In 54 minutes, terror reigns as one student takes a school auditorium hostage.
Told from four different viewpoints, some inside the auditorium, this story focuses on a horrific school shooting. I found this to be a pretty quick read, although it left me with mixed feelings after finishing it. So, I went on Goodreads to see what other readers thought. As it turns out, I wasn't the only reader left feeling a bit disappointed.
One of the things I enjoyed about the book was that the characters were diverse. I had expected this, since the author is an executive member of We Need Diverse Books. It was a little surprising that there would be this amount of diversity in such a small school, but I didn't have a problem believing it. What I didn't like was that I felt like the characters were a bit flat. I understand that in the span of 54 minutes, you can't get to know them very well, but I felt like for a few of them, I was coming in after the book had already started, like I was supposed to know things about a character already. And, I kept mixing up a few of the characters. Considering how much diversity there is here, it should have been easier for me to tell them apart, or at least get a clearer picture of each of them in my head.
I think the biggest disappointment for me is that you don't get anything about the kid who is the shooter, other than general impression that he is "evil." But, I had expected more. Maybe his perspective at some point? But when all you have is the perspectives from other students, it's hard to get a good picture. Issues get brought up in the story, but they are just touched on, or barely mentioned at all. Again, I understand that this is all supposed to take place in 54 minutes, but I felt there could have been more here to offer a reader.
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