He had started to remove his clothes as logic had deserted him, and his skin was cracked. Whatever had been going through Cameron's mind when he was alive, he didn't look peaceful in death.
Two brothers meet at the remote border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of the outback. In an isolated part of Australia, they are each other's nearest neighbour, their homes hours apart.They are at the stockman's grave, a landmark so old that 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 choose to walk to his death? Because if he didn't, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects...
The Lost Man by Jane Harper was published by Little Brown UK in hardback on 7 February 2019, my thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and who invited me to take part on this blog tour.
I am in no doubt that The Lost Man by Jane Harper will appear in my Best Books of the Year post, and I realise that it's only February.
This author's debut; The Dry and the follow up; Force of Nature were both huge successes and I enjoyed them very much. I was delighted to be offered the chance to read an early copy of this one.
This author's debut; The Dry and the follow up; Force of Nature were both huge successes and I enjoyed them very much. I was delighted to be offered the chance to read an early copy of this one.
The Lost Man is a stand alone novel set in the Australian outback. This is one of the most descriptive and atmospheric novels that I've read for many years. From the startling and compelling opening chapters, the reader is consumed by the red dust and heat that forms the backdrop to this outstanding story.
Three brothers, brought up together but all very different. The story opens as Bub and Nathan find the body of Cameron; their brother. He is found dead alongside the 'stockman's grave'; a local landmark that attracts many ghost stories and folk tales and becomes something of a central point in this whole story.
A cattle farmer, born and bred in the outback, would never leave his air-conditioned car, and the supplies of food and water and walk out into the searing heat and blinding dust. Never. However, it appears that is what Cameron did. His vehicle is in good working order, there's no indication that anyone else was with him. It's a complete mystery.
This author excels in building her characters and each one of them are slowly and perfectly created, allowing the reader to get to know them as though they too had lived alongside them. The sense of place is both elegant and terrifying with the oppressive and dangerous heat and the constant feeling of dust and dirt.
The Lost Man is both a mystery story and a complex and multi-layered tale of family life; of the connections and disconnections; of hidden dark secrets and of how one character can shape the whole of a family, for generation onwards.
I could talk about this novel for hours, and have already recommended it to many people. It's a dark and brilliant story, told through characters who are imperfect but wonderfully created. I loved it.
Jane Harper is the author of The Dry, winner of various awards including the 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, the 2017 Indie Award Book of the Year, the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year Award and the CWA Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of 2017.
Rights have been sold in 27 territories worldwide, and film rights optioned to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK and lives in Melbourne.
Website : www.janeharper.com.au
Twitter: @janeharperautho
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