“I never realized courage was so terrifying.”

Being one of the Best Books of the Decade, this realistic fiction story opens up to the trauma and horror of a school shooting situation. This book had some very detailed development of time and where everyone was in each minute/hour. I liked how there was the timeline of the shooting and how each of the four different perspectives had something for each of the time slots.

The ending was something I was definitely not expecting. It definitely left me shocked and speechless. I think that the ending was very realistic to reality, which is quite terrifying.

The only thing that left the book behind was the character development. Although the pace of the book was quick, the character development was either slow or too quick. The four characters were involved with one another's perspective but when they were in their own perspective the development wasn’t quick. Or when they were completely isolated from the school shooting, there was nothing going on with some of them. 

Although the character development was slow, this book’s scene and action were insanely quick. I read this book in a day as it was so quick paced, but that doesn’t make the story seem the most idealistic for reality. The plotline itself wasn’t unique, just the action of the four perspectives was interesting to read and to see where and what everyone was doing during the shooting.

In the end, if you want to read a book to get out of a reading slump that is quick and sweet, this book is great for that! Although there are some more scary scenes compared to other books I’ve reviewed, this book was still an amazing read!