Jane Harper
The Lost Man
Three brothers. One death. No answers.
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...
Liz Dennis manages the translation rights for The Lost Man
Translation Rights Sold
I can tell you I devoured it in the space of 24 hours. Every bit as good as The Dry. Probably better, actually. May have to push Jane Harper under a bus.
Jane Harper is a writer at the top of her game; and with The Lost Man, she marries atmosphere, plot, suspense and believably complex characters into her best novel yet
Red Online
The Dry was on everybody's must-read list. But with her third novel, The Lost Man, Australian author Jane Harper has crafted an engrossing outback noir that is even more gripping [...] This engrossing novel will have you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page.
Herald Sun (Melbourne)
Harper’s incredible story has been well told... I started it at noon and at 2 am that night I closed it and totally understood what all the fuss was about.
It was even better than The Dry... whatever Harper’s secret is, it works.
The Canberra Times
Harper has that easy turn of phrase that makes reading her books a pleasure, despite the sense of menace.
If you liked The Dry, you’ll love it. The Lost Man is an even better book, gripping to the end. [...] This engrossing novel will have you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page.
In The Lost Man, Jane Harper surpasses her achievement in The Dry, her multi-award-winning first novel. A broad range of Australian and international readers will be engaged by the strong setting and mystery storyline of the new novel, not least grey nomads and backpacking travellers.
The image at the heart of the novel, of a man who has perished in the punishing heat of Australia’s outback, has stayed with me ever since. Just as good— perhaps even better — than Harper’s excellent thrillers The Dry and Force of Nature
The Observer
Deceptive twists sneak up on the reader, and with The Lost Man Harper has crafted another slow burn mystery that catches the reader unaware right up to the surprise ending.
Amazon Book Review
I absolutely loved The Lost Man. I devoured it in a day. Her best yet!
In just a couple of years, Jane Harper has soared into the first rank of contemporary crime writers. THE LOST MAN ... returns to the parched landscape she used to such powerful effect in her debut, THE DRY ... Three generations of women - the dead man's mother, wife and daughters - struggle to come to terms with terrible events, and the family's shocking history holds the key to this superb murder mystery
Book by book, she's creating her own vivid and complex account of the outback, and its people who live where people don't live.
Charles FinchNew York Times Book Review
Where The Dry probed the dangers of prolonged drought on a close-knit farming community, The Lost Man is concerned with how people live — and die — in the unforgiving outback.
New York Times
Amazon Book Review Full Review
In the Lost Man, as in Harper's previous two novels, place is paramount, a multifaceted character that's in turns brutal and breathtaking.'
Washington Post
Jane Harper is at the top of the crime writing genre....I will drop whatever I'm doing to read a Jane Harper novel.
Book Riot
A twisty slow burner by an author at the top of her game.
The Lost Man is quietly unsettling, in a hypnotic and heartbreaking way.
Shelf Awareness
[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 Magazine, Book of the Week
Told with mesmerising skill, it is a compelling portrait of isolation and the train it exerts on even the strongest character. A little masterpiece.
Daily Mail
The Lost Man is quietly unsettling, in a hypnotic and heartbreaking way.
A twisty slow burner by an author at the top of her game.
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.
In The Lost Man, as in Harper’s previous two novels, place is paramount, a multifaceted character that’s in turns brutal and breathtaking.
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.
A riveting, deeply atmospheric read.
Mail on Sunday
It's an evocative, sharply written and expertly plotted novel, subtle in how it navigates its themes of misogyny, retribution and guilt.
Independent.ie
Harper's crisp, evocative writing expertly reveals the secrets that have been festering too long in the scorching Australian sun.
Metro
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, author of The Woman in the Window
Fabulously atmospheric, the book starts slowly and gradually picks uppace towards a jaw-dropping denouement.
Full Review
Highly recommended … a stand-alone set … in the remote outback, where 'next-door neighbours' live three hours apart. It’s an eerie, mesmerising setting for a story about a mysterious death in an isolated family: I remember the pages flying by
Harper’s first novel, The Dry, won many awards, but this one is even better. Her depiction of the extraordinary landscape is superb, as is her account of the psychological and emotional burdens it imposes on the people who try to make a living within it.
Literary Review
This Australian crime thriller begins in the vast, scorching outback, where a dead cattle rancher’s body is found by his two estranged brothers. Suspicions grow as the family tries to figure out whether someone is responsible, and if so, who. Our reviewer, Charles Finch, called Harper “a prickly, smart, effective storyteller.
Like the country it describes, this is a "big" book, and one likely to cement Harper's place as one of the most interesting Australian crime writers to emerge in the past decade. Her sense of place is acute, but it is her attention to the relationships that are shaped by this unforgiving, magnificent landscape that will linger long after the mystery of stockman's grave is finally revealed.
The Age
The very definition of a slow burn, this is much like the land in which it is set - spartan, atmospheric, and really quite beautiful.
Heat
[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.
A timely and riveting family drama set in a desolate area of Queensland that will keep you guessing until the final pages.
BookPage
A tale of loneliness, grief and rebirth ... Gripping
Evening Standard
Harper’s gripping third novel — after The Dry and Force of Nature — is her most accomplished yet: a moving story of loneliness, grief and redemption.
The Times
In the Australian Outback where the people are as unforgiving as the land, a mysterious death forces Nathan Bright to confront his personal mistakes and tortured childhood. A vivid setting and compelling storytelling weave together a gripping tale of isolation and perseverance.
Australia’s outback, with its brutal climate and equally bruising isolation, looms large as any character in this stark standalone from bestseller Harper… [T]he surviving members of the Bright family must confront some devastating secrets. Harper’s sinewy prose and flinty characters compel.
The landscape of The Lost Man is even more hostile, even more alien and beautiful, as Harper deftly manipulates her small but fully realised cast to a conclusion
that chills, despite the outback heat.
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Jane Harper Shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020
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The Lost Man nominated for 2020 LA Times Book Prizes and a B&N Bestseller
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The Lost Man nominated for a 2020 Audie Award and two Barry Awards
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Jane Harper Nominated at Barry Awards 2020
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Jane Harper wins Best Swedish Translated Crime Novel 2019
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The Lost Man wins Best Fiction Prize at Ned Kelly Awards
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Jane Harper wins Davitt Award for Third Consecutive Year
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Jane Harper Triumphs at Thrillerfest XIV
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Jane Harper finalist for the ITW Thriller Awards
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Curtis Brown authors on Abias Longlist
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Jane Harper's The Lost Man is Apple Books' Best Fiction Title of the Year