This Is Where It Ends

The first day of the new semester at Opportunity High starts out as it usually does. But at the conclusion of the first day-assembly, everyone is strangely trapped. That's when Tyler Browne appears and starts firing his gun. This story, taking place over less than an hour, is told from the perspectives of Autumn, Sylv, Claire, and Tomas, all having some sort of past relationship with Tyler. As this horrific event unfolds, the students show their true colors and become more united than they ever have for the same reason: survival.
This is a beautifully written book that totally destroyed a part of me. Likely the detail I hated the most (but made the writing quality so much better) is how at the end of every chapter, social media posts show more about the school shooting are displayed, just making everything feel even more real. It makes you feel sympathetic for side characters that don't even show up in the actual story. This book is super heavy and just a lot to take in, but it does an incredible job conveying messages about the world we live in that really just make you think. show less

This book does a thorough and exceptional job on developing the four main characters' perspectives during a school shooting, which forms a compelling story that's heart wrenching and intense. The author does well in engaging the reader's attention by writing an interesting event in one character's view and then ending it right before something major occurs. This was a huge factor in wanting to read more, so I was intrigued throughout the entire book. Everyone knows how most school shootings end, so the last parts of the story are predictable yet the author's amazing storytelling makes you want to hang around for the rest. Also, school shootings in the U.S. have been so common recently so I'm glad that this book is relevant on a serious show more current issue. show less

The school-shooting book. It is heartbreaking. Through pov chapters and social media, it tells the stories of teenagers during the first day of school, when most of them are in the auditorium for an orientation, some are at cross country practice, some are home, and some are up to mischief, and one has decided to come to school and kill people. Marieke Nijkamp never shies away from the bad and the ugly so we find ourselves in the heads of the shooter's abused sister and beloved girlfriend, for example, both of whom knew a very different person until this day. I reiterate, this is a heartbreaking book. You're going to love these kids you meet and grieve when some die, and you're only going to know them for the worst hour of their lives. show more I recommend it but be very careful with yourself. show less

My ultimate issue with this book is that it was written by someone who's never lived in the town that Opportunity seems based on. Perhaps if the author did a better job of generalizing the town it wouldn't have bothered me so much.

But I lived in that town. I did. The author talks able it this fancy new high school because the other was blown away in a tornado. Not to claim credit for all tornadoes taking out schools but in 2007 my alma mater Enterprise High School (as well as a good chunk of the town) in Enterprise, AL was destroyed by a tornado. "The final death toll was set at nine, including Ryan Mohler, Peter Dunn, AJ Jackson, Jamie Vidensek, Michael Bowen, Mikey Tompkins, Katie Strunk, Michelle Wilson, and an elderly woman named show more Edna Strickland.[5] It was the first killer tornado at a US school since 1990."

While it's not directly part of the story it remains to this day a sad and sore area for many of the people who have lived multiple generations in that small town.

Besides the glossing over of the devastation the tornado caused the students, their families and the citizens of the town, what bothered me most and what stopped me from reading the entire book was the fact that this story is not hers to tell. I read the acknowledgements in the book to see if she had gone to the town to do research about it but it looks like it was just something friends told her about - something they saw on the news and hey wouldn't a school shooting add extra drama as it's such a news item right now?!?!?

What bothers me is that this author has no idea what life was like living In that town. Pre-tornado our schools were extremely old and the generations of families living there even older. To be someone without "kin" in the town meant that I was a second class citizen. Many of us army brats forced to go to school in the town felt segregated and alone. We received little class attention when we needed help, often times hearing teachers ask students who they were related to and then watching as those students got special attention. Knowing that my parents asked the school to help me find tutors because I was struggling so much with math (later learning that I have the numeric version of dyslexia) and being told tutors were not a good idea and the teachers were doing a fine job. Except of course anyone who wasn't upper middle class and related in some way to the teacher was often ignored altogether.

To know that the principal and vice principal of the high school out right bullied students, especially the non-sports kids and anyone who their children weren't already friends with. To watch as the leaders of the school were the perpetrators of meanness and nastiness of non-conforming kids (my dearest high school friend was extremely over weight and was teased mercilessly not by students but by our assistant principals every single morning as he walked in through the front doors of our school).

