THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS shows the reader a 54-minute fight for survival at a local high school. If you are squeamish, this is not the book for you.

Every year in the small town of Opportunity, the high school principal gives a speech welcoming the entire student body to a new semester, encouraging them all to excel. The speech has been done so many times most of the students know it word for word. They also know that at exactly at 10:00 a.m. it will be over. However, when the students try to leave the auditorium for their next class the doors won't open. Five minutes later, someone starts shooting.

Former student, Tyler Browne, returns to school to enact revenge on the students for never seeing him. One by one students, and teachers are gunned down. Their only hope is Tomas and Fareed, two teenage boys who happen to skip the principal's speech in favor for breaking into the student records. When Tomas's sister is trapped with the gunman, the pair work to unlock the auditorium doors.

THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS is written in multiple points of view. There are many characters, each from a different background and orientation, giving the reader a different perspective when the shooting starts. The ending is heart wrenching and leaves the reader with more unanswered questions.

THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS is full of diversity and strong writing. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. It is a book that makes you think. THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, a debut novel by Marieke Nijkamp, is a skillfully blended story of tragedy, despair, bravery, family, and hope.