The Last Child

By: John Hart

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Fresh off the success of his Edgar® Award-winning, New York Times bestseller Down River, John Hart returns with his most powerful and intricately-plotted novel yet.

Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: happy parents and a twin sister that meant the world to him. But Alyssa went missing a year ago, stolen off the side of a lonely street with only one witness to the crime. His family shattered, his sister presumed dead, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown in a last, desperate search. What he finds is a city with an underbelly far blacker than anyone could've imagined—and somewhere in the depths of it all, with the help of his only friend and a giant of a man with his own strange past, Johnny, at last, finds the terrible truth.

Detective Clyde Hunt has devoted an entire year to Alyssa's case, and it shows: haunted and sleepless, he's lost his wife and put his shield at risk. But he can't put the case behind him—he won't—and when another girl goes missing, the failures of the past year harden into iron determination. Refusing to lose another child, Hunt knows he has to break the rules to make the case; and maybe, just maybe, the missing girl will lead him to Alyssa...

The Last Child is a tale of boundaries: county borders and circles on a map, the hard edge between good and evil, life and death, hopelessness and faith. Perfectly blending character and plot, emotion and action, John Hart again transcends the barrier between thrillers and literature to craft a story as heartrending as it is redemptive.

©2009 John Hart (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

A very good book

Real characters, an excellent story, with great narration. John Hart is an exciting author with impeccable timing. The last four hours of the book seemed no more than an hour. Surprised ending, which I like in mystery novels. This book will not be a disappointment .right up there with Peter May's island books and Olsen-Adler's section Q novels . Mike Dunn

Twists and Turns

Great Book. Good Characters. Loads of twists and turns. Exciting. Well read. Fun.

Good story

I wasn't crazy about the narrator but the storyline kept me interested. The narrators pronunciation of the as thee and long A for a just bothered me for some reason, and his intonation and pace just didn't seem to fit the characters and story.

Cops and kid

I went through that very quickly, and almost liked it. I somehow can't stand the main cop hero, he seemed too obsessed and didn't know how to deal with the kid,

Enthralling

Very well written and difficult to turn off! I would have rated it a 5 but wasn't crazy about the ending.

Great story, not so great narration

I read several reviews before I bought the book and for the first few hours I was fine with the narrator. I thought the negative remarks had been exaggerated but no, they weren’t. He got so much worse as the book went on but by that time the story had me hooked and I had to finish. I read one complaint about how he pronounced “the” rather than “thu” and oh my goodness, that drove me crazy!! Loved the story though so I’m not upset with the purchase.

Half way through

I've made it half way through the book but the childlike narration is driving me up the wall. The story has me hooked but I'll probably end up buying the hard copy to finish it!!

My 8 year old could have narrated better

The story is good but almost not good enough to endure the ridiculous narration. Some previous comments mention the bad Southern accent but as a true Southerner, the accent is not what's so bad, it's the enunciation. AY-Way, AY-gain, OH-mah-lawd. Scott Sowers should not be able to read a grocery list much less a book for purchase.
I listened to Redemption Road and liked the author enough to try another title. I enjoyed the story of The Last Child enough that I might try listening again should it be re-released with a different narrator. It's possible I've missed so much of the actual story just trying to get past the horror of the reading. I did speed the narration to 2x and it was better.
Buy this book in paper or electronic format but not from Audible. .

I loved this story and how it was told.

I loved this story and how it was told.


The story held my attention. I don't live in the midwest, I live in Hawaii. And when you read a story of a far away place, you want to be taken their. Scott Sowers narration added depth to John Hart's story. It was as if the boy was telling me the story. His town, his sister, his family. The stutter the timing, you don't get that in a book. And as emotional and gut wrenching as the story subject matter was. It was well written. And it was a story well told. I would listen to this story again. I love Audible.

Great story

Probably one of the best story I have ever read, but oh so very sad!