To know what it was like to be different and in need of help and being tossed away like a used napkin and in your heart wishing so badly for someone to hurt these people as they had hurt me, us.

And never once did we have a shooting. Problem kids were shipped off to local private Christian academies in hopes that a coming to Jesus would solve all their problems is probably what kept us from having a shooting rampage.

So no this wasn't a good book especially from someone who lived in the real version of Opportunity and the problems that reside there. I haven't been back since 2006. I refuse. i still have good friends there and it hurts them that I never visit. I haven't seen the new school in person, and yes there is some slight jealousy that we never had the classes or opportunities these kids have with a new school and then only because a tornado took away the safety of never changing. That we were expected to be farmers, go into the military, become housewives and do a little teaching on the side is all that was expected from us even though many of us left to find our own way unassisted by this s***hole town to our true dreams.

This is not the authors story to tell. It's the survivors stories to tell. The ones who never acted on the impulses to do harm but suffered every single day and did no harm. show less

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp is a YA novel about a high school shooting. The whole book, except for a brief epilogue, takes place over the span of less than an hour. That should give you an idea of what sort of book this is.

This was exactly the kind of book I expected it to be. I was concerned I would be forced to read it in a single sitting, sacrificing sleep, but I managed to spread it out over two. (And only because I had to get up early, really.) The tension and horror of the situation is deftly maintained throughout the book.

There are four point of view characters in This Is Where It Ends, all students who were in different places when the shooting started and who have interesting back-stories that tie in with the show more events. There's the two girls — girlfriends — who are in the auditorium with most of the students and teachers, there's the track team who were exempt from assembly to train, and the two students who had been sent to the principal's office. Each point of view character has some sort of additional connection to the shooter, beyond just being schoolmates. There's the sister, the ex-girfriend, the nemesis, the (other sort of) victim. And they all have other people in the auditorium to fear for. As well as documenting the fifty-four minutes of the main story, we also have a sizeable amount of back-story delivered in flashbacks and memories to flesh-out the characters, making the reader care about them and fear for their lives.



Between chapters there were a few tweets and blog posts from people at and connected to the school, desperate to find out what's happening. Those were probably my least favourite element of the book. They added a small amount of extra sympathy for minor characters, but I didn't feel they brought that much to the story. I didn't hate them either, just meh.

Obviously, this book is a bit on the violent side. People die. People are injured. People watch other people get shot. If you don't want to read about gun violence, for whatever reason, then this probably isn't the book for you. If you are after a tense thriller then I highly recommend This Is Where It Ends.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. show less

I enjoy Marieke Nijkamp's writing, because she doesn't shy away from her characters' pain. You can't go into one of her books hoping for a happily ever after, because there's a good chance you're not going to get it. One thing you do get, however, are well-developed characters, even you learn everything about them from the viewpoint of other characters. I've read reviews where the readers complained about no development in the shooter character; that he was just "born evil", but I didn't feel that way at all. There were very definite conflicts and traumas that lead the shooter to his actions, and from the viewpoints of his sister and ex-girlfriend, he was a very sympathetic character before he devolved into the shooter.
I look forward to show more reading more by Ms. Nijkamp. show less

Beautifully written, suspenseful, and heartbreaking, this is a terrifying portrait of a single morning that I couldn't stop reading once I'd started. I really appreciated the realism of a diverse student body because it made the story feel so true to life, and as a further testament to the writing, the only thing I could picture while reading was my high school.

I wouldn't call this a pleasant story, but if you have a reader searching for a fascinating and well-executed realistic book this would be a great choice. The issues raised are thorny and I think it could be a gratifying book club choice simply because of how much there would be to discuss. I'd also add that the violence is chilling and, while not described gratuitously, it is show more vivid, just as a heads up.

If you're on the fence about picking this up: I don't normally read realistic fiction, and I found myself wishing for a companion novel that deals with the aftermath of the day. It’s a really good book. Maybe just don't read it without some tissues close to hand.

One last (spoilery) note that I appreciated: the author didn't kill the lesbian characters! I was just talking with a friend about this recently, and there's a massive list of lesbian characters on TV and in movies who end up dead. I was just really relieved to not run into that particular trope, although the setting of this book might have mitigated the sting a little if it had happened. Maybe.

(NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire provided me this ARC to review for our collection and teens.) show less