Last Night

Last Night Karen Ellis

Imagine being arrested for riding your bike on the sidewalk and then using some expletives when an officer wrongly arrests you. The valedictorian of a high school named Crisp really Titus, is arrested by an overzealous officer to make his quota you might say. When his mother enters the police station and is worried because he missed the graduation, got arrested and never got home things take on an unusual turn. Glynnie is a runaway whose parents have her future mapped out. Her education, her career and more. She does not want to fill the mold they have designed for her. Titus or Crisp has been accepted to every prestigious school and should have called Princeton back but did not. How do these two intersect as the detectives in charge of finding them both will learn about the inner workings of teens and the streets.

When they decide to hunt down someone that will give them some weed what they meet is a young homeless boy named JJ who seems to have the pulse on what is happening and a gun that scares Crisp as we get to hear Glynnie’s mother’s concerns taking to Detective Saki hoping to find her daughter. Titus and Glynnie seemed to form an unholy alliance and his arrest sent him on this path that allows him to visit her weed dealer and then a trip to where his father lived in the past. Can you face your fears and your demons, and will this change him forever?

Detective Lex Cole has his own crosses to bear as he thinks about a relationship gone south with someone named Adam whom he realizes was not true to their relationship telling it to a close friend named Elsa. Meanwhile Crisp and Glynnie team up with some dangerous people who are into weed, guns and then something happens that causes someone to pull the trigger of a gun and the result startles Crisp, but she seems not phased.

Dante is the leader of this group that has taken Crisp and when Lex and Saki turn up with Glynnie what they find is the remnants of a murder but no Crisp. The arsenal of weapons is mindboggling, and the result is that Crisp’s mother is at the station, Glynnie is now home and her parents wonder just what has happened to her and if they can trust her being there. Things have spiraled out of control and an APB for Crisp has been put out and searching for Dante, Rodrigo and the body of JJ still have not been found. All because Glynnie sees Crisp from the top of the roof while he’s in his cell stuck last night because some ridiculous officer told him to ride his bike on the sidewalk and then arrested him causing him to miss his graduation. No one called to help him and yet the police have yet to question the officer who started it all.

When the past and his demons come flooding back Crisp needs to think about where he wants to be, whether he can come to terms with what happened before he escaped Dante Green and his men plus hoping that somehow, he can justify why he feels all alone and angry.

Lex Cole and Saki Finley team up to find him and Glynnie but first they both want to find JJ and make sure he’s safe. The murder of Jerome is on the books and the fact that the fingerprint points to one of them keeps the police hunting for them both.

Dante Green gets the surprise of his life when Lex finally takes him and he’s going to spend quite a bit behind bars but not before learning that his aiming a Crisp might have been revenge for what happened years ago. Wilson Ramsey aka Mo Crisp, Crisp’s father testified against him putting him away and now it was his turn to get even.

Crisp is smart and yet both he and Glynnie did not always think through the consequences of their actions and yet he managed to find a way to get back home but will he be arrested for what happened in Red Hook in Dante’s place?
Things take on different turns when a simple cell call goes unanswered and once again he feels that his father want him to remain out of his life but does he really? Mo Crisp or Wilson Ramsey is a famous graphic artist and when Crisp needs shelter we learn when helping someone he might just have some talent too. The final scenes will bring tears to your eyes as two people confront each other, must decide if forgiveness is in the stars, whether Princeton should happen and the words that he needed to hear for so long. Will anything change? What about JJ where will he wind up? What about Glynnie? The ending leaves readers wondering what author Karen Ellis has in store for Glynnie as she awaits the outcome of her actions. A girl from a rich family and a young teen named Crisp brought up with love by his mother and grandparents. Which life would you want? Rebelling against all that was given to her until she reflects from the same vantage point the Crisp had when he noticed her. Sometimes having it all is not what we need. Will Crisp go to Princeton? Will Glynnie realize all that she has? This is a story of love, trust, betrayal, enabling, forgiveness and a detective named Lex whose search for happiness brings him to decide if he too can take what love someone has for him and forgive those that don’t.
Can anyone truly be invisible? As we get to know Mo Crisp, we realize that his artwork deals with invisibility and he hoped changing his ways, his name and lifestyle would keep him unfound. But when Crisp meets him things take on a different turn and maybe he won’t feel the need to hide anymore as does Lex feel the need to chase someone that might not be right for his life, but you can’t stop what you feel or hide it at times. Following Adam, he hopes to be unseen, but something happens in a moment and things take on a different turn in a second of time.

Just one moment in time can change your entire life. Just one rash decision can either ruin your future or change your world in a positive way. When two young teens team up to run away and find themselves held captive in a world that they both do not belong in, how do they cope, what happens when pressured and will they ever find their way truly home again?

A novel that can alert teens to what happens when you don’t think before you act, thinking about the result or consequences before doing what you know to be is wrong. A great book for guidance counselors, educators, parents and groups discussions taking it from the start when Glynnie makes the move as Crisp does and they both turn their lives in different directions as sometimes teens are impetuous, thick headed and do not always see what is right there in front of them. The author does give both adults and teens and young adults much pause for thought.

True to life as we enter the minds of two teens, their loyalty to a 12-year-old boy who fends for himself and the difference in love, morals and values taught as both will reflect on what changed their lives Last Night.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews