It’s Nineteen Minutes by best-selling author Jodi Picoult. Apparently this is her 14th novel, but it’s the first one I have read by her. It won’t be the last. This was a really interesting look at a tragic event (a school mass-shooting), but more importantly about how it affected the lives of the people involved, from the shooter, his friends (if any), his parents, the parents of the deceased, and all the other peripheral players.

We see these events on the news all too often nowadays, but this novel explores the human side and also delves into the horrifying effects of bullying. Every character is a person with feelings, the shooter and the rest of the town. I would highly recommend this book.

Here’s a blurb from amazon.com (after the jump):