People Kill People - Ellen Hopkins

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"People kill people. Guns just make it easier.

A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it. Was it Rand or Cami, married teenagers with a young son? Was it Silas or Ashlyn, members of a white supremacist youth organization? Daniel, who fears retaliation because of his race, who possessively clings to Grace, the love of his life? Or Noelle, who lost everything after a devastating accident, and has sunk quietly into depression?

One tense week brings all six people into close contact in a town wrought with political and personal tensions. Someone will fire. And someone will die. But who?"

First of all, that cover.

Second, so much of this book gave me chills. Talking about humans and their capacity for violence, for instance:

"Like a god

I am nothing

without you...

but I am relentless

I know you can hear me

and sooner or later

you'll heed my call"

And taking that one step further:

"See, I've got this theory

Given the right circumstances

any person could kill someone

Even you."

This is not a happy book. I wouldn't even say any of the characters are particularly likable. The reader is taken inside each character's mind, privy to their darkest thoughts, and oof...those thoughts are dark indeed. But that's the point. Hopkins has given us people at their lowest, people who given the right circumstances could be capable of anything, even pulling a trigger and ending a life. If you read this and don't come away with a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, well...I don't know how to feel about that. There have been a number of books written in recent years about gun violence, and while I did find the verse in this particular one a little clunky at times, one thing it did really, really well...well enough that at times it was difficult to continue reading...is make you feel. 

"See, the absolute truth

is 

people 

kill 

people.

A

gun

just

makes

it

easier.

Even a child can do it."

Think about that. And tell me it doesn't give you chills.