The story setting is a seven hundred square kilometres cattle station in the Queensland outback, in the heat of late December. Following the death of their father, the station is run by Cameron although his two brothers each have a minority interest. Cameron dies under mysterious circumstances and a whole lot of family issues come to the surface. There are many flashbacks to things that happened in the past that parallel happenings now. The characters are well developed and the story is nicely paced, with many twists and turns.
The dominating feature is the heat and as is emphasised, you don’t spend time out in the open. If your vehicle breaks down you stay with the vehicle until you are found. Yet Cameron died of thirst nine kilometres from his undamaged vehicle.
There are some inconsistencies. A character walks into the cool room amongst frozen food; cool rooms are just that and are not freezers. The generator at the homestead is switched off each night leaving the house in total darkness. A real homestead would have battery operated night lights or would have 24 hour power to keep cool rooms and refrigerators running. One of the characters rides a horse over a distance of about forty kilometres in the heat of the day with no problems.
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The Lost Man Mass Market Paperback – 29 September 2020
by
Jane Harper
(Author)
Jane Harper
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Product details
- Publisher : Flatiron Books (29 September 2020)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250755875
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250755872
- Dimensions : 10.8 x 3.02 x 19 cm
-
Best Sellers Rank:
22,079 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 928 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books)
- 1,118 in International Mystery & Crime (Books)
- 6,126 in Crime Thrillers (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Product description
Review
"[A] crime masterpiece. The landscape and culture of this remote Australian territory are magnificently evoked as a story of family secrets unfolds. Rarely does a puzzle so complicated fit together perfectly--you'll be shaking your head in amazement."
--People
"All at once enthralling...Book by book, [Harper is] creating her own vivid and complex account of the outback."
--New York Times Book Review
--Entertainment Weekly Engrossing...Storytelling at its finest.
--Associated Press
"A timely and riveting family drama set in a desolate area of Queensland that will keep you guessing until the final pages."
--BookPage, starred review, "Top Pick of the Month" Harper's masterful narrative places readers right in the middle of a desolate landscape that's almost as alien as the moon's surface, where the effects of long-term isolation are always a concern. The mystery of Cam's death is at the dark heart of an unfolding family drama that will leave readers reeling, and the final reveal is a heartbreaker. A twisty slow burner by an author at the top of her game.
--Kirkus, starred review "I absolutely loved The Lost Man. I devoured it in a day. Her best yet!"
--Liane Moriarty The atmosphere is so thick you can taste the red-clay dust, and the folklore surrounding the mysterious stockman adds an additional edge to an already dark and intense narrative. The truth is revealed in a surprising ending that reveals how far someone will go to preserve a life worth living in a place at once loathed and loved.
--Booklist
"The Lost Man is a compulsive, gripping read from start to finish with an atmosphere you can cut with a knife. I was absolutely blown away by it."
--Kate Hamer, bestselling author of The Girl in the Red Coat "Jane Harper is at the top of the crime writing genre along with Attica Locke, Megan Abbott, and Tana French...[The Lost Man] slowly builds into one hell of a mystery! I will drop whatever I am doing to read a Jane Harper crime novel."
--BookRiot "Harper unfolds the story expertly so that the ending is both unexpected and entirely logical."
--Raleigh News & Observer "Quietly unsettling, in a hypnotic and heartbreaking way."
--Shelf Awareness "I read it in 24 hours. It's gripping, atmospheric and ultimately deeply satisfying."
--Val McDermid, internationally bestselling author of The Grave Tattoo "I don't have words for how much I loved it. Her other two books were amazing, but this is in a different league. It totally transcends genre, and it should win all the prizes."
--Marian Keyes, internationally bestselling author of The Break "I ask in earnest: How the hell does she do it? The Lost Man is Jane Harper's third consecutive marvel... and, against long odds, her most marvelous yet, pitting brother against brother, man against nature, reader against the clock. What an extraordinary novel: part family drama, part indelible ode to the Outback -- a thriller as forceful and atmospheric as a brewing storm. Harper works miracles. We're lucky to witness them."
--A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window "Fabulously atmospheric, the book starts slowly and gradually picks up pace towards a jaw-dropping denouement."
--Guardian "Her best yet; it's certainly one of the finest novels of any sort, not only within the genre, that I've read in many moons . . . Harper adroitly blends the tension and brisk pace of a thriller with the psychological acuity and stylish prose of literary fiction."
--Irish Independent "Nothing about this novel is predictable. The characters are compelling, the plot is thrilling and the ending is so very satisfying. There's something special about getting to the end of a book and figuring out the mystery. You'll be left feeling content, a little shocked and desperate for more."
