Review: Andrew Klavan’s ‘The Last Thing I Remember’

The primary attraction to any Andrew Klavan novel is a well-constructed, breathlessly paced story that grabs hold within a paragraph and never lets you go. In this respect, Klavan’s a narcotics dealer, a deliverer of addictive, satisfying escapism created to transport you from reality — which in a way makes his latest thriller, “The Last Thing I Remember” a gateway drug for young adults.

Opening sentence: “Suddenly I woke up strapped to a chair.”

Strapped to that chair is Charlie West, a typically bright and motivated high school student who has no idea how he got there. The last thing he remembers is a good though unexceptional school day but nothing that connects to the where, how or why of his present and immediate circumstance. Not only has he been tortured, but voices in the hall have just decided to kill him … slowly.

From here Charlie will have to escape, out run and out-wit his deadly, resourceful captors and unravel what happened in-between scoring a first date with his dream girl and waking up in, well,  an Andrew Klavan page turner. The plot never stops moving or thickening and as the pieces come together, Charlie finds himself the only hope between … and that’s all you’re getting from me.

As fascinating as the story is, our protagonist Charlie West, a young man who rebels against lock-step conformity, questions authority and is unafraid to speak truth to power is just as fascinating because he really is all of those things.  Charlie’s a Christian who sees a satisfying future in serving his country and is unafraid to stand up to a politically correct history teacher even if it means a lower grade.

You could fill an ocean with books portraying left-wing teenagers as outsiders, but that’s about as dishonest as you can get. Assuming the anti-American, politically correct default position is The New Conformity – is creating a one-dimensional character – is about as radical as bringing aluminum cans to a recycling center.

Charlie West is not only a refreshing and original burst of fresh air, he’s an iconoclast and an alternative for parents who might like their kids to read about a hero who isn’t a one-dimensional walking leftist cliché, down on America, organized religion and all into Mother Earth.

I’m two decades older than the intended audience, not a fiction reader, nor a book reviewer, but reading something written by someone from our side who not only gets it but can do it so well is the real pleasure in all this. There are two things we conservatives concerned with the culture must do to further the cause. First, support the work created by artists sympathetic to our side. Second, support it only when it’s good.

With “The Last Thing I Remember” you’re doing both.

“The Last I Remember” is published Thomas Nelson and available tomorrow.