Book Review for The Last Child

Book Review: The Last Child By: John Hart

9/3/2015

Natalia Amaral

The Last Child revolves around the life of a boy named Johnny who has a twin named Alyssa. One day Alyssa goes missing off of a lonely road in their small town. The book then transitions into a year later after the disappearance. Desperate to find his sister, Johnny explores the darker parts of town and gets into risky situations in hopes that Alyssa will still be alive.

The Last Child is John Hart’s 3rd book and he says himself that it's his best one yet and it definitely shows because it’s a New York Times award winning book. This book is not tied down to any news events but could most certainly be one. This book is not part of a series. I think the main reason it’s not, is because everything is resolved after it ends.

I personally think that this plot was very interesting and had great twists and turns to it. I also liked how it lead you to believe certain things for a long time and then it would surprise you with a new element.  A scene that stood out to be was when they found out what really happened to Alyssa and how heartfelt it was. What made that scene so powerful with the choice of wording and the imagery.

The strongest character in this book was Johnny. Not only because he was the main character but because Alyssa was his sister and it affected him the most. They had such a strong bond and after she disappeared a part of him disappeared with her. He also had a mature response when he found out what happened to his dad and to Alyssa. Detective Hunt also is a pretty strong character in my book because he is always with Johnny and hadn’t given up on trying to find Alyssa, even if it happened one year ago. I feel like the book revolves around them two the most and therefore they are the best developed characters .  

The big ideas that are discussed in my book are guilt vs innocence. For the duration of the whole book, they are trying to figure out what happened to Alyssa and blaming it on certain people. Also they blame the dad for leaving when in reality he was killed and didn’t leave them when the going got tough. I think my author's stance is that you shouldn’t blame someone for something until you know the full story. I think he shows what the stance is very well because at the end Johnny almost feels ashamed of what he thought his father did. When all along the father was just trying to help. “We all make mistakes, son ”( Hart 14). Detective Hunt said this to Johnny at the start of the book which I think sets up the theme for the rest of the book very nicely.

I would describe this book as a suspenseful book because after all they are trying to help find a missing girl. It is written in 1st person point of view which I think was good because there wasn't too much bias. My book mainly uses informal diction because the story is being seen by a young boy so the language is more relaxed. At times it uses colloquial diction when it’s a heated scene. The tone of my book could be described as hopeful and regretful. Johnny still as hope that he will find his sister even if it's already been 1 year and some characters in the book think what they did to try to find Alyssa wasn’t good enough. Detective Hunt says, “ I’m sorry I couldn’t bring her home, you know that right?” (Hart 18). This line shows how Hunt is upset and has regret about not finding her.

After reading The Last Child by John Hart, I will rate the book at 7.5 out of 10. I think it had a great plot and had interesting parts but there were also some slow scenes that were very boring and uneventful. It’s about 430 pages which isn’t awfully long but it isn’t a short read. I would still recommend it to others, especially if you like suspenseful books with plot twists. Overall I am happy with the result of the book but I was just expecting a little more.

John Hart’s offical website: http://www.johnhartfiction.com/