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grendel, June 12, 2008

More attention needs to be paid to this debut novel. Absorbing from page 1 to its conclusion, "Last Last Chance" taps into the frightening reality of 21st Century America, tackling everything from drug addiction to biological terrorism and what instigates fear responses in individuals and large groups of people.

Despite the fact that the book's heroine, Lucy Clark, is confronting (or running from) a litany of personal problems that include her own and her mother's drug addictions, a broken heart, crippling depression, and the death by suicide of her father after his unstoppable super-plague virus is stolen from a lab--threatening to wipe out most of the human race--much of this novel is hilarious.

That's because Lucy narrates the tale with deadpan cynicism and wit, completely aware of her own faults and propensity to self-destruction, while bitingly revealing the absurdity of her fellow Americans who resort to mob mentality at the first sign of trouble.

Visits to a drug rehab ranch in the most desolate part of Texas and to a kind of "outward bound" right wing Christian-cult summer camp for kids are just two examples of the hilarious side trips Lucy takes from her home in New York City as the virus spreads around the country.

And while the book could have suffered from glibness in its portrayal of a hip woman dealing with drug problems, it doesn't shy from the terrible realities of dependence and there are moments of deeply moving introspection and confession from the characters afflicted.

But "Last Last Chance" is ultimately a novel completely of and about our times, revealing people desperate to love but afraid to do so, and a country running from itself from fears both imagined and--at times--all too real.

There are also ruminations on reincarnation, the inevitability of family histories, even Norse mythology.

"Last Last Chance" is infused with humor, compassion and fresh insight into modern human frailty. It will make you laugh in one moment and send a shiver down your spine the next, and will leave you eagerly awaiting the next work from this exciting young writer.

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