--Marie Claire (Australia) "If you liked The Dry, you'll love it. The Lost Man is an even better book, gripping right to the end. This terrific piece of outback noir opens with the discovery of a body...Harper...paints the menacing landscape brilliantly. The book's title could easily relate to several of the male characters. This engrossing novel will have you thinking long after you've turned the last page."
--Herald Sun (Aus) "Harper's sinewy prose and flinty characters compel...Jaw-dropping denouement."
--Publishers Weekly The novel shimmers with the heat of the Australian outback. I was mesmerized by this extraordinary vast brutal place and Harper's minutely observed, subtle and nuanced story within it.
--Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of Sister
About the Author
Jane Harper is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dry, Force of Nature, and The Lost Man. Jane previously worked as a print journalist in Australia and the UK and lives in Melbourne with her husband, daughter, and son.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
2,984 global ratings
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Top reviews from Australia
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TOP 1000 REVIEWER
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TOP 10 REVIEWER
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‘The Lost Man’ is every bit the page turner you expect from Jane Harper, such a gifted Aussie writer. I have devoured all of her books as you can feel the heat and taste the red dust just like the characters - characters that will seep into your skin like the landscape... you will love and hate it and them in equal parts.
‘The Lost Man’ will have you thinking a lot about the ugly side of human nature as it builds an atmosphere of tension underneath an intriguing murder mystery that keeps you glued to the story from page one. This however is not a whodunnit or a detective lead mystery, at it’s core is a family unravelling - the Bright family, who are struggling to come to terms with the horrific death of brother/son/husband/father/uncle/nephew, Cameron.
It's told in first person POV mainly from the perspective of Nathan, who is the eldest son and lives on a neighbouring property completely alone.
“He couldn't simply leave, for a lot of reasons. Financial. Practical. And not least because sometimes, quite a lot of the time, he felt connected to the outback in a way that he loved. There was something about the brutal heat, when the sun was high in the sky and he was watching the slow meandering movement of the herds. Looking out over the wide-open plains and seeing the changing colors. It was the only time he felt something close to happiness."
The information is unveiled, first raising questions, then answering those with new questions, until you're swiping madly trying to figure out what exactly happened to Cameron, and who was behind it. I found it highly addictive and I would say it’s my new favourite book by this iconic author, as I already feel the need to read it again as I am sure I will reveal totally different dimensions I missed on first reading... It’s definitely a new Aussie Classic...
‘The Lost Man’ will have you thinking a lot about the ugly side of human nature as it builds an atmosphere of tension underneath an intriguing murder mystery that keeps you glued to the story from page one. This however is not a whodunnit or a detective lead mystery, at it’s core is a family unravelling - the Bright family, who are struggling to come to terms with the horrific death of brother/son/husband/father/uncle/nephew, Cameron.
It's told in first person POV mainly from the perspective of Nathan, who is the eldest son and lives on a neighbouring property completely alone.
“He couldn't simply leave, for a lot of reasons. Financial. Practical. And not least because sometimes, quite a lot of the time, he felt connected to the outback in a way that he loved. There was something about the brutal heat, when the sun was high in the sky and he was watching the slow meandering movement of the herds. Looking out over the wide-open plains and seeing the changing colors. It was the only time he felt something close to happiness."
The information is unveiled, first raising questions, then answering those with new questions, until you're swiping madly trying to figure out what exactly happened to Cameron, and who was behind it. I found it highly addictive and I would say it’s my new favourite book by this iconic author, as I already feel the need to read it again as I am sure I will reveal totally different dimensions I missed on first reading... It’s definitely a new Aussie Classic...
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Reviewed in Australia on 5 February 2019
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This book really resonated with me. You could just feel that blazing heat of the outback in your skin...as it’s almost as bad down here in Victoria at the moment. This was a tense family standoff. Wonderful character development made the book some sort of fantastic page turner.
I didn’t see the ending coming and it tore my heart out. It was so emotional.
Wonderful wonderful book.
I can’t wait until the next Jane Harper gem.
I didn’t see the ending coming and it tore my heart out. It was so emotional.
Wonderful wonderful book.
I can’t wait until the next Jane Harper gem.
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Reviewed in Australia on 20 January 2019
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A fascinating book and a story very well told.There's so much to appreciate in this book; people so vividly described you'd recognise them if you met, descriptions of farming and living in a small outback community where people struggle with the tyranny of distance and a tough environment every day, and the warmth with which people and their problems are characterised. And "who dunnit" a well kept secret until the very end!
