The Lost Man - Jane Harper

Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane Harper

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, 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 lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.

The more I love a book and/or an author the harder I find it to write reviews that aren't completely nonsensical! I read Jane Harper's debut novel, The Dry, and fell in love with her writing, her characters, and proceeded to do the same with Force Of Nature. Aaron Falk is an easy character to love, in my book anyway, he has his faults, but there's something about Jane's writing that makes you love her characters. 

I'll admit now I was a bit apprehensive about The Lost Man. I was very much looking forward to another Falk novel but a handful of pages into The Lost Man and I was completely and utterly spellbound! It's the story of three brothers, Nathan, Cameron, and Bub who brought up in the harsh but beautiful surroundings of the Australian Outback. Now all adults, Nathan is divorced with a teenage son, Cameron is married with two young daughters and Bub, a lot younger than his siblings, is working on Cameron's property. 

It's not a spoiler to say that the story opens with Cameron's unexplained death by a well-known local grave that he'd won a prize years earlier for a painting of it. What happens from there is a wild ride of suspicion, violence, lies, and grief. Nathan, struggling with depression due to incidents in the past, is at a loss as to how someone like his brother, who knows the conditions of the Outback, could walk off leaving a car full of emergency supplies to die. All the signs point to suicide, everyone he talks to says that recently he hadn't been himself and there had been 'accidents' which might not have been accidental.

Cameron might be dead but it appears that there is a myriad of threads connecting lots of different things to him, on the surface he was charming and persuasive, had time for everybody, but underneath the cracks were starting to show. Nathan, with not much else to do and coming to the realization that maybe he's not alright, takes the bit between his teeth and starts looking into Cam's death. There are things niggling at the back of his mind that don't make sense but as the story progresses he starts to connect the dots, which lead to a horrifying conclusion.

Not only is it hard not to just gush about The Lost Man it's also hard to talk about the storyline without giving away too much. The Lost Man is a character-driven story, expertly done, with a fascinating collection of people, all totally different but all linked by one defining character, the Outback. As with The Dry, the Outback shines through as a real character and you can feel yourself under the hot sun, the dry dust kicking up around you, and the beads of sweat on your forehead. 

The Lost Man is not just a crime thriller either. It's about family, love, mental health problems, and consequences. Don't take my word for it though, read The Lost Man and I defy you not to fall in love with it. Oh, and for those of you who are fans of Falk, some good news! In The Lost Man, there's a little something to find (let me know if you do!) and there's a movie coming, with Eric Bana as Aaron Falk!!!

My reviews of The Dry and Force Of Nature can be found here and here!

The Lost Man - Jane Harper

ISBN - 9781408708217

Publisher - LittleBrown

Release date - February 7th, 2019

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

About The Author

Jane Harper is the author of the international bestsellers The Dry and Force of Nature.

Her books are published in more than 36 territories worldwide, with film rights sold to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. Jane has won numerous top awards including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year.

Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK and now lives in Melbourne.

Twitter | Website

Force Of Nature - Jane Harper

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side.

The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.

Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case - in just a matter of days she was to provide the documents that will bring down the company she works for.

Falk discovers that far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. But does it include murder?

When I read The Dry last year I fell in love with Jane Harper's writing, both her description and characters were almost perfect and made for one of my most compelling reads of the year. It went on to become the Waterstones Crime Book of the Month (twice) and in several publications, it won awards and Reese Witherspoon's production company has bought the movie rights. I didn't think it was possible to improve on The Dry but with Force Of Nature? Jane Harper has done just that. I've had a copy of the book since August last year and I've read it twice, and it's on my list of books for top ten of 2018 already.

The affable Aaron Falk makes a welcome return and, along with his colleague Carmen in the Financial Crimes unit, soon becomes embroiled in a missing persons case. The connection to his department? The missing woman was their informant into an investigation into company fraud and the people she went into the Giralang Ranges with happen to be the top bosses of BaileyTennants. It was supposed to be a team building weekend, learning to trust their co-workers, a team of 5 men and a team of 5 women. When the deadline passes and only the men have returned things take a turn for the worse. Eventually the women return, but Alice is not one of them. The question is, has she merely walked away or did someone go into the Bush with murderous intentions?

Jane Harper has created another amazing thriller, with an eclectic mix of characters and once again using the Australian bush as a character in its own right. She keeps you on your toes as to what exactly happened out there, a simple case of a woman wanting to disappear or someone who knows just what she's been doing and can't risk her staying alive once the weekend is over. How far would one of the other women go to keep a secret? Alice Russell is far from a likeable character, even Falk and Carmen don't particularly like her very much, but that's no excuse for violence.

