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A review by nonathetiger349
Columbine by Dave Cullen
3.0
Having not known much about the subject before, this is a HUGE deep dive into the Columbine murders that sheds light on the most important aspect: why. The book starts with a little background of the area, the school, the victims, and the killers; then goes almost minute by minute on what happened on April 20, 1999, followed by the fallout and the analysis of why this happened. It's gripping, emotional, and really delves into the events that led the killers to this moment and the aftershocks.
My one annoyance is how the writer would end some paragraphs or chapters on a huge cliffhanger, and then the next paragraph/chapter will be about something completely unrelated. For example (I'm paraphrasing here): "...Eric was having the time of his life. Dylan was miserable. / The police chief held a meeting..." I'd understand if the next chapter started out one way and then went into how and why Dylan was so miserable, but you have to go about 4 chapters without any mention of Dylan or his misery before it's mentioned again.
All in all, it's worth the read, especially if you want to find out exactly what happened. It seems like the definitive version of events and Dave Cullen did a ton of work and spent loads of time reading through police reports and interviewing victims.
My one annoyance is how the writer would end some paragraphs or chapters on a huge cliffhanger, and then the next paragraph/chapter will be about something completely unrelated. For example (I'm paraphrasing here): "...Eric was having the time of his life. Dylan was miserable. / The police chief held a meeting..." I'd understand if the next chapter started out one way and then went into how and why Dylan was so miserable, but you have to go about 4 chapters without any mention of Dylan or his misery before it's mentioned again.
All in all, it's worth the read, especially if you want to find out exactly what happened. It seems like the definitive version of events and Dave Cullen did a ton of work and spent loads of time reading through police reports and interviewing victims.