✦ BLURB ✦
10:00am: 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.10:02am: The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.
10:03am: The auditorium doors won't open.
10:05am: Someone starts shooting.
Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.
✶ PRE-READING ✶
This was one of the first books I read when I started blogging (ten years, wow!) When I heard it was rereleasing for the tenth anniversary, I thought it was a sign to read it again.
✶ POST-READING ✶
As I thought... It's still just as tense and terrifying as it was then, and still makes me glad I didn't go to school in America, where this kind of thing is not only possible but regularly happens. I hope it finds a whole new circle of readers this time around - it deserves to.
It surprised me by... I realised as I read that I had mixed some details up with another book, and I don't know what one - I have a memory of a character climbing through drop ceilings into a science lab, which didn't happen in this one so I must be confused! I had also forgotten how confusing the web of people was for the first several chapters until I got a handle on it.
✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦
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Book: One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus – while more mystery than pure thriller, it similarly juggles multiple perspectives and a high-stakes, tense environment.
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TV/Movie: Elephant (2003, Gus Van Sant) – a raw, harrowing take on a school shooting, or We Need to Talk About Kevin for the psychological impact and moral complexity of a shooter’s environment.
✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦
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šµ Featured Song: Breathe Me – Sia. Haunting, urgent, and emotionally raw, mirroring the terror and personal stakes of each POV.
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š¶ Vibe Album: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel. Chaotic, urgent, emotionally intense, capturing the mixture of panic and heartbreak.
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š§ Artist Recommendation: Billie Eilish – sparse, tense, and emotionally layered, perfect for high-stakes psychological tension.
✧ VIBE CHECK ✧
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Palette: Charcoal grey, blood-red, stark white
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Soundtrack: Rapid heartbeats, indistinct shouting, metallic echoes
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Season: Late spring – deceptively calm, but heat rising fast
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Mood: Frantic, terrified, urgent
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Scent: Sweat, dust, fear
★ TAROT CARD ★
Five of Swords (Dark Wood Tarot) – Conflict, loss, and moral ambiguity dominate this story. Characters are forced to navigate betrayal, survival, and guilt; the Five of Swords perfectly embodies the messy, high-stakes moral landscape.
This is Where it Ends publishes on the 4th November, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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