The story flips between the current search for the missing woman and what actually happened during the days the women were in the wilderness. This builds both a picture of the women themselves and how they got on, along with a snapshot of the investigations and their home lives, building the momentum until we finally find out what really transpired while they were alone.

Force of Nature was a masterpiece of misdirection, I was suspicious of everyone from the gas station attendant to the chap running the retreat, the rangers at the local lodge where Falk was staying to Daniel and Jill, Alice's bosses. There was the added menace of a local serial killer who although he was dead, had a son who hadn't been seen for several years, and so of course anybody male came under suspicion too. The discovery of the truth of Alice's disappearance stunned me. Once again I'd gone for every option but the right one, distracted by the red herrings and ignoring the hints that led to the real story.

As I said with The Dry, if you like intelligent, well written, gripping thrillers then you should add both Force of Nature and The Dry to your reading lists. Although this is the second book in the Falk series you could read this as a standalone but really, to fully appreciate Jane Harper's wonderful, descriptive writing you need to read both. Huge thanks to Grace Vincent and LittleBrown for an advance copy of the book and for inviting me to take part in the blog tour. I'm off to buy the gorgeous limited edition hardback now as Force of Nature is a keeper and I'm sure I'll be re-reading while I wait for Falk no. 3 (fingers crossed)!!!

My Bookish Year 2017 - January to June

Started well but ended badly... I'd like to forget about 2017 from August onwards but I can't. I didn't go to any bookish events from January to June as I was determined to save for ComicCon and YALC, and I was trying to make sure that I read a lot of books from my own shelves. Neither worked out as well as I hoped but never mind. Here are my favorites of the first half of the year, and, hopefully, followed shortly by July through to December! Some are titles I've reviewed on the blog, you can find them by clicking on the book picture, and others will link to Goodreads.

The Dry - Jane Harper

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

The Dry is Jane Harper's debut novel and very much doubt it will be her last. The Dry draws you in from page one and doesn't let go until the very last word of the last page. The Dry is the story of Aaron Falk and his childhood friends, Luke, Ellie, and Gretchen. Ellie was found 20 years ago in the river and, suspected of her murder, Falk and his father leave town. Twenty years later, Falk is back, this time as a police officer in town for the funeral of his best friend, Luke, and his wife and son who were all found shot to death in their farmhouse. The only reason Falk has returned is because Luke's father doesn't believe that Luke could be capable of killing his family and wants Falk to investigate.

Little does Falk know that he's about set a match to a powder keg, quite literally as Kiewarra is suffering from its worst drought ever. The townspeople haven't forgotten about Ellie or Falk's possible involvement in her death and the tension is palpable. Given the terrible state of the town, the suspicious nature of its residents, and their struggle to eke out a living it's not going to be too long before things come to a head.

With a motley cast of characters, you're never quite sure who to believe or who might have pulled the trigger. Was it Luke, desperate to find a way out of his struggle? If so, why did he leave his 13-month-old daughter alive and why can't his father let things rest? What follows is a twisty tale of greed, terror, and betrayal with a good old sting in the tail for an ending - and plenty of mentions of poisonous spiders too...

Jane Harper is definitely an author to watch, The Dry has one of the tightest storylines I've read in a thriller recently and her characters (in which I include the Australian countryside which is so forcefully brought to life you can almost feel the heat rising from the pages) are all multidimensional, complicated humans, each with their own secrets to hide. The best thing about The Dry? I didn't guess why certain things were happening until I was smacked in the face with a hefty dose of obviousness! If Ms. Harper's debut is this good I cannot wait to read her next effort. If you're at all a fan of intelligent, well-written thrillers then read this book and I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

The Dry - Jane Harper

ISBN - 9781408708170

Publisher - Little Brown

Release date - January 12th, 2017

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository 

 

Bookmarked... #26

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...


Here we are, at the start of yet another year and hopefully one full of good books and plenty of reading! Here's what I've been reading over the last 7 days.

Finished

The Dry - Jane Harper
A great debut thriller, I'm on the blog tour for this and my review will be up tomorrow.

Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie
One of my favorite books but I'm not a fan of the television adaptations, not even the one with Joan Hickson.

Currently Reading

The Fireman by Joe Hill
I've owned this since the day it came out but have put off reading it. No longer! I am going to take my time over this one.

Up Next

The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman
I've been meaning to start this series since book 1 was released. I'm going to at least make a start by reading book 1!

The Witch's Kiss - Katharine & Elizabeth Corr
I'm on the blog tour for the 2nd book in the series so this is a reread for me to refresh my memory.