It's A Mystery Blog

Tag: The Bestseller Code 100 (Page 16 of 17)

#BestsellerCode100: The Last Child Wrap-Up Poll

01/13/2017 / / 0 Comments

Time to wrap up the discussion of our latest novel from The Bestseller Code 100 list,  The Last Child by John Hart. The conversation started here.

Note: Post does not contain spoilers.

The Last Child* by John Hart

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

We are reading these books because they were picked by the computer algorithm in The Bestseller Code by Jodie Archer and Matthew L. Jockers as the best of the bestsellers.  Do you agree with the computer that this book should be on the list?  Why or why not?

 What was your final opinion of The Last Child?

 

[yop_poll id=”5″]

Join us on social media:

__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 95. The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan (2011) – Discussion begins January 16, 2017

#BestsellerCode100: A Writer’s Review of The Last Child

01/11/2017 / / 4 Comments

Let’s take a look at The Last Child by John Hart from a writer’s perspective. (The discussion began here).

Note:  Post contains spoilers.

The Last Child* by John Hart

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Summary:  Johnny Merrimon’s twin sister disappeared a year ago when she was seen being dragged into a van. Now everyone seems to think she’s dead. Thirteen-year-old Johnny can’t give up on her, though, so he decides to start a search of his own. Will he be able to figure out what happened to her without becoming a victim himself?

1. Character Development

John Hart has made some incredibly interesting choices regarding characters in The Last Child. His protagonist is a thirteen-year-old boy named Johnny Merrimon, even though a teenage protagonist  is unusual for a novel intended for adults. The antagonist is a rich bully named Ken Holloway who is abusing Johnny’s mother. She would probably be best described as an impact character. Johnny’s sidekick is a boy his age, Jack Cross.

This book is an excellent example of how to write a contagonist. If you are not familiar with the term, a contagonist is a character who is on the protagonist’s side, but often gets in the way or meddles preventing the protagonist from easily reaching his or her goal. Reading the blurb on the back, you might assume Detective Clyde Hunt will mentor Johnny during his search for his missing sister. That is not the case. Instead his well-intentioned interference leads Johnny to go underground and to take bigger risks.

What did you think of the teenage protagonist? Would an older protagonist have worked as well?

Dialogue

The author’s strength in this novel is his descriptions. I love how the dialogue flows with, between, and around the action.

At twenty-five minutes after six, Hunt’s phone rang. It was his son. Hunt recognized the number and flinched. With all that was going on he’d not thought of the boy. Not even once. “Hello, Allen.”
“You didn’t come home”
Hunt moved back onto the porch. He looked at the flat, gray sky, pictured his son’s face. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“You coming home for breakfast?”
Hunt’s guilt intensified. The kid was trying to make things right between them. “I can’t.

Doesn’t that flow beautifully?

sandhill carolina setting The Last Child

(Photo by Jack Culpepper, USFWS, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license and retrieved from Wikimedia.)

2. Setting

The Last Child is set in the Sandhills region of southeastern North Carolina. The setting plays a big part in this book, and the descriptions are rich and active.

The trail bent to the high ground and Levi used his free hand to pull on roots and saplings to get him up the slick clay. He dug in the edges of his shoes for traction. When he reached the high, flat stretch, he stopped to catch his breath; and when he started again, the river lights winked out behind the willows and the ash, the sweet gums and the long-fingered pines.

3. Themes in The Last Child

Because this is a genre thriller, we might not expect the themes to be as well developed as we might find in literary fiction. Once again, John Hart surprises us. Interwoven is a very strong theme of faith.  When his sister first went missing, Johnny prayed for three things. When those things didn’t seem to be realized, he explored alternatives, even at the risk of alienating his friends and family.

Johnny looked at his friend, and knew, without a doubt, that Jack could never understand Johnny’s desperate need to believe in something more powerful than his own two hands.

4. Voice

As said previously, the authors voice is like the salad dressing on the salad because it adds flavor. John Hart’s voice is rich and savory. It is distinctive, yet at the same time easy to read. In fact, it reminds me of rolling hills, lilting up and gliding down. Or gentle waves, spilling over and coursing on and on.

Conclusion: 

From a writer’s perspective, John Hart uses tools from the writer’s toolbox in some innovative ways. He offers many things to study and emulate.

I want to read more books by John Hart.

What about you? What are your thoughts?

