Reunion

Book Title: Reunion

Author: Jeff Bennington

Publisher: nexGate Press

ISBN: 9780615443683

Reviewed by Michele Tater for The Couch Tater Review

“Your karma is that you lived and you must honor and to remember and to live a life worthy of your having survived.” Ducan Williams

Although it is a work of fiction, this book examines the fatality of the human psyche and how people handle experiences differently, even if it was the same event. Crescent Falls, Idaho seems to be like any small town in the Unites States, except, like in some towns, it experiences the unthinkable. A teenage boy, who has a deeply disturbed past and an even worst present life, allows his anger get the best of him and he goes on a killing spree on his own classmates and teachers. He afterwards shoots himself in the head and is declared dead. So begins the process of healing by the victims who survived and the families and friends of the victims who did not. This book gives the reader possible outcomes to some of the students who try to get on with their lives and make sense of what has had to them. It also looks into the mental of state of the shooter that may help to explain his reasoning behind his actions. But the author doesn't stop there, he adds a supernatural spin into the mix when the survivors decide to plan a class reunion after 20 years.

Since this the first book I have read by Jeff Bennington, I was unsure what kind of writing style he possesses. I was afraid that this book would be another book about school shootings and would be a bit boring. The author has made sure that this was not the case. Even though he does address the awful truth of shootings in schools, he give it a new life by added a spiritual aspect of the outcome of one. From beginning to end this book keeps the reader riveted. It has dark, eerie and scarey themes, along with humorous overtones and glimpses of the human spirit. Also check out the list of the ten worst school shootings in the Unites States located in the beginning of book, its quite an eye opener.