I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

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This will definitely be a very controversial book, the love-it-or-hate-it kind, both because of the theme it deals with and the way it is developed. I'll admit, the fact that it talks about school shootings was one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book. Now, I don't live in the USA, so I certainly don't have the same kind of emotional connection to this topic as people who feel these happenings as being closer to their daily reality, but I have often wondered what drives someone to commit an act such as these. I hoped that this book would help me get more into the mind of the shooter, understand his motive and his psychology and I'm sorry to say that in this respect it fell short.

The book is told in alternating POVs of four different characters, all of whom have some connection to the shooter. While this was very confusing at first, I did manage to get all the characters and the relationships straight in my head eventually. Once I did, I definitely managed to be swept up in the story and I absolutely developed a very strong emotional connection with most of the characters. I may or may not have cried a little during a couple of scenes, which only ever happens to me when I feel extremely close to the characters. As far as development goes, it was fairly limited, but I guess that's a consequence of having many different POVs in such a short book: the actual development time that the author can possibly devote to developing a single character is limited by the book's very nature. Although I am usually a stickler for character development, they did work well for this book even if at times they felt slightly too one-dimensional. The fast-paced plot and the timing of the story (the whole plot takes place during 54 minutes) made it feel natural for limited change to occur to the characters, and it is made clear in the epilogue that none of the survivors is left unscathed by the events.

What I did miss was seeing the world directly through the shooter's eyes. While there is a lot of backstory, and the shooter himself gives some kind of reason for his actions when questioned by those who know him, I would have liked to get into his head. I think one of the most difficult things to accept when tragic events, such as a school shooting, happen is the why. What brings one kid to get a gun and shoot his teachers and his classmates? What goes on in his head while he's doing it? Why can no one get him to stop? These are all the questions that were in my head as I was reading, and sometimes it just felt like the answer I was given wasn't good enough. It's all very well saying you want revenge, but why try to kill everyone? How was the shooter justifying this to himself? I didn't really get an answer in the book, and it just felt like a missed opportunity to bring something new to the discussion. By having the shooter talk to the victims about his motivation, it is all filtered by the victim's own emotions and relationship with him, and it lacks authenticity.

That being said, this was still a real page-turner and a book that I think will stay with me for a very long time. There are some fairly disturbing scenes that may upset the most sensible readers, so please keep that in mind if you do decide to read this. I loved how the author incorporated a truly diverse cast (there are LGBT main characters, minority characters, disability...) and how she tried to incorporate more than one theme, dealing at the same time with abusive families, illness and even rape. My only complaint is that (again probably because of the total length of the book) some of these themes weren't really developed very much, when it would have been a lot better to maybe have one less but fleshed out in more detail.

Still, this was a truly compelling read. This Is Where It Ends is a true "punch-in-the-stomach" read, that delivers heartbreak and love, cruelty and humanity, tragedy and hope all together in a conveniently-packed under-300-pages bundle. ( )

Representation: Non-white characters
Trigger warnings: Mass shooting, grief and loss depiction, suicide, abusive father

4/10, I've been wanting to read this for a while and I read this not too long ago and based on the ratings and reviews of this I didn't think this would be good so I headed in with low expectations and not even that could stop me feeling very, very underwhelmed and thinking this could've been a lot better than it is now, where do I even begin. It starts with the main characters Autumn, Tomas, Claire and Sylv all living their lives in Opportunity High School in Alabama and by the way this whole book only spans across an hour so there's that. They all go into the auditorium to listen to the principal's speech when suddenly the doors and locked and a person called Tyler Browne or Tyler for short starts shooting and this is where so many problems emerge. For starters, all the characters were so flat and didn't experience character development, especially the shooter who killed himself in the end and he just shot some people just because he's an evil guy, no it doesn't work like that! Motives go deeper than that, it's not just good guys and bad guys. I didn't feel anything at all as Tyler shoots and kills some characters in the middle maybe because they weren't well written and 1D. The ending was just when the emergency services arrive and the remaining characters a memorial service and saying "We will build better" which wraps it up on a hopeful note. I have read better books since then and you can read Numb to This or The Shape of Thunder for a better novel about a school shooting. ( )

With all the mass shootings this was a relevant book. It was good but it could have been a little better. Too many characters made it a bit overwhelming. ( )

Conflicted on this one. On one hand, it kept my attention, on the other, I thought the writing was meh- and all the characters had a VERY similar voice.

The entire student body is locked in the auditorium of Opportunity High School when a school shooting erupts. When the students rush the doors, they find them chained and padlocked. Now they're stuck in a confined space with someone bent on getting revenge and harming anyone who gets in his way.

Told from the perspectives of four students inside and outside waiting, where 54 minutes feels like 12 hours.

My Thoughts:
I've been going back and forth on my feelings for this book from the first chapter on. I was excited to read it from the moment I heard about it-- I love a book about tough subjects. I love Contemporary that is not about the Romance. Also, I just freaking love the cover of this book. But right from the get-go I could tell this wasn't going to be what I thought it was. Although it is definitely about one of the toughest subjects there is (a horrific school shooting), I just wasn't FEELING it the way I normally do when I read books like this. And I hate saying this because I really feel like books on the tough stuff are SO important.

First the good: I loved how after about half-way through I could not put it down. That's really what saved it for me. For all the things I didn't like so much, it definitely didn't lack in keeping me hooked. I liked the relationship between Sylv and Autumn best. It was one that truly felt real and came from a place of true feeling. Also, Matt was a stand-out character.

Now the not so good: This book is told in four perspectives, which is usually a big YES for me. I love multi-perspective books. But this was like reading from 1 perspective that happened to be able to apparate around campus. None of the characters had a distinct personality to me. They all had the same voice and this odd way of philosophizing about the event as it was going on. The whole thing was less than an hour, so the amount of time they all stopped to think about meanings and relive past events didn't feel real.

The other thing that pushed me in the MEH category for this book was the way the shooter was portrayed. I don't think someone who shoots innocent people in a public space should be sympathized, but the author made sure that by the end of the book there was no doubt in anyone's mind exactly how bad this kid was. ALL BAD. I think when things like this happen it is complicated, not overly simplified in GOOD and BAD. That's what this book was- the selfish and the selfless. I want a book dealing with subjects like this to dig deep and ask the hard questions. I want to be left thinking about things and not told what to think.

Lastly, books like this usually CRUSH me. And I definitely felt sad, but I wasn't BROKEN and sobbing in a corner like I've been in the past. This book just didn't go there for me. It showed me awful, horrific, meaningless murders, and I felt terrible reading about that stuff.... but the characters didn't let me in enough to really FEEL like I was expecting to. This subject-matter is just too important for the way this book portrayed it. The over-the-top unnecessary drama (mainly the whole Sylv-Tyler thing) really pushed me over the edge. It felt so fake and put there squarely to villainize Tyler even more. As for the small romance that was thrown in?? I wasn't a fan. I get that tragedy can bring people together... but who thinks about becoming more-than-friends while people are dying???????

OVERALL: I really really wanted to love this. I didn't. If you want to read a book about a school shooting, I would recommend [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1440209506s/6316171.jpg|6501420] by Jennifer Brown (one of my faves) or [b:Nineteen Minutes|14866|Nineteen Minutes|Jodi Picoult|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348577596s/14866.jpg|3375915] by Jodi Picoult. Both were better.

My Blog:

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Not terribly impressed. ( )