Today is publication day for Jane Harper’s newest novel, The Lost Man. I’m SO excited to be a part of the blog tour with my thoughts…
Title: The Lost Man
Author: Jane Harper
Publisher: Little, Brown UK
[Synopsis]
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…
[My Review]
After having loved Jane Harper’s first two novels The Dry and Force of Nature (both part of her Aaron Falk series), I was excited to give her latest novel – The Lost Man – a go. This one is a standalone novel which has quite a different feel to the others, but is just as compelling.
Like her first two books, The Lost Man is set in the dusty, boiling Australian outback, but this time the plot takes us to Queensland, and follows the Bright family as they try to cope with the death of one of their own. Brothers Nathan and Bub try to unearth how and why their other brother, Cameron, ended up dying in an unexplained and unexpected way, and along the way they discover plenty of family and small-town secrets.
I loved how atmospheric this novel is; Jane Harper really paints a vivid picture of the Australian outback and its fierce, unrelenting heat. There’s a key narrative running through the book which centers on what happened to Cameron, but there are also various other storylines which affect those within, and linked to, the Bright family. There are some really well-crafted characters who helped make this novel such a brilliant read.
The Lost Man contains some emotive, tricky subjects and, in all truthfulness, not much light relief, meaning it’s jam packed full of atmosphere. It gets off to a fairly slow start, and maintains a steady pace throughout, choosing rumour and unspoken questions over fast-paced drama. However, there’s plenty of tension running through these pages which keeps the story taut and memorable. To me, this well-written novel matched the unrelentlessly brilliant standard of The Dry, and keeps me looking forward to future releases from Jane Harper.
[Rating: 5/5]
Many thanks to the Little, Brown UK for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.
[About the author]
Jane Harper is the author of the international bestsellers The Dry and Force of Nature.
Her books are published in more than 36 territories worldwide, with film rights sold to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. Jane has won numerous top awards including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK and now lives in Melbourne.
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