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Reviewed in Australia on 17 December 2018
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Just when you think you've read it all, along comes Jane Harper with an Australian who dunnit that blitzes the field. The story is told with words that paint the picture of outback and station life, making you feel as if you are there watching the take unfold. I can't wait for more Harper stories!
The Lost Man tells of a strange death that appears as impossible for people who know the man. But what transpires makes us ask ourselves how well do we really know people even if we see then every day? So who killed Cameron? You'll have to read the book!
The Lost Man tells of a strange death that appears as impossible for people who know the man. But what transpires makes us ask ourselves how well do we really know people even if we see then every day? So who killed Cameron? You'll have to read the book!
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Reviewed in Australia on 25 November 2018
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I read The Dry before this and I am amazed how different they are but how powerfully the author is able to describe the landscape and the people who live in the real outback. I love her people her way of making them real and the way that you grow to know them. A wonderful evocative story well worth your time.
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TOP 10 REVIEWER
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When Jane Harper writes about the Australian outback, the vastness and searing heat are vivid. So too are the characters who live in this harsh climate. This is another Harper murder mystery. A husband and father is found dead by an old lonely grave. His car is found nine kilometres away. Why someone who knew the landscape so well would wander from his vehicle is beyond strange. In this landscape, without water, it doesn’t take long to die.
What unfolds is the kind of story you sometimes hear in the bush: a somber story of families that look alright on the outside but which contain inter-generational violence and cruelty. Many a man becomes a tyrant, an expert in physical and emotional abuse. This is not apparent at first, as loner Nathan leaves his struggling farm to come home after his brother’s death. Harper treads with sure footing as she unravels the psychological complexities of this family as she did in her previous novels, and the result is as gripping as before. I suspect that many others will do as I did, and read it straight through. Many will empathise with Nathan’s sadness as he considers the results of the choices he has made and be glad about the surprising, but not surprising ending. Top marks.
What unfolds is the kind of story you sometimes hear in the bush: a somber story of families that look alright on the outside but which contain inter-generational violence and cruelty. Many a man becomes a tyrant, an expert in physical and emotional abuse. This is not apparent at first, as loner Nathan leaves his struggling farm to come home after his brother’s death. Harper treads with sure footing as she unravels the psychological complexities of this family as she did in her previous novels, and the result is as gripping as before. I suspect that many others will do as I did, and read it straight through. Many will empathise with Nathan’s sadness as he considers the results of the choices he has made and be glad about the surprising, but not surprising ending. Top marks.
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Top reviews from other countries

saucey sue
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2018Verified Purchase
3 novels & each got marginally better, if not brilliant by this last one. 2 days reading, couldn’t put it down & with so many twists & turns & distractions I never saw it coming until it smacked me in the face at the end. And so it should be. Read the other 2 stand alone books, but definitely take this one on be blown away by all that fills the pages....the Australian outback, the visuals, the folk who do it tough but never back down in the face of so many hardships that nature throws at these people, families with secrets from each other, differing personalities.....this book has it all. Enjoy.
45 people found this helpful
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JaquiP
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2018Verified Purchase
First, so carefully, so cleverly, we are placed in a setting, the beautiful, prose and vivid descriptions totally setting the scene of the prologue, gripping from the start: A mystery, a terrible death and already, only a few pages in, I couldn't stop reading. "He had squeezed into that shade, contorting his body into desperate shapes, kicking and scuffing the ground as fear and thirst took hold......" ... Nobody writes Australian outback like Jane Harper...... You feel the harshness of the sun, the isolation of the outback. It's terrific - plot, characters, pace, dialogue. My first read of the year, way back in January was The Dry because the reviews were so good and I wanted to kick off the year with a great book. I equally wanted to finish my reading year with a great, entertaining and gripping read, not a so\so one, of which I have read a few, so again, selected this writer, and WOW. It's so good. Highly recommended. It sizzles.
27 people found this helpful
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Bluecashmere.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A quite exceptional novel.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 February 2019Verified Purchase
If I read a finer novel than this in 2019 I shall be delighted and very surprised.
Recently, I have enjoyed a number of splendid Australian novels, including Jane Harper's The Dry, her first novel, and a rare achievement in itself, Scrublands, by Chris Hammer and Paul Howarth's Only Killers and Thieves, all of which strike me as notably good books. For me, anyway, The Lost Man puts even these in the shade.
The story concerns three brothers, Nathan, Bub and Cameron (Cam), their extensive cattle ranches and their families. Each of the brothers is a strongly realised individual, none less than Nathan, through whose eyes we witness most of the events that make up the novel. He, like the others, has been seriously damaged in the past, and partly by circumstance and partly by choice he is an outsider even within the extended families, whose lives and interrelationships are progressively revealed. Jane Harper shows an exceptional skill in handling dialogue; it is natural, convincing and subtly revealing of character. It is never over-explicit. We, the readers, are left to draw inferences and thereby are drawn ever deeper into the lives of the characters and the events which shape their destinies.
