This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction
Source: I received a copy from Netgalley to review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

As a teacher, this book touched on so many of my emotions. This is reality condensed into a book. We hear of school shootings every day. This book looks at the confused life of a teen, who holds his school hostage.  He randomly shoots teachers and students as he rants and raves about the injustices done to him. The problem is he feels like he has lost everything, including his sister. We see how much his sister loves him, willing to sacrifice her own life to save her friends and the students she doesn't know. We witness the agony of those outside the school  who have siblings inside. We witness the heroes who do what they can to save as many as they can.
I sat on the edge of my bed reading this late into the night, putting it down only because I had to teach school the next day. Normally I would read a book like this in one sitting. The emotions it brought out in me made that impossible.  I could only read for so long before I had to put the book down and deal with the emotions I was feeling. It was like having to decompress so that I could function once again.  This is a book that I will definitely recommend. It is not for the faint of heart and should only be read with a box of tissues.