Scan barcode
A review by katykelly
This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
3.0
This started out as a potential 5-star read, but ended as 3.5.
Hugely intense tension at the start, as the plot becomes apparent and the reader sees that this will not be just another day at high school - a student has trapped everyone in the auditorium and is starting to shoot his classmates, and his teachers...
One of the worst prospects anyone could consider who has ever been a student, this is set over the space of one hour, with each minute detailed, and the story told from multiple perspectives, of students inside the auditorium and a few that by chance were not in it when the doors were locked.
The scenes with the shooter seemingly at random shooting innocent people are quite harrowing. Not graphic, but hard to read and could be quite upsetting. The tension ratchets up as those outside are seeking help and we are drawn away from the centre of the story.
I did find it less realistic (if I can call it that) as it went on - it seems to take an absolute age for the police to come - DESPITE almost every character taking to their phone to update the outside world by text and Twitter (nicely done, these bits) - so why do the police stand around doing nothing when they get there, even if they are fully aware, as they must be, of where the action is?
I also lost interest in the shooter himself partway through, I just wasn't convinced of his motivation for such a devastating act, the revelations of his past didn't seem to justify such a mental crisis. Some deaths seemed completely avoidable, one in particular. Some points that seem to be an issue for the shooter, I didn't understand at all - his hatred for certain people seemed completely unjustified.
I was a little disappointed, as it started so well. A similar idea was used in We Need to Talk about Kevin, though more briefly and I had hoped this would take the theme and expand it from the victim's points of view, but this perpetrator wasn't a Kevin.
Worth a read, but the first half is definitely the strongest part. It's a theme worth exploring at the moment, though it doesn't explore the media's response and role (though there are scenes that shocked - a journalist contacting a student while they are being held at gunpoint for their story). The ending seems to conclude the story too soon as well, I wanted to know more about the aftermath.
Might be one to recommend to teenagers interested in a realistic school-set thriller. Not graphic enough to be too violent, but it could be upsetting.
Review of a Netgalley advance copy.
Hugely intense tension at the start, as the plot becomes apparent and the reader sees that this will not be just another day at high school - a student has trapped everyone in the auditorium and is starting to shoot his classmates, and his teachers...
One of the worst prospects anyone could consider who has ever been a student, this is set over the space of one hour, with each minute detailed, and the story told from multiple perspectives, of students inside the auditorium and a few that by chance were not in it when the doors were locked.
The scenes with the shooter seemingly at random shooting innocent people are quite harrowing. Not graphic, but hard to read and could be quite upsetting. The tension ratchets up as those outside are seeking help and we are drawn away from the centre of the story.
I did find it less realistic (if I can call it that) as it went on - it seems to take an absolute age for the police to come - DESPITE almost every character taking to their phone to update the outside world by text and Twitter (nicely done, these bits) - so why do the police stand around doing nothing when they get there, even if they are fully aware, as they must be, of where the action is?
I also lost interest in the shooter himself partway through, I just wasn't convinced of his motivation for such a devastating act, the revelations of his past didn't seem to justify such a mental crisis. Some deaths seemed completely avoidable, one in particular. Some points that seem to be an issue for the shooter, I didn't understand at all - his hatred for certain people seemed completely unjustified.
I was a little disappointed, as it started so well. A similar idea was used in We Need to Talk about Kevin, though more briefly and I had hoped this would take the theme and expand it from the victim's points of view, but this perpetrator wasn't a Kevin.
Worth a read, but the first half is definitely the strongest part. It's a theme worth exploring at the moment, though it doesn't explore the media's response and role (though there are scenes that shocked - a journalist contacting a student while they are being held at gunpoint for their story). The ending seems to conclude the story too soon as well, I wanted to know more about the aftermath.
Might be one to recommend to teenagers interested in a realistic school-set thriller. Not graphic enough to be too violent, but it could be upsetting.
Review of a Netgalley advance copy.