Reconstruction

Reconstruction by Mick Herron is a gripping novel where a supposed simple task turns into a day-long nightmare for Bad Sam Chapman.

When an operational catastrophe places a gun in the hands of a young man who then breaks into South Oxford Nursery School and takes a group of hostages, teacher Louise Kennedy fears the worst. However, Jaime Segura is not on a homicidal mission; he is just as terrified as those whose lives he holds as collateral.

As an armed police presence intensifies outside the school's gates, Bad Sam Chapman, head of the intelligence service's internal security force known as the Dogs, races against the clock to uncover Jaime's intentions. The only person Jaime will communicate with is Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who had worked with Jaime's lover, Miro.

Miro has gone missing, along with a quarter of a billion pounds allocated for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime refuses to accept that Miro is a thief, although Miro has always had his secrets. But then, so does Louise, so do the other hostages, and so do some people on the outside, who would much prefer Jaime was silenced.