Wednesday, July 8, 2009 6:08 PM CDT
BOOK REVIEW: 'The Last Child', By John Hart
Review by Juanita Sherwood
Johnny Merrimon is the 13-year-old main character of John Hart’s “The Last Child.” In the past year, Johnny’s life has fallen apart. His twin sister has disappeared, presumed taken by a kidnapper/sexual predator. His best friend Jack Cross reported seeing her get into a van on a lonely stretch of road. The police have worked the case for a year with no leads.
Johnny is determined to solve the mystery of his sister’s disappearance. A policeman’s son with an athletic older brother, Jack has a physical disability and substance abuse issues, particularly with alcohol, and sometimes meets Johnny when they are away from school.
The situation in the Merrimon household has become critical in the past year. Johnny’s mother blamed his father for his sister’s disappearance. He was to have picked her up after a school activity, but was running late, and she decided to walk home instead of waiting for a ride. Jack’s sighting of her getting into an unknown van was the last anyone saw of her.
Johnny’s father left the community in disgrace, blaming himself for his daughter’s disappearance. Johnny’s mother is so distraught that she has taken to alcohol and pills to exist. She does nothing to parent him. It is just the two of them in a house provided by her abusive, controlling, married lover. The bank had repossessed their former home after she could no longer pay the mortgage after her husband’s disappearance.
Both Johnny and Jack are skipping school and meet near a bridge on a nearby river. Jack leaves, but Johnny stays. He cannot be easily seen from the road and bridge, but has a good view of both. He hears a motorcycle come down to the bridge, sees a vehicle rush up behind and slam into it, knocking it and its driver onto the riverbank.
Johnny is startled by the brutality, and tries to help the badly injured driver. The driver tells him that he has found the missing girl, but says nothing else. Even with medical assistance, the man dies before he can say anything else.
Johnny is sure that the motorcycle driver is referring to his missing sister, although a seventh-grade girl has recently disappeared under circumstances similar to those of his sister. The authorities think perhaps that the motorcyclist is referring to the latest case.
It is soon revealed that Johnny has spent a great deal of time and put a lot of thought into how to find his sister. He has made a list of known sexual predators in the community and spent a great deal of time spying on them, trying to discover if something he might observe will lead him to his sister Alyssa.
Johnny’s actions do lead to the discovery of the recently kidnapped girl, who is rescued, and to the discovery that one of the known predators had a partner who was previously unknown as a deviant. Other discoveries connected to this situation are shocking to the police and the community as a whole. But, Alyssa is not a part of this situation.
Detective Clyde Hunt, who has spent the past year investigating Alyssa’s disappearance, and Johnny eventually discover what happened to Alyssa. Before we are privy to that, we meet Levi Freemantle, a simple, giant of a black man who will play a significant role in the end of the book.
Other than the fact that a 13-year-old is able to do the things that Johnny does, including skipping school on a regular basis with no consequences, the book is an excellent, intense read if you like mysteries.
Sherwood of Charleston is a retired reading teacher.
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