Michael Adams, The Last Place (The Last Trilogy #3), Allen & Unwin, April 2015, 410pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781743316740
Danby is taking on the collective Jack, the minions of the first psychotic Jack, in this new violent and ugly world. New South Wales is a place of internal war with Jack determined to locate and kill Danby, and Danby fighting back with cunning plans and brutal intensity. The events of the apocalypse have left Danby hardened and largely alone despite the company of a growing number of survivors. With Nathan’s support, she clings to the small hope that her brother can be turned back from his minion status into the little boy that he once was. In the tense climax, Danby and her followers find nature on their side and escape the hold that is on Australia.
This third book in The Last trilogy needs to be read after the other two – there’s not enough back-story to get a sense of anyone’s character and to find out what actually happened when the Snap affected Australia and the resultant telepathy caused panic, rage and finally catatonia for most of the population. The trilogy has much physical and sexual violence and Danby, at sixteen, seems to face it all without intense reflection, her concerns focused mainly on her brother’s fate.
The Last Place itself has an unusual structure, with Danby’s story told in a time lapse and finally merging about three quarters of the way through the book. This made it hard to engage with the stories and the characters as any built-up tension subsided with the telling of the next part of the other story. Reading the three books definitely makes the reader more empathetic with Danby’s situation. The ending suggests hope and perhaps even more tales about Danby’s post-apocalyptic world.
reviewed by Pam Harvey