 

You can also join us on social media:

__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 95. The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan (2011) – Discussion begins January 16, 2017

#BestsellerCode100: Reader’s Review The Last Child by John Hunt

01/09/2017 / / 1 Comment

Let’s take a look at The Last Child by John Hunt from a Reader’s Perspective.

This post contains spoilers.

John Hunt’s The Last Child*

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

The Last Child, by John Hunt, is the fifth book we have read for the 100 Bestsellers List reading challenge.  Like Shutter Island, the first book we read, The Last Child is a Mystery / Thriller, but that’s where the similarity ends.   In the first book, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels, is sent to Shutter Island, a hospital for the criminally insane, to locate a lost inmate.  By the end of the book, though, we come away uncertain about who Teddy really is – the strong, capable law enforcement agent or an inmate himself who created his own reality as a way to deflect dealing with a tragedy in his life.

In The Last Child, Johnny Merrimon is a thirteen-year-old boy who has endured unimaginable losses and pain over the past year – his twin sister, Alyssa, was kidnapped and never found; his father, unable to handle the grief, ran off; his mother, Katherine, has withdrawn into a haze of drugs and alcohol; and his mother’s boyfriend physically and emotionally abuses both Katherine and Johnny.  And yet, through it all, Johnny exhibits perseverance, dogged determination, and an inner strength that seems to elude most of the adults in his life.  Johnny believes that his twin is still alive, and when a second girl is kidnapped, Johnny redoubles his search for her.  This search unearths dark secrets in this small North Carolinian town, secrets others are willing to kill to keep.

Author John Hunt covers a number of adult topics through the character of young Johnny – grief, abuse, sex predators, family love, hope, faith, friendship, sin, courage – topics we don’t want to think that a thirteen-year-old should have to deal with, and yet I found Johnny,  both his thoughts and actions, very believable.  I felt his pain, understood his determination, marveled at his unfailing belief that his sister was still alive, and hoped beyond hope that he would be able to find her.

I won’t reveal the outcome, but I did appreciate the fact that all the loose ends were neatly tied up at the end of the book.  Likely that is one reason I thought The Last Child was the best of the five bestsellers we have read so far – no open-ended, “what to you think happened?” ending.

I also really appreciated Hunt’s ability to write about his native state of North Carolina with such great intimacy.  Many scenes in the book take place in the countryside – riverbeds, forests, abandoned homesteads, swamps, old cemeteries – and his writing took me back to childhood hikes through woods, wading in the stream behind our house, and finding refuge in a nearby cemetery.  He evoked the smell of a decaying forest bed, the slippery danger of moss along the rocky stream, the sudden warning silences of birds in the trees.  The only other author I’ve read recently that really made me “feel” the setting was Pat Conroy with his Prince of Tides.

The Last Child most certainly belongs on this list of 100 Bestsellers, and it will most certainly NOT be the last book I read by John Hunt.  I’ve added all of his books to my Goodreads “want to read” list and intend to find the time to read them soon.

What did you think of The Last Child? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Related posts:

  1. The Last Child landing page
  2. Book-beginnings, a discussion of the first line of the novel
  3. Roberta’s review from a writer’s perspective

After you finish the book, you might want to drop by to take our survey.

 

You can also join us on social media:

Do you have suggestions for ways to improve this reading challenge? We’d love to hear them.

_________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 95 on the list, The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan (2011) – Discussion begins January 16, 2017.

#BestsellerCode100 Discussion: The Last Child by John Hart

01/02/2017 / / 1 Comment

Time to start the discussion of our next novel from The Bestseller Code 100 list, The Last Child by John Hart. This heart-wrenching thriller won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2010.

Note:  Post does not contain spoilers.

The Last Child* by John Hart

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Summary:  Johnny Merrimon’s twin sister disappeared a year ago when she was seen being dragged into a van. Now everyone seems to think she’s dead. Thirteen-year-old Johnny can’t give up on her, though, so he decides to start a search of his own. Will he be able to figure out what happened to her without becoming a victim himself?

Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 9, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0312642369
ISBN-13: 978-0312642365

bestseller-code-100-96-John-Hart-Last-Child

Did you read John Hart’s  The Last Child? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Related posts:

  1. Book-beginnings, a discussion of the first line or paragraph of the novel
  2. Karen’s review from a reader’s perspective
  3. Roberta’s review from a writer’s perspective
  4. After you finish the book, you might want to drop by to take our survey.

