Hart writes with such raw emotion about something so difficult. The writing itself is beautiful, concise, gripping, pick your favorite overused cliche but it really is. While writing may not be the most noticeable aspect of a story with some authors, when it is, it should be for a good reason, for the quality, the style etc. I have some authors I read for the story; quick, easy, full of action. Lee Child comes to mind. But with an author whose writing style I enjoy, that is largely what makes me decide to read their work. Before I read my first John Hart novel, Iron House, E.L. Doctorow was one of the only authors who fell into that generalization. Don’t get me wrong, Doctorow has plot on par with his writing although when I would like to get lost in the writing, that doesn’t mean as much to me. Another author that would come to mind is Stephen King. I know he doesn’t have much to do with mysteries (and I am not even going to get into the Mr. Mercedes mess at this point), King just has a way of influencing my opinion on certain shit. A while back someone mentioned how descriptive King was. It took me a minute and a couple pages of skimming through my latest King read before I agreed with them. The way Stephen King writes while certainly not what most people would call elegant, is quite subtle, repetitive and beautiful in its own right. I suppose I could give a bit of an example of the three authors I’ve mentioned, not completely necessary but if you haven’t had the pleasure of one or any of the three, then why not?E.L. Doctorow:People my age are supposed to remember times long past though they can’t recall what happened yesterday. My memories of our long-dead parents are considerably dimmed, as if having fallen further and further back in time has made them smaller, with less visible detail as if time has become space, become distance, and figures from the past, even your father and mother, are too far away to be recognized. -Homer and LangleyStephen King:Tango-light, he thought. The kind of light that makes the dead get up out of their graves and tango. The kind of light- -Everything’s Eventual, 1408John Hart:Asphalt cut the country like a scar, a long, hot burn of razor-black. Heat had not yet twisted the air, but the driver knew it was coming, the scorching glare, the shimmer at the far place where blue hammered down. -The Last ChildNow, how about the book itself. The Last Child was something. There aren’t words enough to do it justice, or if there are, it would take a better writer than me. Considering that there were only 25,000 words in Old English and currently a desktop dictionary holds about 100,000 I could try though. I have mentioned Harts writing style (preached on it, practically) but that hasn’t said much for his characterization, the story itself and the narrative twists Hart has so deftly executed. The characters Hart has fleshed out are just that, flesh and blood as much as the words allow. They go beyond their position of ink and paper, into the real enough to worry about kind of characters. Hart has a gift with words, with language and how he uses them. And I suppose that is as little and as much as it amounts to. I can’t say much for the ending or for the twists but they are worth the read and at times, worth the wait. Highly recommended and a damn good read. I read this book some time ago and recently came back to it - there are very few books that can make me do that - but this is one of them. Hart is a strong minded, determined writer and his works can reel you in surprisingly quickly. Reviewers have said this is one of the best books they've come across in a long time, for me, the same can be said, though I strongly feel that there are also better ones out there waiting for me to discover.
What do You think about A Última Criança (2011)?
First book to totally hook me in awhile. Could not put it down. Human nature knows no boundaries.
—thorntonjt
This book dragged a little, but the characters were great, and the end was worth the wait.
—John
A good thriller. Although fairly unbelievable at the end, I still found myself absorbed.
—Stacy
One of the first books in my book club and we couldn't put it down.
—Betha
