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THE LAST GIRL

Michael Adams

A post-apocalyptic novel for our times: a brilliantly imagined and unsettling exploration of the notion of true connectivity.
"I-didn’t-say-that-out-loud!-Can’t-believe-you-think-You-cheated-you-Get-out-my-head-Too-loud-No-don’t-please-Hate-me-why?Only-I-can’t!-Can’t!-No-no-knife!" When The Snap happens on Christmas morning, everyone can suddenly hear everything everyone else is thinking. As secrets and lies are laid bare, suburbs and cities explode into insanity and violence. What might have been an evolutionary leap for humanity instead threatens the end of the world. But the telepathy works very differently for sixteen-year-old Danby Armstrong: while she can read other people’s minds, they can‘t read hers. Not that it’s much comfort because two of The Snap’s first victims are her father and stepmother. Forced to fend for herself and her half-brother, Danby believes the only safe haven may be her mother’s mountain retreat. But between Sydney and Shadow Valley there are one hundred kilometres of highway blocked by thousands of cars and surrounded by millions of people coming apart at the psychic seams. The Last Girl is Michael Adams' debut novel. He has worked as local newspaper hack, telemarketing jerk, video store clerk, nervous Third World war-zone correspondent, pool boy, schlock movie actor and ice cream scooper until he glommed onto magazine writing, specifically writing film criticism for Empire magazine. He has also written for television and a memoir about a year watching the worst films in the world, Showgirls, Teen Wolves and Astro Zombies.
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Published 2013-10-01 by Allen & Unwin

Comments

Yes, it’s “Young Adult” but this doesn’t skimp on smart intrigue or sharp menace... and the opening conflagration is magnificent.

... gripping and fast-paced, with exciting action scenes. Danby is a strong and resourceful character. This is a dark book with several violent and uncomfortable scenes, and as such is suited for older readers seeking an exciting read.

'The Last Girl is not for the squeamish. The apocalypse has come, it’s not nuclear, not climate change, not poverty and over population, not an invasion from outer space...it’s connectivity. ... A page-turner that is set in a future that is only just around the corner. Danby is Australia’s Katniss Everdeen, a kick-ass reluctant heroine that you just keep rooting for.

As this original and provocative story started to unfold it was Michael Adams’s impressive storytelling skills that made my jaw drop. How he handled the numerous perspectives, the unravelling disaster, the complex morality and ethics of the new world, and yet anchored us so closely to Danby and her plight made it clear we were in the hands of one of the most exciting new writers of fiction for young adults today.

Wow. Everyone needs to run out and grab a copy of this epic book as soon as possible!