And now a book review....

I don't usually read this genre of novel, but I thought I'd give it a try for some guiltless summer reading.  I didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into this one and as it came with a few recommendations I thought, why not?  The book is The Last Child by John Hart.  It is a suspenseful,. mystery, thriller type novel set in a small town in North Carolina.  When you are becoming a teacher they tell that any time you need to make contact with parents to start off with the good stuff, so that is what I'm going to do here.  The book was a nice, easy read.  The story was opaque enough to keep me wanting to read on and solve the mystery.  And that is the most important thing to succeed at with this type of book.  The two main characters: Johnny Merrimon a devastated young man, and Clyde Hunt a police officer with a little too much compassion, are rich and tragically flawed.  They are fairly one-dimensional and their motivations are a bit transparent, but you still get caught up in their lives, and you do feel for them.  You feel their pain, and frustration.  The story is laid out in a very linear fashion, bouncing to different perspectives of the same police investigation.  Sometimes the reader will be with Johnny and sometimes the reader will be seeing things through the eyes of Clyde.  It is a good approach for this type of book.  Parts of the ending are somewhat obvious, but there are enough things that keep you guessing that make it a satisfying finish.  I was no disappointed and found myself well entertained.  I feel like the author was trying to really stretch out of his mold by bringing in symbolism and bits of history.  Both of these things were poorly executed.  The imagery of the crows was just too overt and it felt like it was added for effect instead of being organic to the story.  The history about black slavery was interesting but was not explored or incorporated to its full potential.  All in all this was an entertaining read and every time I picked the book up I had a hard time to put it down.  And in the end isn't that all we can ask from a book??  Ok so some of us like more depth and we like a book that makes us think, or changes our perspective, or changes our lives if we are really lucky, but I don't think every book needs to be that profound.  Sometimes it is ok to take a walk on the leisurely side of the street.