Marieke Nijkamp Books In Order

Publication Order of Splinter & Ash Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Critical Role Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Marieke Nijkamp
Marieke Nijkamp was born in Zwolle and grew up in Twente, the Netherlands. Marieke is a storyteller, geek, dreamer, dice roller, and a globe-trotter.

When she was a child, she read “De brief voor de knoing”, a Dutch novel written by Tonke Dragt, and from there felt compelled to begin writing herself. And as a lifelong student of stories, ideas, and language, she spends just as much time in fictional worlds as she does the real world.

For “This is Where it Ends”, she did a ton of research. For every hour she actually spent writing, she spent another (at the very least) researching. She read these firsthand accounts of shootings, plowed through pages upon pages of investigative reports, talked with people, she listened to different 911 calls, kept up with social media and news feeds while active shooter situations emerged. She familiarized herself with the psychology of getting held at gunpoint. She immersed herself as much as she was able to in what we actually know about school shootings, both not all that much and quite a bit, and did her best to translate this into the book.

At the same time, the book’s still fiction. It isn’t about all the technicalities of a shooting. Instead it is about the four teens caught in a harrowing situation whose world is getting turned on end. So Marieke allowed for this too, in the way the story plays out. She still wanted to ensure that any poetic license she took stayed respectful to real life.

Some of her books she’s written over the span of just a few months, while others are stubborn and take a lot longer. Drafting’s just the first step. There is revision, some rewriting, editing, feedback, critiques, and more editing. And for her, this is where the book really starts coming together. She loves this aspect of the process a lot.

She holds degrees in medieval studies and philosophy from the University of Groningen.

“This is Where it Ends” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2016. At 10 in the morning. The Principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes up her speech, and welcomes the whole student body to a new semester, encouraging everybody to achieve and excel.

At 10:02, the students stand up to leave the building to go to their next class. However at 10:03, the doors do not open. Then at 10:05 is when somebody opens fire.

Told over the course of 54 harrowing minutes from four points of view, terror reigns supreme while a student’s calculated act of revenge becomes the ultimate game of survival.

“Before I Let Go” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2017. This is another unforgettable tale about hope, betrayal, loss, and the pursuit of the truth.

Kyra and Corey were once inseparable best friends in their snow covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey up and moves away, she makes Kyra promise that she’ll stay strong during the dark and ceaseless winter, and wait for her to come back.

Mere days before Corey is about to come back home for a visit, Kyra dies. It devastates, yet also confuses, Corey. The whole Lost community speaks in these hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying that her death was destined, meant to be. They even push Corey aside like she is some stranger.

Corey realizes that something is wrong. With each passing hour, her suspicion increases. Lost is hanging onto secrets, chilling ones. However piecing together the full truth about what exactly happened to her very best friend might prove to be as tough as lighting up the sky during an Alaskan winter.

“Even if We Break” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. Five friends go to a cabin, four of them are hiding some secrets, three years of history connect them, two are doomed right from the start, and one person just wants to end all of this. Nobody’s safe.

For these five friends, this was meant to be a final getaway before they each went their separate ways. Just a chance to say their goodbyes to one another, and to the game that they have kept going for the last three years. However they are also each dealing with their own demons, and they all are hiding secrets.

Maddy got in a sports accident that ruined her sports career. Carter is drowning under the weight of all the expectations his family has for him. Finn does not trust anybody since getting attacked a few months back, which Liva (a popular girl) witnessed but did nothing to stop it. Ever just wants to keep their game going as long as possible, no matter the costs.

The lines between reality and their game begin blending with some lethal repercussions, it is a race against the clock before it becomes game over, forever. Are you prepared to play?

This darkly twisted ode to self-discovery briskly whisks this intersectionally inclusive group through an emotionally charged and reasonably stormy scenario which considers the sometimes steep cost of growing apart and growing up.

“At the End of Everything” is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in the year 2022. The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center was named ironically. Nobody has got any hope for the delinquent teens that have been sent there in exile, as the world hardly acknowledges they even exist.

But then the guards begin acting all strange. One day, they just don’t even show up. However when these teens band together in order to make a break out of the facility, they encounter some soldiers just outside of the gates. Apparently, there is a rapidly spreading infectious disease outside, and nobody can travel without a permit or even leave their houses, which means that unfortunately, they are all stuck at Hope. This time around, there is nobody watching out for them at all.

While supplies rapidly dwindle and a lethal plague rips its way through their group, this band must figure out who among them they’re able to trust and figure out how they can possibly survive in a world that never wanted them to begin with.