The Blurb (from Goodreads): Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane Harper.
They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…
Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.
My Thoughts:
Her best book yet! Vivid and evocative, psychologically acute, and very cleverly plotted and paced. Jane Harper deserves every accolade she gets.
She has also broken with tradition by not writing another book with the detective-hero of her first two novels, The Dry and Force of Nature. This was bold and unexpected, and I really appreciate both her courage and her confidence in herself and her audience.
The Lost Man is set in far north Queensland, a place of unrelenting heat and vast spaces. A dead man is found crouched at the foot of an old tombstone. He has died from exposure to the sun. The red dust around the tombstone shows his desperate attempt to find shade as the sun wheeled in the enormous blazing sky. His car stand abandoned some distance away, with cold water in the icebox and air-conditioning ready to blast on with the turn of a key. Why did he leave his car? He knew the terrible cost of being caught out in the sun.
His brother Nathan cannot believe it was either stupidity or suicide. The only other option is murder. But who would have wanted to murder him?
As he begins to try and piece together what happens, Nathan has to deal with shadows from the past that he had thought long ago forgotten. And so The Lost Man is also a novel about the sometimes fraught relationships of families, and close-knit and isolated communities. It’s a story about lies and misunderstandings, loyalties and silences. Utterly brilliant.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Another brilliant Australian contemporary crime novel is:
https://kateforsyth.com.au/what-katie-read/book-review-the-dark-lake-by-sarah-bailey