You can also join us on social media:

Do you have suggestions for ways to improve this reading challenge? We’d love to hear them.

Have you written about The Last Child? Feel free to add a link to your review or discussion here.


__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 95. The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan (2011) – Discussion begins January 16, 2017

#BestsellerCode100: Little Bee Wrap-Up Poll

12/31/2016 / / 0 Comments

Time to wrap up the discussion of our latest novel from The Bestseller Code 100 list,  Little Bee by Chris Cleave. The conversation started here.

Chris Cleave’s Little Bee: A Novel*

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

We are reading these books because they were picked by the computer algorithm in The Bestseller Code by Jodie Archer and Matthew L. Jockers as the best of the bestsellers.  Do you agree with the computer that this book should be on the list?  Why or why not?

 What was your final opinion of Little Bee?

 

[yop_poll id=”4″]

Join us on social media:

__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 96 on the list,The Last Child by John Hart (2009) – Discussion begins Monday January 2, 2017

#BestsellerCode100: Reader’s Review of Little Bee by Chris Cleave

12/30/2016 / / 2 Comments

Let’s take a look at Little Bee by Chris Cleave from a Reader’s Perspective.

This post contains spoilers.

 

Chris Cleave’s Little Bee


(*Amazon affiliate link)

Little Bee by Chris Cleave is the fourth book we’ve read from The Bestseller Code’s 100 Bestsellers List and yet again, we are presented with a novel that is quite unlike the previous books we’ve read.  Little Bee is a 16-year-old female refugee whom we first meet in an Immigration Detention Centre in England, although we don’t learn her exact age until quite late in the book. Little Bee’s story is a difficult one to read – you know something horrific happened in her Nigerian homeland, and while she can hardly bear to relate the events, facing those horrific memories, along with the resulting pain and emotional turmoil, is integral to her story.  She must face it all, and so, thus, must we.

The second main character is Sarah Summers, a thirtyish magazine editor living in a London suburb, whose life became intertwined with Little Bee’s when Sarah and her husband were “on holiday” in Nigeria.  She, too, has her own memories to face and life decisions to make.  Can Little Bee & Sarah deal with their past?  And, if so, how will their decisions impact their futures?

I cannot remember when I last felt this emotional while reading a novel.  I found myself reading Little Bee in small chugs, sometimes only a few paragraphs, and then setting it aside for hours or a day before picking it back up again.  I needed that time to deal with the swirl of emotions – dread, anxiety, fear, confusion, horror, anger – before I could pick the story back up and read some more.

The blurb on the back cover of the book tells very little about the story:

  We don’t want to tell you too much about this book.  It is a truly special story, and we don’t want to spoil it.  Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:

It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.  The story starts there, but the book doesn’t.  And it’s what happens afterward that is most important.  Once you have read it, you will want to tell everyone about it.  Please don’t tell them what happens.  The magic is in how it unfolds.

To be honest, I don’t remember anywhere in the book that was “extremely funny.”  The only levity I remember is from Sarah Summer’s four-year-old son, Charlie, who clings to the belief that, as Batman, he can overcome the “baddies” of the world.  Without Charlie, Little Bee would be impossible to read.

Little Bee is the story of any refugee from any land at any time.  It is certainly a story for our time.  And while the story is painful and difficult to read, the author leaves us with hope – if not for Little Bee herself, then for all the Little Bees and all the Charlies yet to come.

What did you think of Little Bee? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Related posts:

  1. Little Bee Landing Page
  2. Book-beginnings, a discussion of the first line of the novel
  3. Roberta’s review from a writer’s perspective

After you finish the book, you might want to drop by to take our survey.

 

You can also join us on social media:

Do you have suggestions for ways to improve this reading challenge? We’d love to hear them.

__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 96 on the list, The Last Child by John Hart (2009) – Discussion begins January 2, 2017.

 

#BestsellerCode100: Writer’s Review of Little Bee by Chris Cleave

12/27/2016 / / 2 Comments

Let’s take a look at Little Bee by Chris Cleave from a writer’s perspective.  Discussion of this novel began here.

Note:  Post contains spoilers.

Chris Cleave’s Little Bee: A Novel* 

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Summary:  The novel explores the relationship between a young Nigerian illegal immigrant and recently widowed suburban Londoner.  Although this book was first published in 2008 (as The Other Hand), it is still relevant today.

