The Last Domino

by Adam Meyer

At home, high-school junior Travis Ellroy has to live up to the memory of his golden-boy brother who committed suicide. At school he faces constant pressure and ridicule from the jocks and their... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399243321
• ISBN13: 9780399243325
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 229 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

The LAST DOMINO - Straight Shooting from the Highschool Front.

A spectacular debut novel! Adam Meyer writes with all the precision and intensity of a seasoned veteran twice his age! If one were to take the characters of FIGHT CLUB, toss in the sentiment of AMERICAN BEAUTY, and heat until it boiled over, you'd get THE LAST DOMINO. Adam Meyer is one writer to keep an eye on!

The Last Domino - Searing and Powerful...

Travis Ellroy hasn't had it easy, especially after his seemingly-perfect brother, Richie, committed suicide. One day, after an argument with his father, he fills his pockets with rocks and starts throwing them. One of them inadvertently hits the windshield of a black Taurus - the car of one of the most popular guys in school, P.J. After this incident, P.J. is furious with Travis, hassling and threatening him at school, and it doesn't help that Travis can't get enough money ($300) to pay P.J. back for the broken windshield, no thanks to his lousy, low-paying job at Coffee Time. Furthermore, Travis doesn't exactly have the best reputation at school. He is a misfit who only has two real friends - Moira and Ross - and is known for being crazy and whacked. His application for a promotion at Coffee Time is rejected, and instead, Jordan, a classmate of Travis's, gets it. Travis's hopes of winning the affections of the prettiest girl in school, Koryn, are crushed, after he discovers his feelings for her are unrequited. Then a new guy comes along - Daniel Pulver. Daniel is a tough, courageous character, who befriends Travis and teaches him how to defend himself against bullies like P.J. Not only that, but Daniel encourages Travis to be angry and violent - turning him against his parents, Jordan, Koryn, his best friends, Moria and Ross, and others. He fuels Daniel's anger - the type of guy who says, "You gonna take that from him?" Daniel also introduces Travis to "The List" - of people who need to be shot. Ultimately, Daniel teaches Travis how to maneuver and work a gun. Before he knows it, Travis's world is spiralling out of control. He's not himself anymore; he becomes indifferent; apathetic; more angry; more violent. And then... Travis does something that will change the lives of the people around him - and his - forever. His irrevocable action is the gripping and suspenseful climax of this riveting story, leading directly to its chilling conclusion. Adam Meyer has done a terrific job of effectively writing a harrowing, chilling book that will appeal to readers of a young adult audience. This book will interest males and females alike. Travis's voice is fresh, real, and it reverberates in your head long after the book is finished. His emotions and violent fantasies epitomize those who have been pushed to the very edge, whose last domino has fallen down. Each character in The Last Domino is well-rounded and developed, making the story that much more believable. The characters in this book aren't characters that you will just read about and forget - even while reading the story, I found that I was concerned for these characters, that I actually cared about them. I finished this book in one day - it was just that compelling. I even stayed up 'til 3am reading it, but I didn't mind. In fact, I had trouble sleeping even after I finished the book, because I couldn't stop thinking about it. Evocative, riveting, suspenseful, and exciting, The Las

Highschool: Not as great as everyone thinks!

This book may be looked at differently by certain people but for some this is exactly how life in high school is. Full of pressure, persuasive friends, bullies, and as much as we hate to admit it teenage death, suicide and guns in the school place. This book showed all of these things and the explosive ending of combining it all. A compacted version of what I just said made by Adma Meyer, the author of the book, is "A troubled teenager. A vicious bully. A loaded gun. WELCOME TO HIGH SCHOOL." and as much as we hate to admit this is what people face day by day at their high school. By placing a bully, a teenager, a persuasive friend and the voice of his brother in the teens head the outcome was bound to be tragic for not only the teen but for the people around him. We would find that with the help of Daniel and Richie Travis Ellroy will go to extremes that will put everyone in danger. Will Daniel manipulate Travis and if so what will happen to the troubled teen, the vicious bully, the persuasive friend and a loaded gun? WELCOME TO HIGH SCHOOL!

All Fell Down

The story opens in 2004 with Travis Ellroy, a junior in high school carrying a firearm. He rides his late brother's bike, knowing he "rides it for the last time." Immediately the reader is pulled into this very compelling, very intense story. Travis had an older brother named Richie who committed suicide in 1998. Star athlete and favored son, Richie had been spoon fed a sense of entitlement from the beginning. He graduates with the Class of 1997 with people singing his praises years later. Indeed, Travis lingers in his shadow as his English teacher calls him "Mr. Ellroy" so as not to mistakenly call him Richie. The boy has a punitive father and a disinterested mother, so he is more or less left to his own devices. The one thing that gets their juices flowing is when Travis sneaks into Richie's room, which is kept locked. Richie is treated like a spectral saint in that household. Things take a toll on Travis. A girl named Koryn whom he likes does not return his interest; his nemesis, classmate Jordan is hired as his manager at a local coffee shop; Travis lies and says he has been promoted; he throws rocks at cars after being punished and has the bad luck to crack the Sheriff's son's windshield. P.J., the hulking thug never stops hounding Travis; he extorts more money from Travis to fix the windshield even after he has it repaired. Enter Daniel. A cool, smooth, serpentine operator who slithers into Travis' life, Daniel grooms Travis to, in his words, "stand up for himself." He feeds off the latter's anger; he goads Travis into making some very deadly decisions. A very intense, riveting book that will leave readers thinking for a very long time. The characters are well drawn; fully fleshed out and the story will indeed leave indelible impressions on readers. Nancy Garden's "End Games" is an excellent companion book to this one.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

Imagine Chandler or Ellroy writing for teenagers...This book lays bare the boundless energy and profound angst of being a teenager in language and image that is exquisite. The pacing is excellent, the characters are well developed and the story is one everyone can relate to: being pushed too far by neanderthals. The author is to be commended for taking such difficult subject matter and weaving it into a tale of suspense without talking down to his audience or moralizing. Should be required reading for kids and parents alike...