19 Minutes
19 Minutes The story begins on March 6, 2007, tracking the lives of a number of characters on just another typical day in a small town in New Hampshire called Sterling. Alex Cormier, a superior court judge, is rushing to get to work while her daughter, Josie, a junior in high school, gets ready for a test after a long night of studying. The story moves from character to character and include Lacy and Peter Houghton, Detective Patrick Ducharme, Matt Royston and several victims-to-be. At the local high school, we follow a routine day of students in classes, at gym and in the cafeteria during lunch period. As a student eagerly runs out of class to leave for an orthodonist appointment, a loud bang is heard from the parking lot, which turns out to be a bomb set off in Matt's car. As the students are distracted by the noise, gun shots are fired. Patrick, the only detective on the Sterling police force, hears on his radio about the shooting at Sterling High School. He changes route to the school and when he arrives, he searches the school to seek out the gunman. After passing dozens of dead and wounded victims, he traps the shooter in the locker room and he is taken away. Patrick sees several students on the floor, surrounded in blood. The boy is dead and has a gunshot in his head while his girlfriend, Josie, awakens and cannot remember what happened. Throughout the book, the time flashes back and forth between events before and after the shooting. In the past, we learn that Peter (the shooter) and Josie were once the best of friends, but Peter was frequently the target of severe bullying, beginning with the time he entered kindergarten and had his lunchbox tossed out the bus window. The bullying continues all throughout his childhood with often Josie sticking up for him. As they got older, the friends slowly drifted apart as they progressed through school and Josie became part of the popular crowd. Peter was even an outcast at home; he had an older brother named Joey...
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