This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
Published: January 5, 2016
10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.
10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.
10:03
The auditorium doors won’t open.
10:05
Someone starts shooting.
Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.
* TRIGGER WARNING SCHOOL SHOOTING*
Wow. That’s all I can say as I begin this review. I have never read a book like this. Granted yes, I’ve read books in different perspectives but never have I read a book like this one. I was always knew there have been issues with school shootings. They happen all the time and most of the time none of us know the true reasons as to why events like these happen. And I have to say I enjoyed the way you start realizing why the shooter is there, what happened to him and his story.
I think the backstory of Ty and his sister could have made for a possibly stronger book if it were written differently. I think all the perspectives was a way to keep a reader more engaged and enthralled into the book, which is definitely what kept me reading but the fact that all these perspectives were so…not disturbed but they all had some awful backstory and I feel like that’s not really how it always is.
I find it bothersome that there’s always some sort of horrible past or some MAJOR issue that happens to a character, or if something does happen to a character, that it’s huge life event. I guess I just pull from experience where I’ve had bad things happen to me and I’ve lived through a troublesome time in my life and it hasn’t overrun every aspect of my life. And I guess that’s something that bothers me with YA books sometimes.
I think as a book though, and being classified as YA it did the job to keep entertained, bring about awareness of these awful things that have been constantly happening and other items that a lot of people do go through in life. I think it did a good job of portraying the fear that goes through people no matter what situation they’re in, and especially the end I think it was…usually how hostage/shoot outs end. Yes, I did get upset and teary-eyed at a few points, yes I did enjoy this book and had to stop after reading it and think about what I’ve read. It’s a big pill to swallow this whole topic of gun control and school shootings.
But it was a very good book.
Leave a Reply