Books Similar to We Need to Talk About Kevin

Preface: Eva never really wanted to be a mother; certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her absent husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

Preface: Three years after losing her brother Luka in a school shooting, Skye Gilchrist is moving home. But there's no sympathy for Skye and her family because Luka wasn't a victim; he was a shooter.

Jesse Mandal knows all too well that the scars of the past don't heal easily. The shooting cost Jesse his brother and also his best friend - Skye.

Jesse and Skye are haunted by the unanswered questions of that terrible day. But the more they hunt for the truth of what really happened, the closer they get to a new killer.

Preface: After years of cruel bullying from his classmates, Peter Houghton snaps one morning, and in nineteen minutes, ten residents of the town of Sterling are dead. When the case goes to trial, the reeling town is determined to seek justice for the innocents Peter killed.

But as the trial unfolds, Peter's testimony casts light on the terrible role the residents of Sterling have played in turning a sweet, loving boy into a killer, and it isn't long before Sterling's illusions of innocence find themselves shattered forever. . .

Preface: Six year old Zach Taylor is hidden in a cloakroom with his teacher and classmates listening as a gunman roams the halls of his school. By the time he is done he will have claimed 19 victims.

Afterwards Zach's life will be changed forever. His dad will be absent at work more than ever and his mum will become obsessed with her crusade for justice. Will Zach be able to help them find a way through their grief or will the tragedy rip their family apart forever?

Preface: Susanna has a secret. Fourteen years ago she changed her identity and reinvented herself as a counsellor in order to keep her daughter safe.

Then Adam walks into her office. She's never met him before but she feel like she knows him.

Adam tells her about a girl. A girl he wants to hurt. And Susanna realises she was wrong.

She doesn't know him.

He knows her.

And the girl he plans to hurt is her daughter.

Preface: Deborah’s son was killed four years ago.

Alice’s son is in prison for killing him.

Deborah would give anything to have her son back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs.

Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as it grows she finds out how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control…

Preface: Six year old Ben is the only survivor of a crime that killed his mother and many others.

Lucy, the doctor who tends to Ben, is dealing with her own personal upheaval but feels a profound connection to him. Will recovering his memory heal him, or damage him further?

Clare believes the lifetime of secrets she’s been keeping don’t matter to anyone now, until an unexpected encounter prompts her to tell her story.

Preface: Annie's mother is a serial killer. The only way she can make it stop is to hand her in to the police. But out of sight is not out of mind. As her mother's trial looms, the secrets of her past won't let Annie sleep, even with a new foster family and name - Milly. A fresh start. Now, surely, she can be whoever she wants to be. But Milly's mother is a serial killer. And blood is thicker than water. Good me, bad me. She is, after all, her mother's daughter...

Preface: A murder. A legend. A family haunted.

In 1990 three girls devote themselves to an ominous figure.

In 2000 a mother inexplicably disappears leaving behind her baby and husband.

and in 2018 a young girl is charged with murder.

Through each of the events The Tall Man is there.

Preface: A cross between 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Desperate Housewives.'

A high school student's mysterious death during detention put four of his classmates in the spotlight. Each one has something to hide and a reason to have wished him dead.

Preface: In the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten year old Marsha's life: her father ran away with her mother's sister Ada; Boyd Ellison, a young boy, was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines.

Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to 'the book of evidence' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha's confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her 'facts' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood.

Preface: Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends, and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with her role in the tragedy that took place, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Preface: This explosive, emotional, page-turning debut about a high school held hostage is told from the perspective of four teens each with their own reason to fear the boy with the gun.

Preface: It took only twenty-two minutes for Kirby Matheson to exit his car, march onto the school grounds, enter the gymnasium, and open fire, killing six and injuring five others.

But this isn’t a story about the shooting itself. This isn’t about recounting that one unforgettable day.

This is about one boy, who had friends, enjoyed reading, playing saxophone in the band, and had never been in trouble before—became a monster capable of entering his school with a loaded gun and firing bullets at his classmates.

Preface: How would you spend your birthday if you knew it would be your last?

Eighteen-year-old Leonard Peacock knows exactly what he'll do. He'll say goodbye.

Not to his mum - who he calls Linda because it annoys her - who's moved out and left him to fend for himself. Nor to his former best friend, whose torments have driven him to consider committing the unthinkable. But to his four friends: a Humphrey-Bogart-obsessed neighbour, a teenage violin virtuoso, a pastor's daughter and a teacher.

Most of the time, Leonard believes he's weird and sad but these friends have made him think that maybe he's not. He wants to thank them, and say goodbye.

Preface: ‘He has a gun.’

‘Who? Tell me, where are you? Who has a gun?’

‘I love you, Mum.’

An ordinary school day in March, snowflakes falling, classroom freezing, kids squealing with delight, locker-doors slamming. Then the shooting started. No-one dared take one breath…

He’s holding a gun to your child’s head. One wrong answer and he says he’ll shoot.

This morning you waved goodbye to your child. What would you have said if you’d known it might be the last time?

Preface: Simon Connolly's successful wife has gone to her law office each day, while he has stayed home to raise their children--Jake and Laney. He has tried to do the best for the kids. For sunny, outgoing Laney, it's been easy. But Jake is different. He has always been on the quiet side, preferring the company of his small group of friends to popularity and organized sports. Now that his children are in high school, Simon should be able to relax, to worry less. He's never given that chance.

On a warm November day, he receives a text: There has been a shooting at the high school.

Racing to the rendezvous point, Simon is forced to wait with scores of other anxious parents as one by one, they are reunited with their children. Their numbers dwindle, eventually leaving Simon alone. That is when he learns that Jake is the only child missing.

As his worst nightmare unfolds, Simon's thoughts race. Where is Jake? What happened in those final moments? Jake could not have done this--or could he? Did Simon miss the signs? As rumors begin to ricochet, amplified by an invasive media and the fear swallowing their community, Simon must find answers.

But there is only one way to understand what has happened . . . he must find Jake.

Preface: It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story - that she died proclaiming her faith.

But it's not true.

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did - and didn't - happen that day.

Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .