ARA Review by Andromeda Flynn of Final Notice

[Andromeda Flynn]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Final Notice.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Final Notice by Van Fleisher is a novel debating whether there should be more guns issued or less and the possibilities that could come by discounting firearms to a specific age group, the elderly. The senior community is unable to defend itself and is often left victimized due to their growing weaknesses and need a way to defend themselves. At the same time, a watch is invented to tell a person if they have 30 days or less to live. Some seemingly healthy individuals are given their final notice, their final amount of remaining days. More often than not, it leads to vengeance and murder. To defend against this, should there be more guns to combat the improper use of firearms or should there be less to try to keep the shootings from happening? Who should and should not be told how long they have to live, if anyone? Is it a brilliant invention or a curse resulting in bloodshed?


This book was too political for me to enjoy. While it poses to be a book more about what one would do if given so many days left to live, it is more about gun control and gun rights. Most of the people given both a gun and a death sentence committ murder. Could there not be more variety rather than variety of who one would kill? Not everyone is a murdered but would it be true that most people are?


I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars due to not connecting to it. I didn't develop any empathy towards the characters or feel involved interest in what they may be going through. The novel felt flat to me, and the characters didn't seem to have enough individualization. Was a hidden message that we are all one and would do what the other would for the most part?


This book changed the main viewpoint many times, telling left stories of different individuals leading up to their demise or furthering their story as they live until given their final notice. It also goes into the lives of the inventors of the watch giving the final notice and the detective trying to solve the motives of the cases in the book that result in murder. Character viewpoints changed with ease and without confusion of the change.


The ending of the book showed a bit too much of the author's beliefs of what the government should look like in order to function better. It had little to do with the novel and seemed to end abruptly. Most of the novel debated with itself and left the viewpoint to the reader, which is one of the best aspects of the book.

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