Last Lesson

By: James Goodhand

Narrated by: Alex Roberts

Brought to you by Penguin.

Last year, Ollie Morcombe was a star pupil, popular and a gifted musician.

Then, after the accident, everything changed. Now he's an outcast, a prime target of the school bullies who have made his life a living hell.

Today - the last day of the school year - he's brought those bullies a gift. A homemade pipe bomb.

What has driven a model student to plan an unspeakable revenge? And with the clock ticking down to home time, what can anybody do to stop him?

© James Goodhand 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Critic reviews

'A powerfully charged study in empathy'

Devastatingly good (Clare Mackintosh, author of After The End)

A sensitive, gripping book about mental health and masculinity (Samuel Pollen, author of The Year I Didn’t Eat)

Indelible, urgent, original

Tackles toxic masculinity in the most unflinching way (Carlie Sorosiak, author of I, Cosmo)

Well written and gritty.

This book was very different to what I normally listen to. I think it was described to me as a young adult book written for adults. I think this is a fair description. Living in a country that has suffered from school shootings, I didn’t know if I could face a possible pipe bomb theme.

Bullying, teasing, mental illness and PTSD are really real and heartbreaking.

I was glad Olly got the support he needed. But I feel the last 20 minutes of the book was absolutely spot on. His wise gramps felt the guilt that he could have done more - but if we don’t know, we can miss the signs. He was also able to have a frank conversation in the car journey and saying what can never happen again. I think the parents of the bullies are the ones who miss the signs...or maybe turn a blind eye.

The narrator was very good. He got the tone of teen boys perfectly.