This is Where it Ends Book Review

If you haven't heard of it, This is Where it Ends is Marieke Nijkamp's debut novel about a school shooting in Opportunity, Alabama. The story spans over a time period of 54 through four different perspectives as all the high school students stuck in their auditorium try to survive against a trigger-happy gunman.

I really enjoyed reading this book, even though I had to take multiple breaks because sometimes it just got really hard to read. Not because I couldn't understand anything, but because I kept wondering, "What if this happened at my school?" and "This is horrifying, I can't imagine . . ." and I really couldn't imagine. I kept thinking of my younger siblings and how they'd react if put in a situation like this, and I had to put the book down before I went too far down that road. A book has never made me feel like that, and it was refreshing, however scary, to be so invested in the book that I was almost in story.

There was also so much to love about the characters and their ties to the shooter. I also really loved how not all of the main characters (meaning, the four characters that told the story) weren't all in the auditorium or in the same room as the shooter. In that way, you saw all aspects of a school shooting, and I really (in a nerdy way) loved that. The characters were great, and I think they were what made me keep picking the book up and reading (other than the question, "What happens next?" of course). I feel like if I say the wrong things here about the characters, I'll give away parts of the story, so you just need to go find your own copy and read the book!

I haven't read any school shooting orientated books before picking up this one, so I didn't really have any expectations, other than to enjoy it like all other books I read, and I did enjoy it. Like I explained earlier, it gave me a new, refreshing reading experience (one that I haven't experienced in a while) and that will forever be something I will remember about the book itself.

I think if there had to be one thing about the book that didn't really work for me were the "puns", I guess you could say, with the name of the school, Opportunity High. There were a lot of them, and they always felt a little bit cheesy. Maybe that was the intent, and I didn't hate them, exactly, I just felt like it was convenient, considering that was the name of the school, and that's what a lot of the students were looking for: an opportunity to go to college, an opportunity to figure out if their loved ones are okay, an opportunity to get out of the nightmare situation that is the book.

Other than that really small detail, I loved the book. The way this book read, I wasn't surprised that it was on the New York Times Bestsellers List. The topic of this book is also something that's a really big problem for the US, and it was interesting to get a new perspective other than just watching it happen on the news.

One last point: Don't you just love that cover? It's so eye-catching, and I've been wanting to read this book for a while, and I'm really glad I got to (and for school purposes, no less!).

Anyway, now that I've got you hooked on this book, you should go get your own copy!

* this review is also posted on my Goodreads.