John Hart's Last Child

Categories: Mystery & Suspense , Staff Picks , Fiction

 This book was over before it ever began.  Meet Johnny Merrimon, thirteen, twin, crusader, outlaw and friend.  Johnny’s sister Alyssa is missing and has been for a year now.  Johnny will stop at nothing to find her.  He doesn’t go to school, he doesn’t engage in extracurricular activities and he doesn’t lounge around at home.  Johnny, his friend Jack and the entire state of North Carolina will stop at nothing to bring Alyssa home.

Johnny’s mother Katherine has a bit of a chemical problem and can barely hold herself together.  Johnny’s father disappeared a year ago.  It seems as though the local police have lightened up their search for Alyssa.  Det. Hunt assures Johnny that the case is still open and that the police force is doing everything possible.   Johnny doesn’t believe it and rightfully so.

 

The case takes twists and turns as unknown and as unseen as hairpin curves on a dark slick road.   Reading this novel feels like an amusement park ride gone out of control.  The action never stops.  Ever.  The surprises never cease and the mysteries are made as soon as they are solved.  The plot is so plausible and the story so believable the average innocent reader might be scarred beyond the point of recovery.  Atmospheric and brooding The Last Child pumps buckets of adrenaline resulting in paralytic awe. 

 

Among John Hart’s other novels are  Down River and New York Times bestseller and debut The King of Lies .Those who prefer King, Lehane, Connelly, Coben and Cain will find Hart irresistible. 

 

John Hart’s literary genius caught me in its grip for two days.  I wouldn’t leave home without that novel.  The Last Child delivers a strong, innovative voice that easily reaches above and beyond average. The book is a chilling yet searing lightning bolt frozen in slow motion on paper and is utterly un-put-downable and unforgettable.