The Last Life of Lori Mills

Max Boucherat, The Last Life of Lori Mills, HarperCollins Children’s Books, October 2024, 288 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780008666484

A whimsical playfulness permeates this horror adventure-mystery about 11-year-old Lori Mills and her literal metamorphosis into the video game she obsesses about. For starters, the chapters begin at 40 and move to 0, yet the story itself is linear, not told in reverse (as this kind of narrative conceit might lead the reader to believe). In this instance, therefore, the chapter reversal works as a kind of video game countdown where you have so many minutes (or seconds) to work something out before you can move on to another part of the game. The conceit intelligently builds the frantic energy around the will-she-won’t-she find-her-way-out- before-everything-ends scenario.

Secondly, the high-octane energy of Lori herself, palpably living through her fears and yearnings from the narrating ‘I’ position, has readers right there in the visual universe of her head and imagination as she tries to make sense of a video game gone horribly wrong.

Lori, an only child living with her mum somewhere in England, has been left home alone as her mother accepts a night work shift, and neither her dad nor usual babysitter are available to look after her. Mum has given Lori a set of 10 rules to keep her out of trouble before she gets back, eg ‘No snacks from the cupboard. I will know, Lori. I will know.’

Of course, Lori doesn’t follow the rules; in particular, the ‘one-hour only’ rule for her favourite video game Voxminer. But as the night progresses, and the reality of being on her own begins to make her more fearful, more bizarre and eerie things begin to happen within the Voxminer universe, including, terrifyingly, the appearance of scary antagonist Shade Girl. By this time, Lori’s real home has disappeared, and she and it are part of the Voxminer game. How can Lori get through to best friend Shoelace that she’s disappeared into Voxminer and Shade Girl is coming to get her?

At its heart, Max Boucherat’s debut novel is about friendship: how two friends working together with care and feeling will always win out against the lone wolf antagonism that Shade Girl represents. This two-heads-is-always-better-than-one nod towards the humanitarian benefit of cooperation and collaboration is intelligently shown rather than didactically told, through what Lori and Shoelace say and do. Lovers of video games will also enjoy the author’s authentic crafting of the (imaginary) Voxminer game here, including the appearance of helper Voxfriends complete with biomes!

As for intended readership, my recommendation is for tweens and up (those aged at least 11) who don’t mind having their sensitivities challenged (rather than younger readers) – because it makes for truly scary reading at times.

A Waterstones Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2024.

Reviewed by Suzanne Ingelbrecht

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