false 5556466 6 John Hart’s <I>New York Times</I> bestselling debut, <I>The King of Lies</I>, announced the arrival of a major talent. With <I>Down</I><I> River</I>, he surpassed his earlier success, transcending the barrier between thriller and literature and winning the 2008 Edgar Award for best novel. Now, with <I>The Last Child</I>, he achieves his most significant work to date, an intricate, powerful story of loss, hope, and courage in the face of evil. Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he’d been taught since birth to trust. No one else believes that Alyssa is still alive, but Johnny is certain that she is---confident in a way that he can never fully explain. Determined to find his sister, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown. It is a desperate, terrifying search, but Johnny is not as alone as he might think. Detective Clyde Hunt has never stopped looking for Alyssa either, and he has a soft spot for Johnny. He watches over the boy and tries to keep him safe, but when Johnny uncovers a dangerous lead and vows to follow it, Hunt has no choice but to intervene. Then a second child goes missing... Undeterred by Hunt’s threats or his mother’s pleas, Johnny enlists the help of his last friend, and together they plunge into the wild, to a forgotten place with a history of violence that goes back more than a hundred years. There, they meet a giant of a man, an escaped convict on his own tragic quest. What they learn from him will shatter every notion Johnny had about the fate of his sister; it will lead them to another far place, to a truth that will test both boys to the limit. Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith, <I>The Last Child</I> leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power. 5727588 12 5 2009 The Last Child total:479|5:125|4:231|3:99|2:21|1:3| 479 1891 913 179 0 1 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 09:24:34 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 09:25:23 -0700 2009
This is John Hart’s third novel and by far his best. Definitely on my ten best this year. Clyde Hunt is chief of detectives in this North Carolina town. A year ago, ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 14:15:02 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 14:48:50 -0700 2009
Enjoyability: 3.5
Re-Readability: 2
Character Development: 3.5
Complexity: 3
Writing Style: 3
Believability: 4.5
Overall: 3.25

I wanted to try out Hart, as he recently had his last (a...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jul 03 14:43:09 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 14:53:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Aug 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 17:12:50 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 19:00:34 -0700 2009 1
In "The Last Child" Johnny's sister went missing a year ago and it seem...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 17:47:03 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 06:08:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 11:25:24 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 15:20:32 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 12:37:18 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 17:19:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 15:12:53 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 15:22:28 -0700 2009 The Last Child, a grim, dark story of a 13-year-old girl abducted a year earlier and her teenaged brother who refuses to give her up for dead, Hart paints compelling characters within a framework of a mystery with unexpect...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 30 11:26:45 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 11:26:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Sep 30 12:48:25 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 12:48:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed May 27 09:17:01 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 18:41:43 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 09:17:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 14:06:58 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 05:33:43 -0700 2009 THE LAST CHILD is the story of 13 year-old Johnny Merrimon who is still trying to deal with the abduction, a year earlier, of his twin sister. Since Alyssa’s disappearance, the life that Johnny had known is nothing but a distant memory. As if it weren’t hard enough to lose his sister, th...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 20:37:57 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 22:36:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 20:28:52 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 20:33:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 19:06:39 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 19:12:32 -0700 2009
This is the story of Johnny, a 13 year old boy whose twin sister disappeared the year before, and the detective who could not let the case go. Johnny keeps searching and fi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 18:59:24 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 19:05:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 27 16:14:13 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 16:26:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 00:00:15 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 00:06:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 08:18:30 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 08:25:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 22:29:30 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 10:12:00 -0700 2009 more...]]>