The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klaven

Charlie West wakes up in a dark room strapped to a chair. He has no idea where he is. He has no idea how far from home he is. He has no idea what has happened in the past few hours. The last thing he can remember is a normal day at high school. He can remember his name and the names of his family. He can remember his friends' names. He can remember many things about high school. But he has no idea what has gone on in the past few hours.

On the surface, this book looks like a typical young adult thriller. Amnesia, high school, a torture room-these are the types of things that fill these types of books. But this is not your typical book. After a while, Charlie realizes that he is in a bigger plan than he realized at first. The reader gets this same impression as well. The longer the book goes on, the more complicated the plot becomes.

This book has to do with terrorists-another dangerous subject. Many authors have tried and failed this genre. I usually say this is a closed genre. But Andrew Klaven has changed my mind. He has opened up a whole new perspective of the terror genre.

Believe it or not, Charlie is an imperfect character. Perfect characters are the worst thing authors write in the young adult genre. But Charlie is a real person. He makes mistakes, he learns from them. It's just that simple.

The setting of this book is also realistic. No, Charlie doesn't spend the whole book strapped to a chair, like another reviewer said he did. He enters several other settings that are all realistic according to the circumstances.

This book is continued, and for once, I think it does need to be continued. This series has huge potential if Klaven will use it right. This series could be entirely Elite. It all depends on what Klaven does in the second book.

The one drawback to this book is an unnecessary showdown at the end of the book. While the characters involved do not use typical dialogue, showdowns are really worn out as long as authors make them all end the same.

All in all, Andrew Klaven uses the element of surprise to make this book interesting.

4 stars