Finally! Time to Read: The Fiction Works of John Hart

So who's John Hart? asked the clerk at Barnes & Noble.  True, he's not as widely known as he deserves to be. But she did find one of his works, The Last Child on the shelf.

Actually, John Hart is the author of three works of fiction: 

• The King of Lies (2006, Thomas Dunne Books); 
• Down River (2007, Thomas Dunne Books);  and
• The Last Child (2009, Thomas Dunne Books).

Thousands of books land on the New York Times Bestseller List-some worth reading and some not.  We're all busy women with little time to enjoy a favorite moment with a good book.  The works of John Hart are definitely worth our time. 

All three are studies of age-old questions:  What is love?  Can grievous hurts be forgiven?  Can children show adults what courage is?  Is it possible to confront and defeat the evils that people commit? Can family ties overcome the pressures of lies, deceit, accusation, and death?Is there any hope that families torn apart can be whole again?

All three books are set in North Carolina and feature families in conflict.  In The King of Lies, Jackson Workman Pickens, is a son who has dutifully followed his father's goals for him:  a career in law; the socially recognized wife;  the house on the hill.  All the while, he endures living in his father's shadow.  That is, until his father disappears, and the son is suspected of murdering him.

Family struggles and the interplay between brother and sister, wife and father, man and his reluctance to  defy the life his father had mapped out for him all swirl in, out, and  around 'Work' as he attempts to right the wrongs he has committed, that he has allowed to happen, and that are blamed on him. 

In Down River, a son has been disowned by his father based on the accusation of his second wife. Although acquitted, Adam Chase lives with the pain of everyone's certainty that he really is a murderer.   He  reluctantly returns to his father's plantation five years later at the urging of a high school friend. He finds a stepmother who still hates him, a woman who still loves him, a friend who has been murdered, a young girl who has waited for him, a step brother and sister who haven't forgotte him,and violent confrontations between the townspeople and his family.

As with The King of Lies, Down River has murder at its center, but the real story is the psychological interplay of families  in Rowan County. 

In The Last Child, Hart portrays the disappearance of a  daughter and the subsequent dissolution of her family.  How can parents handle such grief?  What happens to the little boy who has to look after his mother, search for his sister, and try to believe that his father will return?   How does the child reconcile the teachings of his childhood with the evils that he sees?  The strength of this child's spirit  and his determination to find the truth are  the real story here-so much so that  the reader wants to reach in and rescue him.  

And his writing:   It has been described by reviewers as "masterful"(The News and Observer)  and of The Last Child, the Providence Journal describes Hart's work as "A brilliant vision beautifully realized." 

John Hart is an author worth our time.