"The Last Child", by John Hart
During a day of travel I unfortunately read the entire book that was meant to be my go to sleep reading for five days. "The Last Child" is the third book by John Hart, a writer that was unfamiliar to me, an Edgar award winner in 2008 and a nominee for the celebrated mystery writer's award again in 2010 with this book. The book has pace, it was actually a mystery, it has characters to love and to detest, and it has a sense of place, eastern North Carolina.
Some of the reviews that I have now just read suggest that it is a "genre breaking book", one that crosses the magic line into literature. I don't know about that but I was transfixed by the tale, rarely put off by the writing, was not required to watch advertisements, and surprised that the exaggerated caricatures at times added some depth to the plot. The book has an aspect to it that could be described as humorless melodrama and the opportunity for reader self-reflection is almost impossible with the non stop action of the story driven third person narrative. Who has time to think. The ending wraps up as neatly as a Taco Bell burrito, as in not quite satisfying but a lot less messy than most.
"The Last Child" was a wonderful diversion for the day. Oh, why was I such a glutton when it would have been relaxing me for several evenings. In either case there would have been no valuable insights to be gained, but perhaps some extended entertainment and a few more welcome dreams if it was drawn out.
Some of the reviews that I have now just read suggest that it is a "genre breaking book", one that crosses the magic line into literature. I don't know about that but I was transfixed by the tale, rarely put off by the writing, was not required to watch advertisements, and surprised that the exaggerated caricatures at times added some depth to the plot. The book has an aspect to it that could be described as humorless melodrama and the opportunity for reader self-reflection is almost impossible with the non stop action of the story driven third person narrative. Who has time to think. The ending wraps up as neatly as a Taco Bell burrito, as in not quite satisfying but a lot less messy than most.
"The Last Child" was a wonderful diversion for the day. Oh, why was I such a glutton when it would have been relaxing me for several evenings. In either case there would have been no valuable insights to be gained, but perhaps some extended entertainment and a few more welcome dreams if it was drawn out.
posted by John Borden at 10:18 PM
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