Staff Pick
You can read and enjoy Last Kid Left on a lot of levels — it's a compelling mystery, a bold and poignant exploration of the myriad ways in which social media and online celebrity complicate and corrupt our everyday lives and perceptions, and a heartbreaking meditation on the haunting effects loss and the sins of our parents can have on our relationships and our decisions. I haven't read a book both this expansive or this compulsively readable in a long time. Recommended By Tim B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
When a scandalous small-town crime goes viral, a teen girl takes center stage in the story of a 21st century Puritan witch-hunt
The Last Kid Left begins when a car smashes into a sculpture of a giant cowgirl. The police find two bodies in the trunk. 19-year-old Nick Toussaint Jr. is arrested for murder, and after details of the crime rip across the internet, his 16-year-old girlfriend, Emily Portis a sheltered teen who s been off the grid until now, her first romance coinciding with her first cellphone is nearly consumed by a public hungry for every lurid detail, accurate or not.
Emily and Nick are not the only ones whose lives come unmoored. A retired police officer latches onto the case. Nick s alcoholic mother is thrust into an unfamiliar role. A young journalist who left her hometown behind is pulled into the fray. And Emily s father, the town Sheriff, is finally forced to confront a monstrous secret.
The Last Kid Left is a bold, searching novel about how our relationships operate in a hyper-connected world, an expertly-portrayed account of tragedy turned mercilessly into entertainment. And it s the suspenseful unwinding of a crime that s more complex than it initially seems. But mostly it s the story of two teenagers, dismantled by circumstances and rotten luck, who are desperate to believe that love is enough to save them.
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Synopsis
One of The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2017
When a scandalous small-town crime goes viral, a teen girl takes center stage in Rosecrans Baldwin's story of a twenty-first century Puritan witch-hunt
The Last Kid Left begins when a car smashes into a sculpture of a giant cowgirl. The police find two bodies in the trunk. 19-year-old Nick Toussaint Jr. is arrested for murder, and after details of the crime rip across the internet, his 16-year-old girlfriend, Emily Portis--a sheltered teen who's been off the grid until now, her first romance coinciding with her first cellphone--is nearly consumed by a public hungry for every lurid detail, accurate or not.
Emily and Nick are not the only ones whose lives come unmoored. A retired police officer latches onto the case. Nick's alcoholic mother is thrust into an unfamiliar role. A young journalist who left her hometown behind is pulled into the fray. And Emily's father, the town Sheriff, is finally forced to confront a monstrous secret.
The Last Kid Left is a bold, searching novel about how our relationships operate in a hyper-connected world, an expertly-portrayed account of tragedy turned mercilessly into entertainment. And it's the suspenseful unwinding of a crime that's more complex than it initially seems. But mostly it's the story of two teenagers, dismantled by circumstances and rotten luck, who are desperate to believe that love is enough to save them.