1. Plot/Structure

Writers often ask how a novel is structured or plotted.  Does the author tell the story in three acts, as a hero’s journey, or use some other structure? Does the writer spin out the story chronologically or through flashbacks?

In Little Bee, Cleave uses a convoluted series of flashbacks to tell the main story. It unfolds in overlapping layers, like the author sliced through the bulb of an onion without knowing exactly which layer would be revealed at any given moment. When someone without training or practice tells a story they often circle around, backtrack, etc. instead of telling it straight through. By starting in the middle of events and revealing the beginning through glimpses of backstory, the author makes the whole thing seem like it is being told by a real person. It becomes more personal and also more believable.

2. Character Development

Unlike our last book, which had a plethora of characters, Cleave concentrates on two women. Little Bee is the alias of a young woman from Nigeria who has come to Britain illegally.  Sarah O’Rouke/Summers is a recently-widowed young mother who works on a magazine. The story alternates between their two points of view.

Generally writers stick to one point of view during a scene so they don’t confuse their readers. In one critical section Cleave flaunts that rule by changing point of view without warning. Instead of having one character fade, he simply changes perspective from one sentence to the next. It’s a bold move, but it emphasizes how the story is both their stories.

Dialogue

Author Chris Cleave is a white male journalist, but he is able to make his two female main characters — one of whom is black — sound realistic by giving them  different voices. Other characters have distinctive voices, as well.

In this scene Little Bee is talking with another refugee. Notice how formal Little Bee’s English is.

“Mi name is Yevette. From Jamaica, zeen. You useful, darlin. What they call yu?”
“My name is Little Bee.”
“What kinda name yu call dat?”
“It is my name.”
“What kind of place yu come from, dey go roun callin little gals de names of insects?”
“Nigeria.”

One reviewer said Sarah’s voice was less believable because she sounded masculine, implying that Cleave let his own voice creep in. I disagree. It seemed to me that Sarah sounded grief-stricken instead. She was trying to keep her emotions in check, but she had been knocked off her feet by her husband’s death.  She sounded bottled up.

What did you think of Sarah’s voice as a character? What about Little Bee’s?

 

writer's-food-seller-nigeria

Photo credit: International Livestock Research Institute via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

3. Setting (Scene Execution)

The book is set in England, primarily a suburb of London, and also Nigeria. Cleave has a deft touch with setting, giving the reader a feeling of place without too many overwhelming details.

When Little Bee leaves the detention center after two years, she sees:

The English countryside stretched away to the horizon. Soft mist was hanging in the valleys, and the tops of the low hills were gold in the morning sun, and I smiled because the whole world was fresh and new and bright.

4. Theme

Little Bee is considered to be literary fiction so, as we would expect, it has strongly-developed themes. The central theme of this book is the experiences of illegal immigrants.  It explores why immigrants come to England and how they are treated. It also explores relationships.

Conclusions:

Once again, this book is completely unlike the others we have read to this point. It has a limited cast of characters. In contrast to the previous books, it is difficult to read in places because of the extreme emotional impact of the words. The plot is layered like an onion, and also like an onion, it might make you cry.

What did you think of Little Bee?

 

__________________________________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 96, The Last Child by John Hart (2009) – Discussion begins January 2, 2017

#BestsellerCode100: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

12/19/2016 / / 1 Comment

Time to start the discussion of novel 97 from The Bestseller Code 100 list, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, previously published as The Other Hand.

This post does not contain spoilers.

Little Bee: A Novel* by Chris Cleave

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Summary:  The novel explores the relationship between a young Nigerian refugee and suburban Londoner who was recently widowed.

From the Amazon page for the book:

“We don’t want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it.”

 

bestseller-code-100-97-little-bee

What did you think of Little Bee? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Related posts (upcoming throughout the next two weeks):

  1. Book-beginnings, a discussion of the first line of the novel
  2. Karen’s review from a reader’s perspective
  3. Roberta’s review from a writer’s perspective
  4.  After you finish the book, you might want to drop by to take our survey about whether you thought this novel belonged on the list of the best of the bestsellers.

You can also join us on social media:

Have you written about Little Bee? Feel free to add a link to your review here.


