Mature Readers Only

Australian Writer

Michael Adams

The Last Girl

Number One in a Planned Trilogy

Allen & Unwin   2013       $24.99pb   384pp

ISBN 978 1 7433 1636 8

Themes:         Dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction/ Survival/ Telepathy/ Thought processes

Danby, sixteen, needs to get her small brother to the safety of her mother’s mountain retreat 100 kilometres from her present home in Sydney and she has to battle death and chaos to get there. The reason? Suddenly, everyone in the world can hear everyone else’s thought processes - everyone’s that is except Danby’s although she can hear theirs. It is total chaos and people unable to cope with the sea of voices buzzing in their heads begin to kill each other and themselves. This is not an easy read and is certainly not for the faint hearted or over imaginative. Parts of it I have to confess I found hard to understand but followers and enthusiasts for dystopian fiction will not have that problem. If I were putting it in a secondary school collection I would be wary of recommending it to readers I didn’t really know.

Year 10 up/ Age 14 up