As with Scrublands - and there are a number of interesting parallels - key events and circumstances lie behind the narrative. There is not one of the characters who is not under the shadow of what has happened in the past. In many ways the story is a journey into the past as well as advancing towards a climax that is both unexpected yet wholly satisfying. The lives of not only the brothers but their families and associates, exert an increasingly firm hold on us, so that we feel at some depth the consequences of their actions and the ever shifting relationships between them. That they all inhabit a world so convincingly created, and so often demanding and more, only serves to root them even firmer into our minds. In short, a wonderful novel and a major contribution to the recent wave of Australian fiction.
I have yet to read Force of Nature, a pleasure that awaits. There is enough in The Dry and especially this novel to more than whet the appetite.
Recently, I have enjoyed a number of splendid Australian novels, including Jane Harper's The Dry, her first novel, and a rare achievement in itself, Scrublands, by Chris Hammer and Paul Howarth's Only Killers and Thieves, all of which strike me as notably good books. For me, anyway, The Lost Man puts even these in the shade.
The story concerns three brothers, Nathan, Bub and Cameron (Cam), their extensive cattle ranches and their families. Each of the brothers is a strongly realised individual, none less than Nathan, through whose eyes we witness most of the events that make up the novel. He, like the others, has been seriously damaged in the past, and partly by circumstance and partly by choice he is an outsider even within the extended families, whose lives and interrelationships are progressively revealed. Jane Harper shows an exceptional skill in handling dialogue; it is natural, convincing and subtly revealing of character. It is never over-explicit. We, the readers, are left to draw inferences and thereby are drawn ever deeper into the lives of the characters and the events which shape their destinies.
As with Scrublands - and there are a number of interesting parallels - key events and circumstances lie behind the narrative. There is not one of the characters who is not under the shadow of what has happened in the past. In many ways the story is a journey into the past as well as advancing towards a climax that is both unexpected yet wholly satisfying. The lives of not only the brothers but their families and associates, exert an increasingly firm hold on us, so that we feel at some depth the consequences of their actions and the ever shifting relationships between them. That they all inhabit a world so convincingly created, and so often demanding and more, only serves to root them even firmer into our minds. In short, a wonderful novel and a major contribution to the recent wave of Australian fiction.
I have yet to read Force of Nature, a pleasure that awaits. There is enough in The Dry and especially this novel to more than whet the appetite.
25 people found this helpful
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Sarah-Lou
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jane Harper is an incredible story teller.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2018Verified Purchase
In the outback of Queensland, Australia, two brothers, Nathan and Bub, stand at the Stockman's Grave at the border of both their vast cattle properties. Their middle brother, Cameron lies dead, killed by the unrelenting sun. It appear Cameron left his car, well stocked with supplies, in full working order and wandered off. Or did he?
Told through the eyes of Nathan, Jane Harper brilliantly portrays to toughness, resilience and adaptability required to live and work in such a harsh, yet beautiful environment. Nature's ability to kill if you are unprepared is present at all times. Nathan has doubts this was Cam's way of commiting suicide, but cannot quite put his finger on why. Slowly pieces fall into place as to what may have happened as Nathan is effectively stranded at his family home until the funeral with his visiting teenage son, Xander.
Family secrets and unspoken events are gradually exposed.
This is an utterly gripping story, where each scene has a purpose. Jane Harper is a master story teller and I look forward to her next offering.
Told through the eyes of Nathan, Jane Harper brilliantly portrays to toughness, resilience and adaptability required to live and work in such a harsh, yet beautiful environment. Nature's ability to kill if you are unprepared is present at all times. Nathan has doubts this was Cam's way of commiting suicide, but cannot quite put his finger on why. Slowly pieces fall into place as to what may have happened as Nathan is effectively stranded at his family home until the funeral with his visiting teenage son, Xander.
Family secrets and unspoken events are gradually exposed.
This is an utterly gripping story, where each scene has a purpose. Jane Harper is a master story teller and I look forward to her next offering.
19 people found this helpful
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DC HARRISON
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 November 2018Verified Purchase
The only problem with The Lost Man was it was so good I couldn't put it down and finished it too quickly! After eagerly waiting for Jane's new book, I behaved like the Cookie Monster in a cookie warehouse (before he was cleaned up by the PC loonies). I wolfed it down!
15 people found this helpful
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