First published 2016
The morning assembly at Opportunity High School in Alabama ends like any other. Students rise from their seats, ready to head to first period. Then the auditorium doors refuse to budge. At 10:05 a.m., gunshots shatter the silence. Four students find themselves trapped inside with a shooter they know. Over the next fifty-four minutes, each must navigate terror while confronting what matters most to them. As the crisis unfolds in real time, these teenagers face impossible choices between survival and sacrifice. Their stories reveal how ordinary people respond when violence invades their world. The clock ticks forward as students, teachers, and families outside grapple with a nightmare that transforms everyone it touches. In less than an hour, lives will change forever.
Genres: fiction, drama, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: crisis, race-against-time, survival
Setting: Alabama, Opportunity High School
Period: 21st-century
288 pages · Hardcover · Sourcebooks Fire
Content warnings: graphic-violence, violence