The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan

I give this book 3 stars because the first half is definitely a 2 and the second half is a 4.


Charlie wakes up to find himself strapped to a chair in a strange, scary room and hears voices talking in the hallway, talking about him. 'He's of no use to them anymore, Kill him.' He must break loose, he must get away. Charlie is just 17 and only yesterday was walking the hallways of his high school, talking to the girl he likes, Beth, and getting ready to show his karate skills to the entire Junior class, he is a Jr. Black belt and was asked by the principal to put on the performance. Now he's fighting for his life against people he's never seen before, in a place he's never been. How did he end up here and will he make it out alive to see Beth again?

In the first half (probably more than that) of The Last Thing I Remember I was definitely put off a little by the simple and sometimes cheesy conversations Charlie was having with friends and his Sensei. The use of the word Chucklehead several times was a little strange in dialogue between a 17 yr old and a 35 yr old. It was all a little too childish, not quite a teen read, maybe more a 7-12 yr old read because of how simple minded it all was. Good is good, bad is bad and Klaven was constantly reminding the reader of which people were which. In one instance, Charlie was escaping from prison as a murderer serving 25 years having been convicted of killing his best friend (which he does not remember doing and swears he never did) and while he's running away the police never shoot at him even once as Klaven writes that they are the "good" guys and would never try to hurt anyone. A little too idealistic for someone that is old enough to think for themselves.

This is a Young Adult Christian Fiction book and definitely holds true to that label. The story is pretty simple and straight forward. There is strong Faith and Patriotism held by the Protagonist, Charlie, and he stands firm in his beliefs. He waivers in his strength as time and torture go on and he questions things a few times, but never turns his back on his love for God, family and his country. This is a YA book that I actually WOULD allow my child to read. Suspenseful, good story and nothing inappropriate at all.

Overall it was a good read, you may need to push yourself through the first 1/2 of the book but worth it in the end. The second half of the book was good, with a few small annoyances that were overlooked because the story was moving much faster and really drew me in. It took me a week to read the first half of the book because it was just irritating, it took me one night to read the second half. Overall I enjoyed this book enough that I am reading the second book right now, The Long Way Home. I've read somewhere that there is a third installment due out in November.