A man lies scorched to death in 45-degree heat after crawling around the sundial-style shadow of the headstone at the grave of a stockman who died many decades ago. The cinematic prologue is a stunning opener. This time the mystery is a domestic thriller told from the perspective of Nathan Bright, whose family are at the heart of it. Unlike the first two novels, detective Aaron Falk is absent and there is no central cop. We are already on to Harper’s third novel with The Lost Man, returning to the Outback setting after a trip to the rain forest in her second, Force of Nature. This meteoric success has echoes of that of Paula Hawkins with The Girl on the Train, the resultant Hollywood movie and the spawning of a new round of thrillers with ‘the girl’ in their titles. The Australian author’s novel went on to win awards, sell zillions and see the film rights sold to Reece Witherspoon. The Dry was a special book, but this one may be even better Harper is a special writer.Written by Jane Harper – It was only last year that Val McDermid highlighted Jane Harper’s debut The Dry during her New Blood session at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Festival in Harrogate. The Lost Man is a superb tale, brimming with subtext and subtlety. There’s a taut elegance and quiet intensity to Harper’s prose as she surveys the pressures of Outback farming and the darkness that can hide within families and isolated communities. Nathan is forced to confront several incidents from his own past, missteps and misperceptions, and the different ways various people view the same events.

Everyone who lives in the Outback knows the parched desert can quickly kill, so why would Cam abandon his car and wander to his death at the old stockman’s grave? Had financial worries tipped him over the edge, concerns from his past, or something more sinister? Nathan, who has lived largely in exile in recent years, is thrust into a family situation full of grief, anguish, and questions.Īs events unfold, relationships fray and long-hidden truths come to light. Their middle sibling, the family’s golden child Cam, is dead at their feet. The oldest and youngest Bright brothers, Nathan and Bub, meet at a barren border of their vast cattle ranches in the heat-struck expanses of inner Queensland.

Her new tale The Lost Man returns to the arid landscapes of the Outback, but Falk is nowhere in sight. She then showed she was no one-hit wonder when switching from drought-stricken farmland to rainswept forest for her second Aaron Falk thriller. Australian author Jane Harper snatched global attention and huge accolades (including the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger) for her outstanding debut The Dry.

The lost man harper