John Hart's suspense novel, The Last Child, is a book for which readers need to be prepared: not by brushing up on historic events, not by reading prequels, but to psychologically be immersed in a dirty, squalid, evil world of missing children, drugs, alcohol, and abuse. Also, be prepared to set aside a few hours to become lost in the storyline.
The Last Child centres around 13 year old Johnny Merrimon, one year after the disappearance of his twin sister Alyssa. During that year, the Merrimon family went from middle class, happy, secure and loving to broken, poverty stricken, and distraught. Johnny's mum, Katherine, blames her husband for not fulfilling his promise to pick Alyssa up from the library, and guilt causes him to quickly leave his remaining family. Meanwhile, Katherine moves herself and Johnny into the slums of town, and only gets through the day by taking a wild assortment of pills, supplied by the town's richest citizen and her husband's former boss, Ken Holloway, who also physically abuses her.
Johnny's only friend, Jack, has his own issues: his arm is deformed from a childhood accident, his brother is a bully about to embark on a promising sports career, his father, a police detective, only has eyes for the older son, and Jack's mother, a fervently religious woman, prays for her youngest, who has taken to skipping school and numbing his emotional pain through alcohol. He is the only witness to Alyssa's abduction as she was pulled into a white van. Jack also is the only one to support Johnny in his obsession to find Alyssa, which leads them into incredibly dangerous situations tracking the scummiest characters in the area: child molesters.
Hart's book is not an easy read; it is cluttered and complicated, with many twists and turn, some which appear too coincidental to be conceivable. There's almost too much tragedy to make it believable, but it does show that 'ordinary' people can have their lives turned around quickly. It is difficult to read not only because of the disappearance of Alyssa, but the various family dynamics. Not only are Johnny's and Jack's families messed up, the lead detective in the case, Clyde Hunt, has lost his wife and is losing his only son because of his compulsion to solve Alyssa's disappearance. Throw in convict Levi Freemantle, with his own slew of problems, and you have some of the sorriest group of people you'll ever meet in literature.
Despite these 'flaws,' the book is compelling and difficult to put down. I may not have liked any of the characters, but I wanted to know the outcome. Hart manages to make the book's climax even more of a page turner by shortening his last few chapters, increasing tension and quickening the pace of the action.
I've read several books about missing children, some with 'happy' resolutions, some sad, and some with no resolution at all. The Last Child lacks the emotion and fullness of characterisation of some of the others, but it is a satisfying thriller that will keep you up late into the night.
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