The Lost Man

I love Jane Harper’s novels. Always a rather lonely man with issues, he investigates a death in the Australian outback. But it is so much more than the usual detective story. To me, as someone with no experience living in the outback, Harper writes convincing pen portraits of characters living in a hostile landscape where everyone has secrets. I could almost feel the heat. By the way, I was torn between recommending this and The Dry, both of which share similar themes, as my second favorite book.

I won’t give the plot away other than to say it’s a… show more.

What a deeply atmospheric, evocative read! I’d been meaning to dive into a Jane Harper novel for some time, and I’m so pleased this is where I chose to start. I’ve done what we Aussies call ‘The Big Lap’ a couple of times, touring around the coast of Australia, then up through the arid center, before exploring the remote reaches of Western Australia.

This book brings the vastness of this landscape to life so perfectly without overstating or overdramatizing it. This character-driven novel is compelling, leaving me with a sense of being intimately acquainted with the families living on the… show more.

When you live on a remote cattle station, you need to plan ahead to survive. There’s no supermarket around the corner, no emergency services, no telecommunications. I loved the intricate details of this isolated lifestyle related in The Lost Man, delivering the best of fiction by transporting me out of my own every day.

In this precarious setting, a farming family experiences a mysterious death and immediately begins investigating. There’s a long list of potential suspects and much foreshadowing.

You can’t get more isolated than the Australian outback. Or more brutal. And it’s here that stockman Cameron Bright is found dead, on the border of two cattle properties, at an old stockman’s grave.

The Lost Man goes on to tell the story of the Bright family, who live in this harsh environment, making a living off the land. Nathan, Cameron’s older brother, especially, needs answers about his brother’s death and starts questioning the family’s finances, along with his family’s past and begins to wonder if something more sinister is at play.

I loved the way Jane Harper portrayed this… show more.

The Lost Man is ultimately about family dynamics and how abusive control can manifest over generations.

Jane Harper is superb at revealing the relationship layers and nuances, all the while under the watch of some of the harshest environment Australia has to offer. As a tension raiser, she couldn’t have used her setting better, and who doesn’t love the Australian midday sun as the murder weapon? Brilliant.

This is not a Young Adult book but it’s such a great crime book I’ve got to include it. Plus it’s set just over the ditch in Oz and it’s the perfect antidote after reading my book. In my book you’ll be drowned in the rain, in The Lost Man you get to bake in the hot, hot sun! I loved learning about life in rural Australia and, as farmers in New Zealand, how large sheep ranches are run there. I now want to visit!