The Last Girl (THE LAST TRILOGY, #1)

by Michael Adams

Everyone looked like bad actors in a poorly dubbed movie. Their expressions didn't match their emotions and their lips didn't sync with what they were saying. But they were all so loud.God-he-looks-hot-Can't-she's-my-best-friend-How'd-she-lose-that-weight-No-don't-you-dare-Oh-no-please-The end of the world happens in the blink of an eye.When The Snap sweeps the globe, everyone can instantly hear everything that 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 instead initiates the apocalypse.Sixteen-year-old Danby Armstrong's telepathy works very differently. She can tune into other people but they can't tune into her. With only this slender defence, Danby must protect her little brother and reach the safety of her mother's mountain retreat. But it's 100 kilometres away and the highways are blocked by thousands of cars and surrounded by millions of people coming apart at the psychic seams.Danby's escape is made even more dangerous by another cataclysm that threatens humanity's extinction.
And her ability to survive this new world will be tested by a charismatic young man whose power to save lives may be worse than death itself.'If you're looking for a great Australian YA read over summer, treat yourself to a copy of Michael Adams' post-apocalyptic page-turner, The Last Girl' Margot McGovern, reviewer for Australian Book Review

• ISBN13: 9781743316368
• Publish Date: 1 October 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 March 2021
• Publish Country: AU
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Imprint: A&U Children
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: https://allenandunwin.com/browse/books/9781743316368

Reviews

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2013/11/the-last-girl-by-michael-adams.html
The Last Girl was unlike anything I've read before. It was intense, on edge and I absolutely loved it. The story takes place in Sydney, where The Snap occurred and suddenly the population's thoughts were being broadcast to family, friends and neighbours. Affairs were exposed, buried secrets making themselves known, and it's clear that most everyone has held back the truth at one point of another, culminating in a catastrophic explosion which was too much to bear. The atrocities that Danby and special needs brother Evan witnessed were confronting and terrifying, Michael Adams created a world that was self destructing and didn't hold back. I can't recall how many scenes through the initial few chapters after The Snap where I read with my hand over my mouth, but it was brilliant.

Too often young adult authors assume that the intended audience only ever want to read about a dashing love interest or a hero or heroine swinging in to save the day, but this was raw and the emotional reactions were realistic and what you would expect during what people believe is the end of the world. This is what young adult should be about, a slow building and well crafted story that will leave you breathless and on the edge of your seat. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more, Michael Adams slaps me over the head with and ending that I now can't stop wondering about. I can't bring myself to read The Last Shot sneak peek, it's dangling a carrot when I'm desperately after the whole vegetable garden.