Release Date: January 5, 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 285
Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Thriller, GLBT
Summary
10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity High School finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.
10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.
10:03 a.m. The auditorium doors won't open.
10:05 a.m. Someone starts shooting.
Told from four different perspectives over the span of fifty-four harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival. -Goodreads Summary
The Rundown
I'm so torn with how to review this book. The plot was intense and kept me at a binge reading level until I finished it. But the characters and issues addressed could have been done so much better than what they were.
Allow me to explain.
School shootings in the US is such a hot button topic right now. As someone who started middle school in the shadow of Columbine, I wanted this book to be something...more? I wanted it to dive deep. I wanted to know what makes someone just go off the deep end and hurt their classmates, their educators, and themselves.
Instead, we never saw things from Tyler's (the shooter) perspective. I think giving him a voice in the story would have given me the depth I was craving. We learn from flashbacks from the other four narrators that Tyler was from a once respected and now troubled family in town. He was close with his sister, Autumn. He once dated the star track runner, Claire. Others thought him a little odd but harmless. He was a good student. All the narration talks about a time when he was different. But why? When? How?
Answering these questions by either giving Tyler his own narration or going to flashbacks of a revealing conversation with one of the other voices in the story could have cleared this up. I wanted to get inside of his head, to know what the breaking point was that took him from classmate to murderer. This would have given Tyler a human touch. Instead, we learn he was a rapist. We see him randomly killing others and laughing. When it came to Tyler, it was hard for me to shake the image of an old-timey villain twisting his handlebar mustache.
The points of view we get are that of Claire (Tyler's ex), Autumn (Tyler's sister), Sylv (Autumn's girlfriend), and Tomas (Sylv's twin brother). I did appreciate that the flashbacks each narrator had showed some of the complexities in how we all relate to one another. The connections of siblings and romantic partners. They were all diverse. They all had a reason to fear Tyler wouldn't stop shooting until they were dead.
But the deep issues faced by these characters: surviving rape, physical abuse, coming out, racism...it just fell flat. There wasn't that gripping emotion behind it. So much in this novel could have been expanded on.
This is Where It Ends had all of the potential to be THE talked about YA novel of 2016, but this plot driven thriller fell flat with underdeveloped characters and a void of real emotion.
Sigh. But I did love the cover!
Rating: 2 Stars. Meh, not for me.
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