As good as Harper's two Aaron Falk mysteries are-- and they are-- The Lost Man blew me away. There are two main characters in this book: Nathan Bright and the Australian outback, and I don't know which one I enjoyed more. I felt the grit of the red dust between my teeth and the sun leeching all the moisture from my body as I read. Distances are almost at the edge of incredulity in this place. The nearest large city is over 900 miles away. The two brothers, Nathan and Cameron, have adjoining cattle ranches, and it's a three-hour drive between their houses. Schooling is done online via a slow internet connection. Every white person has skin cancer to some degree. Detail by detail woven seamlessly into the narrative, the outback looms large.

But so does Nathan Bright because we see the story through his eyes. Nathan lives "beyond the Pale," having committed an error for which no one living in that harsh environment will forgive him. Divorced, the one good thing in his life is his son, Xander, who lives in Brisbane with his mother. When something doesn't make sense to Nathan, he can't leave it alone. And his brother, dying of exposure when his truck was in perfect working order and filled with water and food, well-- that just doesn't make sense.

We get to know the other members of the Bright family as Nathan works to answer his questions, and we learn that they are all damaged in some way. The power of Harper's storytelling meant that I was pulled along like a leaf caught in the current of a river, enjoying the words and the spell they wove too much to try to do any detective work of my own. Love and hate predominate not only the outback itself but the relationships between the members of this family. A nanosecond before the reveal occurred, everything fell into place for me: each character's behavior, the tiniest of clues planted throughout the narrative, and I was left a bit stunned. And I was also left wondering, out of all the men in this book, which one was truly The Lost Man? It's a question I'm still pondering.

This is powerful storytelling that should not be missed.

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This is a powerful novel in an almost insurmountable land, the outback of Australia with it's brutal sun, red clay earth, frightful storms and disastrous flooding. This is the story of a cattle ranch run by three brothers and their mother. Each brother has their own land next to each other, however they are three hours away . Essentials and groceries must be ordered six months previous to annual floods

It is a slow story but one gets to know each character intimately and the reader feels like part of the family. When one brother dies, it devastates the family and an all out call to find why and how it happened especially since he left his survival truck full of water and food nearby.

While they all grieve the loss, there are secrets they all rather keep in the past but one by one are revealed. It is a monstrous tale and one you won't forget for a long time.

This writer is superb and am looking forward to her next.
Excellent book

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I enjoyed the book very much--each character was well-defined, the setting and interaction (and writing) very good. I was glad the 'real subject' of the book didn't come until the ending...done the way it was slowly sliding into it...it had more impact. No spoiler alerts from me!

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Jane Harper does a fantastic job building the world that surrounds this story. The plot develops well in a thoughtful and clever way. The characters are all well-developed. The book explores each character - all of whom are The Lost Man in some way. Beyond just the mystery, the character exploration in this story is well worth the read alone. To add in a bizarre mystery is icing on the cake. I recommend this one.

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Setting Australian outback. Family saga about the Bright family. Not part of Aaron Falk series. 2 Brothers meet and 3rd brother is found dead. Lots of family secrets which Harper peels back brilliantly. Twists and turns abound to a shocking ending. Perfectly paced and characters nicely drawn. The outbacks landscape and heat is separate character. Looking forward to Harper's next book. Highly recommended.

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Once again, Harper uses the structure of a thriller (intriguing mystery, whodunnit, whydunnit, etc etc) as a scaffold for bigger and, I believe, better things. The mysterious death of Cameron Bright, which we see channelled through the perspective of his unhappy, outcast brother Nathan, is merely a jumping off point for a thoughtful, subtle examination of the lives and choices made by the whole Bright family and those in their orbit: marrying the wrong person; marrying in haste, repenting at leisure; "choosing" to live in an environment where your nearest neighbour is a three hour drive away, and so hostile that the smallest mistake in your daily routine can quickly become a matter of life and death. (Although Harper vividly illustrates that such choices can be based on an accumulation of "micro-choices" so subtle that you don't even notice what you've done ... until you're trapped.)

Particularly wrenching to read as wildfires wreak havoc on parts of Australia -- Harper can really capture the stark beauty of the landscape, and the reasons why anyone would want to live there, in spite of the cost. What a beautiful and rewarding life it could be, if done in the right spirit -- and with the right people.

A book that is well worth reading, by an author who is well worth following, especially if you want a mystery that resists the usual formulae

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I loved this book. I hate to keep coming up with the same ol' phrases but originality is not with me this morning. So - it's character-driven, atmospheric, emotional and ultimately very satisifying. Just a slow unfolding of what happened to Cameron and why. No forensics, no police work, no real detecting going on, no twists and turns, just Nathan trying to understand the strange scenario. As readers we know this book is about a murder, but the characters don't, so watching Nathan (and Xander) start to have unhappy suspicions about the suicide verdict is very involving. The descriptions of the outback and isolation of the stations, the small towns in the middle of nowhere, the ghost stories, are just wonderful. I had a feeling about Cameron pretty early on but was so caught up I didn't even try to guess the murderer. Excellent book and this will definitely make it into my year's top ten.

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