lockdown is available to buy now!
Many thanks to Laura from Prodigy Gold Books for providing a free advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.
July 30, 2018
You know with most horror movies, you sit there and scream at the character not to do something? That didn’t happen once with this, it felt real and honest. There was no added sunshine. People who are put in the most worse position in their lives will throw up, will have accidents. It is human nature.
The story was so gripping, I sat there rooting for the people. I didn’t want to see more people dying. The Author did an extremely good job, making you feel attached to one of the classrooms. You wanted to see them all get out alive. It was also great to see that different classrooms had didn’t methods. Zarlapski group barricaded and got ‘weapons’ ready. While others did nothing but sit there. Some teacher’s panicked. Most didn’t. Again human nature, no one is the same in a situation like that.
I just loved the crime elements to everything. You were finding out things as soon as other people were finding out stuff. You had to put it all together, same with them. It took you on a ride with them.
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Publisher. Does not affect my review)
The story was so gripping, I sat there rooting for the people. I didn’t want to see more people dying. The Author did an extremely good job, making you feel attached to one of the classrooms. You wanted to see them all get out alive. It was also great to see that different classrooms had didn’t methods. Zarlapski group barricaded and got ‘weapons’ ready. While others did nothing but sit there. Some teacher’s panicked. Most didn’t. Again human nature, no one is the same in a situation like that.
I just loved the crime elements to everything. You were finding out things as soon as other people were finding out stuff. You had to put it all together, same with them. It took you on a ride with them.
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Publisher. Does not affect my review)
March 17, 2019
On the heels of the New Zealand mass murder, I decided to finish Internal Lockdown. It was the most creative approach to such a poignant topic. The author has a teacher's voice and it was relatable to me as an adult with a kid, but equally as YA novel. School shootings and the problems that provoke students to shoot at their classmates are thoroughly covered in this novel and while frighteningly entertaining, can be a teaching tool. Ernie does a great job highlighting a point that isn't covered in stories often: the kids locked in classrooms while the police investigate and try to control the crime scene. While the media is focused on the animal that has shoot up innocent kids, what about the students barricaded in classrooms that have to use the restroom or need water for medicine? Inhalers and insulin that may be with the school nurse, how do students lockdown get access to those things? That is a terrifying thought. And the cover eloquently depicts that sort of misery that students experience when dealing with an internal lockdown.
This should be required reading at the beginning of high school.
A MUST READ!
This should be required reading at the beginning of high school.
A MUST READ!
December 27, 2018
Although it’s fiction, this book should be required reading for all teachers, administrators, superintendents, members of the school board, and even parents. As a former public school teacher, I know how underprepared many districts are for a school shooting. Most community members don’t realize that lockdown drills are often a joke, if they happen at all. Teachers usually aren’t given solid plans as to how to adequately prepare for emergency situations that may occur while they are trapped in a classroom, such as what to do if a serious student health issue arises. Everyone thinks that it could never happen at their school, and they often aren’t truly prepared until it’s too late.
Quatrani created a riveting story that was mainly told in the perspective of a high school A.P. English teacher but also in that of students, law enforcement, etc. When I was 9% into the book, according to my Kindle, I could not believe the intensity of emotions that I felt. I was enthralled from page 1 until the final word of the book. I can not recommend it highly enough.
Quatrani created a riveting story that was mainly told in the perspective of a high school A.P. English teacher but also in that of students, law enforcement, etc. When I was 9% into the book, according to my Kindle, I could not believe the intensity of emotions that I felt. I was enthralled from page 1 until the final word of the book. I can not recommend it highly enough.
November 2, 2021
This book was incredible. I actually had the honor of having the author as my English teacher in high school. He based the story off of our actual high school. The details he used about the locations of rooms was to a T. It made me feel like I was actually in the plot line due to knowing where everything was. This story is heartbreaking read, however, I think it should be a required read on schools. A school shooting could happen anywhere, anytime and this book portrays the horror perfectly. So proud of you, Mr. Q.
December 14, 2022
As a teacher, this was difficult to read at times. It was hard to put down due to the suspense. You will never know what you will do in that situation. I hope to never experience this horror with my students. We take lockdown practice and precautions seriously and we are in an elementary school.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews