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Rating: 
Summary: A love story set amidst tragedies local & national
Review: ...P>Within a framework of tragedies both local and national, Hough sets the unconventional love story of Claire and Lane. Hough's insights into many different worlds (small town newspapers, summer resorts, Washington, DC) and his feeling for intergenerational relationships give the book complexity. His prose is both concise and lyrical and he is not afraid to take chances with language. He hits the mark, as with Claire's last view of the Capitol building ("looming flagrant and serene") and her reaction to her mother ("It was exhausting living with Violet. Like being in a place where the wind never stopped blowing...") Hough is just as daring with structure, as the book's epilogue reveals. Find time and a quiet corner for this lovely book.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: At thirty-nine, Claire Maleck knows her life in DC is over as her affair with her boss, repulsive Senator Bob Mallory has ended. Knowing she needs to start over, Claire, accompanied by her teenage daughter, drives to Boston to stay with her mom until she can find employment. In Cape Cod, Claire asks the editor of the Covenant John Hillman for a job as a secretary. Instead, John hires her to write obituaries, which serves as an on the job internship in finding information and writing copy. Soon Claire finds herself attracted to her boss' son reporter Lane Hillman, who reciprocates her feelings. However, he is closer in age to her daughter than to her and in the already heated summer of 1968 that relationship is taboo. As they work together inquiring into two murders, they fall in love, but neither realize the danger their investigative journalism will place them from a killer who wants to remain unidentified. The who-done-it is fun to follow and filled with suspense, but also the mystery is quite obvious. However, the clever use of major historical items from a summer that burned makes for a tremendously entertaining tale especially for those boomers who can relate to Chicago, riots, and assassinations. Claire is a great prime player who enables the reader to feel that crazy world of fire thirty five years ago yet she also allows fans to see inside those who touch her, a rare reversal that shows how talented John Hough, Jr. is. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: At thirty-nine, Claire Maleck knows her life in DC is over as her affair with her boss, repulsive Senator Bob Mallory has ended. Knowing she needs to start over, Claire, accompanied by her teenage daughter, drives to Boston to stay with her mom until she can find employment. In Cape Cod, Claire asks the editor of the Covenant John Hillman for a job as a secretary. Instead, John hires her to write obituaries, which serves as an on the job internship in finding information and writing copy. Soon Claire finds herself attracted to her boss' son reporter Lane Hillman, who reciprocates her feelings. However, he is closer in age to her daughter than to her and in the already heated summer of 1968 that relationship is taboo. As they work together inquiring into two murders, they fall in love, but neither realize the danger their investigative journalism will place them from a killer who wants to remain unidentified. The who-done-it is fun to follow and filled with suspense, but also the mystery is quite obvious. However, the clever use of major historical items from a summer that burned makes for a tremendously entertaining tale especially for those boomers who can relate to Chicago, riots, and assassinations. Claire is a great prime player who enables the reader to feel that crazy world of fire thirty five years ago yet she also allows fans to see inside those who touch her, a rare reversal that shows how talented John Hough, Jr. is. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: The LAST Summer -- Thank Goodness
Review: I bought this book with the intention of reading it while at the shore two summers ago thinking it would be a light read for the beach. While it took me nearly twenty months to finally get around to reading it, it probably would have been a much better "summer" book than a "winter" book. When I purchased it, I thought it might be middle of the road "light reading". Well, it's so light you could probably finish it in one sitting. After reading the rest of the reviews here, I thought perhaps I had read a different book than some of the other reviewers. While it was an "okay" story, in no way would I call the book engrossing or compelling. The characters are all so deadpan that I'm surprised they were able to live through 342 pages. I also thought I would relate well to this book because it takes place in 1968 when I was a teenager. Somehow it missed the target there for me as well only focusing on the assassination of RFK, Jr. and the Vietnam War. As the story goes, thirty-seven year old Claire Malek leaves her job in Washington D.C. with no severance pay and no chance of any references. The reader knows that this spur-of-the-moment decision to leave is probably the result of foul play in our nation's capital as Claire was a "special" assistant to a state Senator. How "special" of an assistant was she the reader wonders? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. She settles on Cape Cod with her fifteen year old daughter April and gets a job as a writer/reporter for The Covenant, the local newspaper. It doesn't take long for attractive Claire to catch the eye of the editor's twenty-two year old son Lane. It seems that the fifteen year old age difference isn't that much of a deterrent to this love affair. If this was set in the year 2004, it might have been more believable to me but having grown up in the sixties, I found this hard to swallow especially when Lane's family is so accepting of their relationship. As a backdrop to this affair, there is a murder mystery that comes to a very abrupt conclusion. I felt this could have been drawn out a bit more. Someone mentioned in another review that the author came from a family of newspaper people so perhaps this story is semi-autobiographical and this really happened to him when he was younger. That would be the only thing that could make it palpable for me. All in all, I give it three stars. As Dick Clark would have said in the sixties, "It had a good beat but it missed its mark."
Rating:
Summary: The LAST Summer -- Thank Goodness
Review: I bought this book with the intention of reading it while at the shore two summers ago thinking it would be a light read for the beach. While it took me nearly twenty months to finally get around to reading it, it probably would have been a much better "summer" book than a "winter" book. When I purchased it, I thought it might be middle of the road "light reading". Well, it's so light you could probably finish it in one sitting. After reading the rest of the reviews here, I thought perhaps I had read a different book than some of the other reviewers. While it was an "okay" story, in no way would I call the book engrossing or compelling. The characters are all so deadpan that I'm surprised they were able to live through 342 pages. I also thought I would relate well to this book because it takes place in 1968 when I was a teenager. Somehow it missed the target there for me as well only focusing on the assassination of RFK, Jr. and the Vietnam War. As the story goes, thirty-seven year old Claire Malek leaves her job in Washington D.C. with no severance pay and no chance of any references. The reader knows that this spur-of-the-moment decision to leave is probably the result of foul play in our nation's capital as Claire was a "special" assistant to a state Senator. How "special" of an assistant was she the reader wonders? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. She settles on Cape Cod with her fifteen year old daughter April and gets a job as a writer/reporter for The Covenant, the local newspaper. It doesn't take long for attractive Claire to catch the eye of the editor's twenty-two year old son Lane. It seems that the fifteen year old age difference isn't that much of a deterrent to this love affair. If this was set in the year 2004, it might have been more believable to me but having grown up in the sixties, I found this hard to swallow especially when Lane's family is so accepting of their relationship. As a backdrop to this affair, there is a murder mystery that comes to a very abrupt conclusion. I felt this could have been drawn out a bit more. Someone mentioned in another review that the author came from a family of newspaper people so perhaps this story is semi-autobiographical and this really happened to him when he was younger. That would be the only thing that could make it palpable for me. All in all, I give it three stars. As Dick Clark would have said in the sixties, "It had a good beat but it missed its mark."
Rating:
Summary: The Last Summer, A Great Romantic Mystery
Review: John T Hough's newest novel "The Last Summer" is a great read.Mr Hough is a gifted writer whose Chacacters come to life and connect with you on every page.I did not want this beautifully writen book to end.This one is a must read..Michael Mello
Rating:
Summary: The Last Summer, A Great Romantic Mystery
Review: John T Hough's newest novel "The Last Summer" is a great read.Mr Hough is a gifted writer whose Chacacters come to life and connect with you on every page.I did not want this beautifully writen book to end.This one is a must read..Michael Mello
Rating:
Summary: Good Company
Review: This is a beautifully written, engrossing book about complex people and the pain, sadness, and joy that come to them in unexpected ways. John Hough has an unusually fine ear for dialogue and brings the reader into intimate contact with the characters. At the same time while not obstrusively so, the writing has a compelling poetic quality. This is a captivating book about people with interesting sensibilities. It also has a strong narrative line and is a good read. i recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: an early end to summer
Review: This is fine storytelling, rich and smoothly written without
being slick. It does an excellent job capturing the flavor of
the time and place--Cape Cod in 1968. The book works very well
on a variety of levels: the relationship between an older woman
and a younger man, politics and power structures, and life at a
small-town newspaper. Claire Malek leaves Washington and, by
chance, winds up as a reporter for the Covenant, a twice-a-week
paper in a town on the Cape. She has a lot of learning, and a
lot of unlearning to do about the job. A twice-weekly small-town
paper is not like the N.Y. Times or the USA Today, and the job
of a reporter is very different. You'll learn a great deal from
this novel about the operation of such a paper, from the flatbed
press to the manual typewriters, but there's no getting bogged
down in the details. The author's father and grandfather were
editors of the Falmouth Enterprise (on Cape Cod) and his great-
uncle was Henry Beetle Hough, Pulitzer-winning long-time editor
of the Vineyard Gazette, so the author can describe life on
such a newspaper with loving care. The Covenant's editor has a son Lane who has just graduated from
college, and who also works on the paper, and there is an
attraction between Lane and Claire, which develops into a
relationship. I have read all too many books which would take
this basic theme and exploit it in an unpleasant manner, but
here things seem very natural and not labored. The writing style is a joy. As the book gently points out,
as Claire learns, good reporters can tell a story succinctly
and cleanly--they don't waste space, but neither do they
abbreviate. The writing style has this flavor--there is no
sense of padding, no extraneous verbiage, things are told
straightfowardly. Too many novels--too many popular novels--
are short stories padded into 300-page books. John Grisham's
novels seem to be this way, whereas Scott Turow's books are not.
