The Last Child by John Hart

Have you felt certain that the people in your life were wrong about something? Didn't understand what you were talking about or were going through? Young Johnny knows his twin sister is alive. It's been a year since her abduction, but he knows that she's out there. Detective Hunt has spent the last year trying to find his sister, to bring her home. But now that a year has passed, the chance that she's alive is next to none. Johnny, now 14, deals with his pill-popping mother and her abusive boyfriend daily. He buys groceries, cleans the house, and hunts down his sister's kidnapper. Once another school girl goes missing, everything seems to snap into place. Johnny is on a mission, and Detective Hunt doesn't realize just how much Johnny knows.

This book took me quite a while to get into. I've been reading it on and off for about two weeks, but yesterday, I picked it up and couldn't stop reading. There are so many twists and turns in the novel that it will make your head spin. At one point, I thought I had the whole thing figured out, and then Hart just turns the story back the other way. I didn't know exactly what happened until it was spelled out for me. There are so many things that this novel is about. One of the great themes through the entire thing is faith. How do you still hold onto God when the world is crumbling around you? Is there still hope? Is there a God? Why does God let bad things happen? It's one of life's unsolvable mysteries, and Hart weaves faith, murder, and blood into a roller coaster of a novel. Great murder mystery. 

There are only a few things I can really complain about. The pace was slow for me in the beginning. It picked up after a hundred pages or so, but I normally just put books down that don't hold my interest from the start. I'm so glad I didn't put it down! Also, the idea of a 14 year-old boy tracking down a killer is just a little unrealistic for me. Some of the things that he did in the novel were just baffling and had me thinking, I couldn't do that when I was fourteen. But, if you look at it from another angle...he does grow up quickly for his age. And, should you ever really underestimate a teenager? One word of warning: it is pretty graphic in some scenes. There is violence throughout the book. If you're squeamish about that stuff, take that into consideration.

Overall, it was a great read. I was so engrossed in the novel at the end, I had trouble putting it down. Once I got into it, the story just flew by. And you will never guess the ending (well, maybe you will, I'm just horrible with that kind of stuff). I would recommend this book to anyone. I'm normally not a big fan of the genre, but it was a fascinating read.

Author: John Hart (NY Times Bestseller)
Genre: Mystery/Fiction
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Year: 2009
Review: "A magnificent creation, Huck Finn channeled through Lord of the Flies."
-The Washington Post