20. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

In nineteen short minutes, the lives of Sterling, New Hampshire residents are changed forever. Peter Houghton, a victim of childhood bullying since his very first day of school, goes on a shooting spree in his area high school, killing ten people and wounding many more. Josie Cormier used to be Peter’s childhood friend, but as she grew older and more popular, she lost touch with Peter and his constant harassment. Why did Peter not shoot Josie, especially since he killed her boyfriend, Matt, and was near Josie in the locker room that fateful morning? When Peter’s attorney, Jordan McAfee, tries to show Peter has post traumatic stress disorder caused by the bullying, new revelations come out at the end of the trial.

This is Picoult’s 14th novel and like her previous works, there is a surprise ending. Regular readers of Picoult will also be pleased to see two of her previous characters from other books appear again – Patrick DuCharme, a detective from Perfect Match, and Jordan McAfee, a lawyer from The Pact. This is a novel that discusses hot topics in American society, school shootings and bullying, and Picoult does a fair job keeping the story moving by the use of flashbacks into the lives of Peter and Josie. This is a great selection for book discussion groups.