The Last Summer has a fine, easy, unlabored flow to it, and you
don't find paragraphs and pages that you wish had been left out. There's an epilogue, which brings Claire and Lane back together
after almost 30 years, and the epilogue provides an excellent
counterpoint to the overrated Bridges of Madison County. In
Bridges, each of the lovers has no clue about what the other is
doing over the following years--this never seemed believable--
a top photographer/author who continues his work can be found,
and the photographer can get the local paper, which would let
him know some of what is going on with her life. This is not
always true--it can be hard to find a transient, for example.
In Last Summer, Lane and Claire both stay in the newspaper
business, and, realistically and believably, each has been
able to follow the career and life of the other. A fine read.
Rating:
Summary: an early end to summer
Review: This is fine storytelling, rich and smoothly written without
being slick. It does an excellent job capturing the flavor of
the time and place--Cape Cod in 1968. The book works very well
on a variety of levels: the relationship between an older woman
and a younger man, politics and power structures, and life at a
small-town newspaper. Claire Malek leaves Washington and, by
chance, winds up as a reporter for the Covenant, a twice-a-week
paper in a town on the Cape. She has a lot of learning, and a
lot of unlearning to do about the job. A twice-weekly small-town
paper is not like the N.Y. Times or the USA Today, and the job
of a reporter is very different. You'll learn a great deal from
this novel about the operation of such a paper, from the flatbed
press to the manual typewriters, but there's no getting bogged
down in the details. The author's father and grandfather were
editors of the Falmouth Enterprise (on Cape Cod) and his great-
uncle was Henry Beetle Hough, Pulitzer-winning long-time editor
of the Vineyard Gazette, so the author can describe life on
such a newspaper with loving care. The Covenant's editor has a son Lane who has just graduated from
college, and who also works on the paper, and there is an
attraction between Lane and Claire, which develops into a
relationship. I have read all too many books which would take
this basic theme and exploit it in an unpleasant manner, but
here things seem very natural and not labored. The writing style is a joy. As the book gently points out,
as Claire learns, good reporters can tell a story succinctly
and cleanly--they don't waste space, but neither do they
abbreviate. The writing style has this flavor--there is no
sense of padding, no extraneous verbiage, things are told
straightfowardly. Too many novels--too many popular novels--
are short stories padded into 300-page books. John Grisham's
novels seem to be this way, whereas Scott Turow's books are not.
The Last Summer has a fine, easy, unlabored flow to it, and you
don't find paragraphs and pages that you wish had been left out. There's an epilogue, which brings Claire and Lane back together
after almost 30 years, and the epilogue provides an excellent
counterpoint to the overrated Bridges of Madison County. In
Bridges, each of the lovers has no clue about what the other is
doing over the following years--this never seemed believable--
a top photographer/author who continues his work can be found,
and the photographer can get the local paper, which would let
him know some of what is going on with her life. This is not
always true--it can be hard to find a transient, for example.
In Last Summer, Lane and Claire both stay in the newspaper
business, and, realistically and believably, each has been
able to follow the career and life of the other. A fine read.
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