Silent Alarm by Jennifer Banash

Silent Alarm
by Jennifer Banash [YA Banash]

This is one of the books I’ll be covering for a book talk (about school shootings) in my library system, so I won’t go into detail about the book here. I do want to say, though, that this was one of the better written books on the subject that I’ve read. I tried reading something similar recently – that is, I tried reading another book written from the standpoint of the shooter’s family member – and it just didn’t pull me in. I couldn’t get interested in it. I believe it was the format of the book itself, the way it jumped around between various characters, including a family member of the shooter, and it was hard to follow.

Silent Alarm in interesting, not only because you get the obvious heated and angry treatment from the families and friends of victims toward those relatives of the shooter – that’s what you would anticipate, and that’s what does happen… but you also get the psychological downfall of that family member as she tries to deal with her own feelings of guilt and loss. It’s very compelling.

[ publisher’s official Silent Alarm web page ] | [ official Twitter feed for Jennifer Banash ]

Recommended by Tracy T.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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