The Last Child by John Hart

Wow, I haven't read a page turner like that in a long time. Since 2009 as a matter of fact. 

Which would be the FIRST time I read this gem by one of my favorite authors.  Helps that he is from NC so I consider him local and all even though he up and moved to Virginny to be with John Grisham, but whatever.

As I mentioned on my Summer Reading list (please visit my blog at www.rawlesreads@blogspot.com), I have at the top of the list the newest John Hart, but since he wrote his new one about Johnny, I figured I better go revisit the first one, and boy am I glad that I did.  I thought I'd just skim it through again, since I knew I had read it before.  I remembered one big thing from the end, but I would have missed all the little things and the tangled web Hart weaved to create this multi-layered, yes miraculous story.

Johnny is sad - his twin sister went missing a year ago, his dad walked out, his mom is still drugged up and now being abused by her new "boyfriend".....  sounds like a winner right?  Stay with me, because Johnny is one of the most dogged characters you'll ever meet.  He is convinced his sister is still alive and is furious with the Detective who promised to find her.  We get the story from Johnny's view, a bit from his bff Jack, and a lot from Detective Hunt, who has his own family drama going on at home with a very sullen teenage son.  Johnny is conducting his own investigation and at age 13 is constantly stealing and driving his mom's car to "stake out" the local sex offenders.  He has even studied up on his family's history in the area and the connection to a particular plot of land and a freed slave.  Everything is circular, and things happen for a reason.  As Det Hunt gets too close and personal with this case, another girl goes missing.  Johnny steps up his jaunts and things get deadly.  You may or may not see the ending coming, but you won't see ALL of it til the very end.  Great story - can't believe he does not write with an outline.  Neither, apparently, can Grisham.

Extra points if you can comment below on who, exactly, The Last Child is.......

Can't wait to see what Johnny is up to in The Hush - set 10 years after the events of this novel!!!  Stay tuned......