Review: This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp

Hi!

I got a copy of this book via Netgalley for free in an exchange for an honest review, so here's my review of this book!

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire!

P.S. I'm sorry to all of my portuguese viewers, but I will talk about this book in my December Wrap-up.

Title: This Is Where It Ends

Writer: Marieke Nijkamp

Published by: Sourcebooks Fire

Pages: 292

Summary: 10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's 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 The auditorium doors won't open.
10:05 Someone starts shooting.
Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

This book comes out on January 5th! You can pre-order here.

‘This Is Where It Ends’ is a book about a huge and critical problem (that takes place frequently in the U.S.) which is school shootings. I’ll be honest, I had no expectations going into this book and I think that worked out really well for me because I adored it!

Sure I have one or two things that I would’ve liked to had seen in the book but besides that I can say that I totally loved it!

As a student, I can honestly say that reading this book made me really aware and kind of scared because we can’t say that this will not happen to us, that we will not be - in some future - the characters of a story just like ‘This Is Where It Ends’, and that thought is really scary because school is supposed to be our second home, where we feel protected. 

This book has four different points of view – Tomás, Claire, Sylv and Autumn – which, in the beginning, was a bit strange and messy since I didn't know any of them or their connection with each other but also because I’m a huge fan of one point of view (two points of view, max!) but, in the end, I really liked that we had so many perspectives of what was going on since not all of this characters are on the auditorium – where the shooting happens – and we can see ‘the big picture’ of the situation.

I really enjoyed the fact that ‘This Is Where It Ends’ isn't only about school shootings. It’s also about Alzheimer, love and leaning on to someone when we need them like what happens with Claire and Chris, which I loved!

The book itself is only 292 pages, and with so much happening, I was able to finish it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down! I had to know how this traumatic and shocking situation was going to end.

The end broke a little bit of my heart because I really liked some of the characters who died, and since I’m trying to make this review the must spoiler-free possible I’m not going to say which characters didn't survive but I can say that I was rooting for them and I had a lot of hopes that they would.

As I said before there were little things that, I think, would make the book better.

First of all, I wish the author had given some depth and inside on the shooter's mind – why did he do this? When did he became this person? Was he tagging to kill someone specified or did he thought ‘the more, the better’? – and we unfortunately don’t have that information. We have flashbacks and some ideas of why he did this but not an official reason and I wish we had. 

The second problem was the ending. I wish we had more information on what happened after the shooting to the victims, to the students, to the school and to the main characters, especially Autumn. What happened to her after the end of ‘This Is Where It Ends’? I wish I knew.

To conclude, I can say that I truly loved this book and I hope Marieke Nijkamp will write more!

I gave 'This Is Where It Ends' 5 stars on Goodreads even though I had some little problems with it!

If you want to read a different and quick book, and school shootings is a theme that you're interested in reading, I totally recommend this book. 

This was my completely honest opinion and I hope you liked it!

Bye, Ana.