Book review: This Is Where It Ends

Marieke Nijkamp – This Is Where It Ends

Fifty-four minutes. That’s how long it takes for Tyler’s rampage throughout the school – first in a locked school assembly, then in the corridors – to begin and end. Meanwhile, a series of narrators fill us in on what’s happening: Tyler’s ex girlfriend, Claire, is practicing with the track team at the time the shots go off. Her younger brother is in the auditorium. She has to find out what’s going on. Autumn, Tyler’s sister, can’t believe what’s happening, but knows that she’s already lost her brother; he’s told their father she’s been dancing again, something he associates with their dead mother and hates her doing. Sylv, Autumn’s girlfriend, has been scared of Tyler long before he brought a gun to school. And her twin, Tomas, is in the principal’s office with his friend Fareed, in trouble yet again, when the first shots go off – and they’re determined to do what they can to help get the students out, even though the police have told them to protect themselves.

Alongside the rotating narrators we get snippets of what’s happening with social media, including a blog from a beloved teacher’s daughter, and tweets from students both in and out of school, as well as idiotic responses from journalists and internet trolls. This is a school shooting as it might well play out, and despite attempts at heroism on the parts of some of the characters, ultimately this is not a day with a happy ending. This is a day where an angry boy has taken a gun to school to punish people.

This is a difficult read: it’s such an accurate depiction of senseless violence. It is sad. It is intense. Out in early 2016.

Thanks to Edelweiss for the review copy.