“In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five … In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.”

This riveting opening begins best-selling author Jodi Picoult’s novel, Nineteen Minutes.

Sterling, New Hampshire, is a small, sleepy town where everyone knows each other and nothing bad ever happens – until the day Peter Houghton takes four guns to school and kills ten people, injuring many others. The book begins with that tragic day and slowly reveals the events that led Peter to this point, with a series of flashbacks from the perspective of different characters.

Beginning with kindergarten, it weaves a tale of the constant harassment Peter dealt with at the hands of the popular kids. They teased him, tripped him, and in high school went so far as to pull down his pants in the cafeteria. His family is little help – his parents spend most of his childhood forcing him to attempt to fit in with the other kids, which makes his situation worse.

His best friend, Josie, ends up turning her back on him to be with the popular crowd. It is Peter’s lost friendship and the realization of his love for Josie that ultimately lead him down the path of no return. He is finally pushed to the point of wanting to make the bullying stop, no matter what the consequences.

This book is thought-provoking and teaches an important lesson about the need for tolerance. People want to be accepted as they are and need to feel loved. If they lack love, they are lost and without hope, like Peter.

The popular kids are very unlikable, tearing down others in order to build themselves up. This makes it hard for the reader to blame Peter for his actions, although it is hard to justify them too. Picoult has the uncanny ability to make you empathize with a mass murderer by causing you to question your belief of what is right or wrong. It is a heartbreaking story that will make you cry for Peter and his victims at the same time. While no one deserved to die that day, Peter certainly did not deserve to live his life in constant turmoil.

The book deals with many contemporary issues that teens face. It’s a page-turner from start to finish.