Publisher: Duckworth Books
Release date: 6 August 2026
Back cover blurb: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. One ordinary morning, in an unexceptional town, every mobile phone lights up with the same emergency alert.
In this compelling, darkly funny and moving debut novel, each of Vincent Yu’s utterly relatable, flawed characters is given a choice: in the face of mutually assured destruction, do we reach for grace and mercy or do we hold on to hate and fear?
Seventeen minutes later the town learns via text that it was a false alarm and the question changes. Can we forgive each other for what’s been said and done when the world didn’t actually end?
Seek Immediate Shelter - this is not a drill.
What would you do if you got this message?
It's a theme explored brilliantly in a book I read last year, 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon. This tackles the same subject, but in a very different way.
I've seen some poor reviews of this book, which I actually think are unfair.
We know what we are going into when we start this, we already know that this is a false alarm, and that we are exploring the stories of different characters, some of whom whose lifes are entwineed, some not.
Some have said it’s difficult to follow the different stories, but I don’t think it was at all. And I liked how they were intertwined with each other, sometimes without even knowing it.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that this book was published on 6 August. The anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Something to really make us think about the horrific use of these weapons and the destruction and devastation that they cause.
The way that the threat of them terrifies people. Partly due to the unknown. And partly due to what we do know, about Hiroshima.
This is a thought provoking book that I actually really enjoyed.
Seek Immediate Shelter is available now via Amazon online and all book shops.
Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.