This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nikjamp

 This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nikjamp , 285 pages

Another monotonous assembly at Opportunity High ends. But as the teachers and student body attempt to leave the auditorium, they find that all the doors are locked. 

Then, the bullets start flying.

Told through the point of view of different students, This Is Where It Ends winds a tragic tale of loss, hope, assault, love, and pain. 

An Unseen Angel by Alissa Parker

An Unseen Angel by Alissa Parker, 179 pages

So many books have been written about school shooters and the situations themselves, but not much is ever written about the victims and their families.  Alissa Parker's daughter, Emilie, was one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting.  The book is so beautifully written and so filled with details of what they as a family were going through that day.  And, what they went through immediately afterword.  I can't even imagine the pain Alissa and her husband and her two other daughters were feeling.  On her path to peace, she met with the shooter's father and found forgiveness.  This book was not only Alissa's story but one I am sure other victim's of mass shootings may find comfort in reading.  Unseen Angel is a gift to the reader on how to find peace and strength.  This book will make you cry.

Lockdown by Laurie R. King

Lockdown: A Novel of Suspense by Laurie R. King --- 383 pages

Laurie R. King is best known for her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series but she has also written a number of contemporary mystery/suspense novels, including the Kate Martinelli series and several other stand alone novels.

In Lockdown she sets up a nightmare scenario that has grown all too familiar in real life: a struggling small town California middle school is sent into lockdown in the midst of Career Day when it becomes the target of a mass shooter acting out his fantasy of retribution and vengeance.

King says in her Acknowledgements at the end of the book that this is an idea she has been working on for twenty years, and that the structure of the story is in part created by a series of previously published short stories written over that period, and here linked together to create a multiple point-of-view narrative, jumping forward and backward in time. This allows her to show events from many perspectives and to build suspense through foreshadowing.

It's a compelling theme, playing to our worst fears and secret hopes. I found it very different from King's other novels. While she does a good job of building the suspense, the plot is convoluted. Perhaps it would have been tighter and more focused if she had not tried to include some of the short stories? The ghost element seemed rather awkwardly sandwiched in.

But even one of King's minor efforts is well worth the time spent reading.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Once and For All by Sarah Dessen

Once and For All by Sarah Dessen - 357 pages

Louna is nearly as jaded about love as her mother who owns a wedding planning business with her best friend.  She doesn't believe there is a happily-ever-after out there for her.  So when happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose starts working at the wedding business, he annoys her endlessly.  They make a bet that he can't stay monogamous for seven weeks while she won't be able to date serially for seven weeks.

This is typical Sarah Dessen.  You have the guarded and wounded girl who is healed through time spent with caring friends and a boy who understands her.  The only thing that is slightly different is her good relationship with her mother as a lot of times in Sarah Dessen books the girl is also at odds with her parents.  I would recommend this to readers of Deb Caletti and Jennifer E. Smith.

A Mother's Reckoning: Living In The Aftermath Of Tragedy by Sue Klebold

A Mother's Reckoning: Living In The Aftermath Of Tragedy by Sue Klebold, 305 pages

One of the most tragic school shootings happened at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.  Sue Klebold is the mother of one of the shooters.  On that day in April, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris walked into their school armed with bombs and guns intending to do the most harm they could do to their fellow classmates.  It was a tragedy.

A Mother's Reckoning is an account of what Sue Klebold has gone through in the past 16 years of her life.  Her account starts on that fateful day when she receives a phone call from her husband urging her to come home.  Fearing her son was one of the victims, she was in denial when she found her son was possibly one of the shooters.  Her account of what follows is chilling.  She tries to convince herself that her son in no way could be responsible for his actions and that rather he was a victim of brainwashing or drugs. We all thought of what was going through Dylan's and Eric's minds, but what about the parents who have to live with the aftermath of what their child has done.  Sue and her husband faced over 30 lawsuits in the years to follow.  Sue also had to return to her life and the person she once was.  Not only was it a fact that her child had killed others, but that her child had committed suicide.  This book will make you think and run to hug your children.

 
this is where it ends by Marieke Nijkamp
288 pages

The story takes place within a 54 minute time period and is told from the perspective of four students.  As the story unfolds you will hear and feel the events as each of the four main characters describes what he or she is going through in the midst of a school shooting. Each of the four characters is connected to the gunman and his revengeful plan. 
It is told from a great perspective and you truly feel as though you are there with each student as he or she describes his/her ordeal. This story is all to frighteningly real.

The publication date is January 5, 2016.