Nineteen Minutes
The school shooting in the novel, Nineteen Minutes, is an example of the many tragedies that are affecting teenagers and their families today. The town of Sterling, New Hampshire didn’t think anything bad could happen to them until the day Peter Houghton decided to shoot up the school. After years of being bullied he finally snapped. The town grieves after the death of ten people. Josie Cormier, daughter of Alex Cormier, has to face the lost of her boyfriend Matt Royston in the shooting.
Peter Houghton has been bullied ever since kindergarten, with his only friend being Josie he had to grow up living in the shadows of his older brother Joey. Even with a great family life Peter still has many problems trying t fit in unlike Josie who doesn’t have a good relationship with her mother, who is always working as the judge, fits in just fine. Eventually Josie and Peter grew apart and she joined the so-called popular group while Peter remained a nobody and continued to get bullied.
After the shooting peter and his family have to deal with the mess of Peter going to court with Jordan McAfee as is lawyer who tries to collect enough evidence to show Peter guilty in the trial. While judge Alex Cormier is assigned this case she does not continue it to protect Josie, which also causes a love to form with officer Patrick Ducharme.
Is the town of sterling ready for the real truth about what happened at the shooting? Will Peter be prepared to reveal the truth? And can everyone handle the truth. Sterling will found out what really happens when bullying is taken too far. They will begin to realize many teens have to face this now a days and some of the after affects are not what you want to happen.