Just look at the cover of “Shooter” (Amistad/HarperTempest, $15.99), the new book by acclaimed young-adult author Walter Dean Myers, and you’ll know that it’s not going to be pleasant reading.

First, there’s the yellow police “tape.” Then there’s the title, “Shooter,” printed in blood-red ink. Most disturbing, however, is the picture of a bullet hole right in the center of cover.

It’s a chilling image, perfect for Myers’ chilling story of a high-school killing. While “Shooter” isn’t for the fainthearted, it is a powerful and eloquent testament to the need for American society to find a way to end childhood bullying.

Myers’ anti-bullying message has been carefully woven into a can’t-stop-reading-it story about a disaffected young man who finally snaps and kills his chief tormenter, a high-school sports star, before committing suicide.

In “Shooter,” Myers has crafted a story showing how bullying can so poison a young person’s self-esteem that all he or she can think about is striking back or committing suicide, or both.

As in his award-winning book “Monster,” Myers tells the story of “Shooter” solely through interviews the characters have with psychologists or law-enforcement officers, through newspaper articles and through the “handwritten” diary of the killer, a boy named Len Gray.

Myers says one of the most disturbing things about bullying is that teachers and school administrators often don’t know what to do about it.

But bullying isn’t an inevitable part of growing up, Myers said in a recent interview. “Schools that have been successful (at eliminating bullying) have a ‘no bullying’ policy. They don’t confuse it with ‘boy’ behavior, and there’s none of this ‘Boys will be boys.’ It’s bullying, and it’s recognized as such.”