"The Last Child"
by John Hart (St. Martin's Press, ISBN 9780312359324, $24.95)
John Hart has had great success with his first two novels, "Downriver" and
"The King of Lies," both of which have won awards and received strong
reviews. Like these, his new novel, "The Last Child," takes place in his
native North Carolina and it too is likely headed for the bestseller lists.
Hart tells a good story. Although "The Last Child" falls into what has
become a sub-genre of "lost kid lit," Hart's strong sense of place and his
particularly strong thirteen year old protagonist make this novel stand out.
Johnny Merrimon is left with a totally collapsed mother after his twin
sister is kidnapped and still lost after a year and after his father
subsequently abandons them. Between battling the abusive local tycoon who
virtually subjugates his mom while supposedly "taking care of her" and the
local small town detective who not only failed to find his sister but also
restrains him from looking on his own, Johnny skips school regularly to
scour the area on his bike crossing off street after street as he searches.
On one of these days, he stumbles into both a murdered professor whose dying
breath suggests he found "the lost girl" and an illiterate giant black man
who may or may not be a killer... or perhaps may or may not be a savior.
Johnny's independence and resilience as he works almost singlehandedly to
follow these clues and find the truth about his sister and missing father
form the backbone of the novel. As Hart's plot unfolds, he adds depth to the
story with a keen knowledge of rural North Carolina and its history of
indigenous Indians and black slavery but without dragging the narrative
pace. In the end it is this vibrant balance of plot, character, and setting
that makes this latest Hart novel work so well.
Review by
Bruce Jacobs,
May 28, 2009
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