Review: This Is Where It Ends

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars.

This was such an eerie, chilly, terrifying and emotional novel. There were times I think the author should have stuck with the hear and now of what was going on at the school, but when she went into the background story and brought attention the little things with each of the 4 characters, it made the situation even more depressing.

Autumn - sister of the shooter. Has a very hard life at home with a crap of a dad and now a terrible brother who made a terrible name for himself. A dancer. A girlfriend. She is so brave and she has such big dreams for herself after high school. I feel for her something fierce for what she went through in that hour at school.

Sylv - girlfriend to Autumn. Going through a terrible time with her sick mother. Has terrible memories of the shooter before this happened. And she wanted to be brave for Autumn. Even though she was terrified of what would happen, she was brave.

Tomas - twin brother of Sylv. Wasn't in the auditorium when the shooting became, but became a hero to save his sister. Was also an ex-friend to the shooter and very loyal to his sister. He got to use his lock picking skills to good use getting into the auditorium and was very humorous in a grave time.

Claire - senior, JROTC, track runner. She was at track practice outside when she heard the gunshots and ran for help. Also ex-girlfriend to the shooter. She ran her ass off to get help for her friends and her little brother who were in the auditorium.

All four of the students plus every other student member at this high school went through an event that is made of nightmares and I feel like Marieke Nijkamp did a fantastic job making this book feel extremely realistic.

I can see both good and bad reviews of this novel when it's published. I liked it, but there were things that could be changed to make it an extraordinary novel. This is a novel that will stick with a person well after they have read it. But the subject matter alone should be haunting to any reader in the world.

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