The Last Boy [Hardcover]

Lieberman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

Robert Lieberman, the bestselling author of Baby, as well as six other novels, has been called a "talented storyteller" by Kirkus Reviews. Now, Robert joins Sourcebooks Landmark with his stunning new novel, The Last Boy.

A spiritual thriller, this utterly compelling novel tells the story of Danny Driscoll, a huggable, enchanting five-year-old boy who one day disappears from his nursery school in Ithaca, New York. Molly, his distraught single mother, begins the feverish search for her missing son. She is aided by Lou Tripoli, a divorced, street-wise cop, with whom she begins to fall in love.

As the search stretches on for months, and hope begins to fade, a miracle occurs as little Danny Driscoll comes marching down the streets of his hometown. However, he comes back changed, mature and wise in a way that seems almost impossible for his young age. As Molly and Tripoli search for answers, the townspeople begin to notice a change in Danny, and soon discover that he returns with a message-one that offers a new hope for all of mankind.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first half of Lieberman's ecothriller is a taut police procedural. When single mother Molly Driscoll's five-year-old, Danny, goes missing apparently abducted from his day-care center streetwise investigator Lou Tripoli jumps on the case and, with Molly, exhausts every lead in the search for the boy. As the days stretch into weeks, and weeks into months, the detective eventually comes to occupy an important place in Molly's affections. So far, so good. But the second half of the book lurches toward the eco-weird: Danny miraculously returns, unharmed but utterly changed. In fact, he's become abrasive and all-too-wise for his years, preferring to wear his hair long, to eat vegetarian and to "listen to the firmament" which helps him predict weather on the measure of biblical prophesy. Ever so slowly, Danny emerges as a spiritual leader; meanwhile, Tripoli begins to understand that the boy is trying to deliver the simplistic (if not unconvincing) message that "[w]e were all too busy, life was too noisy for us to listen. To listen to each other, to the natural world around us... to listen to our own hearts." At 500 pages, some readers may find that the novel grows a bit tedious and not only because the narrative moves at a glacial pace and the conclusion is glowingly idealistic. But despite the heavy-handed message, and the unflinchingly straightforward voices Lieberman (Baby) gives his characters, the narrative remains interesting and readable due to the author's skill with language and his ability to engineer suspense and slow-release tension. Agent, Liza Dawson.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Last Boy starts out with a relatively standard case of kidnapping. Little Danny disappears from daycare in early October, and his mother frantically tries to find him. She enlists the aid of Tripoli, a detective assigned to the case, and of newspapers and TV stations. As months pass, public interest wanes, but she keeps up hope. Moreover, she and Tripoli fall in love as he continues his quest for the boy. Then one day Danny comes back, changed by his six months' absence. He is unwilling to eat flesh, hates being indoors in the midst of chemical fumes, reads at an advanced level, and successfully predicts the weather. His mother demands that the police bring in the person responsible, but when they do, disasters loom. This environmental fantasy, with its unsubtle message about the catastrophe the world faces if we humans don't change our destructive ways, is hardly extraordinary. It is reasonably engaging, though. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark; 1st edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570719438
• ISBN-13: 978-1570719431
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,121,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Last Boy, October 21, 2003

By 

Tracy (Newfield,NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Boy (Paperback)

I found this book to be wonderfully written. It held my attetion through to the end. Being from around the area where this book is written was wonderful. You could see things taking place right through to the end. It was a complete page turner and I raced to finish it and would highly recomand it to anyone. The friends and family that borrowed it had the same experince that I did. So buy it and get a good cup of something and settle in for a book you can't put down.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, April 5, 2004

By 

Emily Frank (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Boy (Paperback)

I loved this book. I have little to no appreciation for the mystical but was captivated by the characters and plot. Disregard the other reviews. This book was wonderful. If you like well-written, original, unique books, this is for you. I read it in 3 days and in the months since completing it, I still think about the characters and the references to nature.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Last Boy - A Thought Provoking Book, April 15, 2002

By 

F. Leykam "Nancy" (Springfield, Va USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Boy (Hardcover)

After reading and thinking about this book, it seems to be two stories in one. I picked it up not knowing what to expect, and read it in just a couple of sittings. It truly is a page turner, and not at all what I expected. I enjoyed it a lot - my only criticism is that the end is just a little too pat.
However, I recommend it highly, and am looking forward to more reviews of it!