The Last Thing You’ll Hear – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Music, family, summer, festival, relationship.
YA book title: The Last Thing You’ll Hear.
YA author: Jan Dunning.
YA illustrator: Dan Couto.
Genre: YA fiction.
Published by: Scholastic.
ISBN: 9780702332937.
Recommended for children aged: 14+ year-olds.
First published: Paperback June 2024.
This children’s book is ideal for musical, festival-loving literary adventurers!
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Our review:
A gripping, compelling, and tantalising read, The Last Thing You’ll Hear is a summer must-read for any musical, festival-loving literary adventurer! This summer thriller has it all: musical undertones, family overtones, and an enthralling will-they-won’t-they budding relationship!
The characters are well-crafted and credible; thinking, living, and interacting in highly relatable ways as they navigate all the usual relationship, school, and social issues, all whilst attempting to solve several complex potential murders!
Each chapter gradually develops the complex personalities of the characters. As a reader, getting to know them bit by bit feels so authentic as your assumptions are proved or disproved in realistic scenarios. What is most endearing about the character constructs are the various true-to-life challenges they face and surmount in their own unique ways, offering hope and inspiration to the reader. We all have our own battles; the overriding message of the novel is that there is strength to be gained from adversity. The author doesn’t make the read an easy one, but it is certainly thought-provoking and ultimately thoroughly rewarding!
The whole spectrum of emotions is awoken in the reader—comfort and happiness soon become challenged by uncertainty, fear, vulnerability, jealousy, manipulation, and hatred before they are re-established on a firmer footing. Whilst teasing and tempting you, the novel delivers key life lessons about who or what you allow to influence you and how easy it is to fall under the influence, whether that’s of a person, place, or object. The resounding message is that when we are at our lowest, friends and family can help us find our wings again.
Whilst the main action is steeped in the traditional domestic setting, there are some really engaging and symbolic moments surrounded by nature. Here again, the author emphasises the multi-faceted nature of the characters as they piece the evidence together based on their well-honed observational skills. The keener-eyed reader may spot some of the hooks the author throws us, but they are easy to miss! The end result is a complex narrative patchwork with lots of ‘ah-ha’ moments at the end!
Underpinned by several complex and multi-faceted sub-plots, the main storyline develops through melodies, refrains, and a compelling tempo to neatly entwine all narratives in a somewhat unexpected twist of an ending. Will Wren get her Prince? Will Lark continue to spread her wings or be snared forever by Spinner? Twists, turns, crescendos and forte moments bring this masterful composition to an artful finale!
The Last Thing You’ll Hear is well-written, intelligent, and sophisticated. Do read this literary composition and relish every tuneful moment!
Many thanks to Scholastic for the review copy.
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If you like The Last Thing You’ll Hear by Jan Dunning you might also like: our reviews of The Virtue Season by L.M. Nathan, Wild East by Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley, The Heart of the World by Amie Kaufman and Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.
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