__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 96. The Last Child by John Hart (2009) – Discussion begins January 2, 2017

#BestsellerCode100: Joe Klein’s Primary Colors Wrap-Up Poll

12/17/2016 / / 0 Comments

Time to wrap up the discussion of our latest novel from The Bestseller Code 100 list,  Primary Colors by Joe Klein. The conversation started here.

Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics* by Joe Klein

(*Amazon affiliate link)

We are reading these books because they were picked by the computer algorithm in The Bestseller Code by Jodie Archer and Matthew L. Jockers as the best of the bestsellers.  Do you agree with the computer that this book should be on the list?  Why or why not?

 What did you think of Primary Colors?

 

[yop_poll id=”3″]

Join us on social media:

__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 97 on the list, Little Bee by Chris Cleave (2008) – Discussion begins Monday December 19, 2016

#Bestseller Code100: Primary Colors by Joe Klein From A Reader’s Perspective

12/16/2016 / / 2 Comments

As part of our ongoing challenge to read through the 100 best of the bestsellers as listed in The Bestseller Code by Jodie Archer and Matthew L. Jockers, let’s take a look at Primary Colors, by Joe Klein, from a Reader’s Perspective.  (Discussion is rounded-up here.)

This post contains spoilers.

Joe Klein’s Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics*

(*Amazon affiliate link)

 

We have now read 3 of the 100 potential bestsellers listed in The Bestseller Code:

#100 – Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane

#99 – State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett

#98 – Primary Colors, by Joe Klein

Even though the algorithm discussed in The Bestseller Code considered the same parameters, these three books illustrated just how diverse a result can come out of those parameters.  Shutter Island is a mystery/thriller, where the weather and the sea (water) are a main theme and everything looks gray and feels damp and dreary.  State of Wonder is a literary adventure where the Amazon (both the river and the jungle) is a main theme, providing color with plants, animals, and the indigenous tribes.

Primary Colors, a political novel, is infused with its own distinctive color – colorful language, colorful descriptions of rooms, and colorful descriptions of the character’s clothing.  The story is told mainly through dialogue – so much dialogue!  As an introvert, I was almost overwhelmed with the onslaught of dialogue.   And then there’s the number of characters introduced – so many that the book really should come with a list of them.

In Primary Colors, Henry Burton becomes an integral member of Jack Stanton’s presidential campaign.   Jack Stanton is the Democratic governor of a small southern state, the penultimate politician, who has aspired to be President all his life.  His wife Susan, whom he met in law school, helps direct his campaign.   Is this sounding familiar?  If not, consider that the book was written in the mid-90s, a couple of years after William Jefferson Clinton’s first successful run for the Oval Office.  Joe Klein was a political journalist for 25 years when he wrote Primary Colors, and it is evident that he had the inside scoop on the world of politics and how politicians think and operate.

Reading Primary Colors right after this year’s Presidential Election was almost surreal – then again, this year’s election WAS surreal.  Maybe it was the timing, but I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.  I gained some insight into the synergistic relationship between politicians and the media.  And it also gave me pause to consider how we American’s love to build up our political candidates and then just as quickly turn on them, finding all the faults and flaws, and then magnifying them to the extreme.  I don’t know how politicians handle the scrutiny.  And does that scrutiny really gain us anything – do the very best candidates withstand the scrutiny?  Or only those that have the toughest skins?

The version of Primary Colors that I read had an afterword by the author.  The last few paragraphs of the afterword were most noteworthy:

People often ask me what the Clintons thought of the book.  I’m not sure.  The president did ask me once, after one of the end-of-administration-interviews he’d granted me, why I’d written it.  “Well, I saw it as a tribute to larger-than-life politicians,” I said, which was the truth.

The first lady snorted derisively.  “Well, First Lady,” I said to her, “would you rather have a larger-than-life president or a smaller-than-life president?”

She shrugged in agreement, and I pressed the case: “And larger-than-life politicians have larger-than-life strengths and larger-than-life weaknesses.”

Mrs. Clinton nodded at me with a twinkle, then looked over at her husband, and said, “That’s for sure.”

 Like I said, given this past year’s presidential election, surreal.

Related posts:

  1. Book-beginnings, a discussion of the first line of the novel
  2. Roberta’s review from a writer’s perspective

 

You can also join us on social media:

Do you have suggestions for ways to improve this reading challenge? We’d love to hear them.
__________________

What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 97 on the list, Little Bee by Chris Cleave (2008) – Discussion begins December 19, 2016.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 It's A Mystery Blog

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