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The Lost Man

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Was it murder or suicide?
That is the main question I had while reading this author's latest release (note: this is not connected to the Aaron Falk series).

Cameron Bright's body is found with no signs of a crime. Death by extreme dehydration in the wide plains of Queensland, Australia. His car is found abandoned further away, and again, no signs that would point to the cause of his death. Like his two brothers, Nathan and Bub, I struggled to figure out why he would leave his car, with no water and face the heat, so extreme, death is unavoidable.

This story is slow paced and methodical, but I was intrigued throughout, eager for answers. The story centers on the Bright family, dealing with this unexpected death, and struggling with their family history that might provide answers to the mystery.

Told in the third person, the story focuses on Nathan, who is in the area with his son, Xander, for the Christmas holiday when the death occurs. Nathan's life has been in a downward spiral, ever since his divorce and shunning by the whole town due to a stupid mistake years prior.

What intrigued me the most about this story was learning about the extreme environment this family lived in, where the elements could destroy someone. Despite Nathan's selfish and thoughtless actions years prior that ruined his reputation and the ability to seek help from others, I sympathized with his situation and was hopeful that he wouldn't suffer further with his brother's death.

There are some big surprises in the story. Not really twists, more like revelations, as the truths about this family come to light. I won't give it away, but it highlights the impact of abuse that can span generations.

Given the way Nathan died, that leads to no police investigation, the truths of his death are merely revealed to give the characters closure. The big revelation was shocking, and at the same time, made sense once you understand the full story.

Although this isn't a heart-racing mystery, I was still engaged throughout and enjoyed the overall story.

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REVIEW - Set deep in the outback of Australia, the Bright family is devastated when Cameron, one the three brothers, is found dead on their isolated property. Nathan, the oldest son, lives alone on the neighboring property which is still over 3 hours away as he struggles to maintain any amount of happiness or success. Nathan returns to the family land as they mourn Cam and try to find out why he’s dead.

Jane Harper is an author I will always seek out. I love how the main character is usually a little damaged and sad. The characters develop and grow, the story unwinds in a steady pace. A little bit will be revealed as it answers one question while raising another. It wasn’t a fast paced thriller but a steady page turner that developed as you read. I liked how the characters weren’t super naive or gullible.

As usual, the atmosphere and Australia becomes almost a main character and plays a huge part in the story. I’ve heard her writing described as “atmospheric drama” which I will now toss into every conversation to sound wise.

Just a heads up that this is a stand alone book that doesn’t reference Aaron Faulk and is not the third book in that series. However, The Lost Man definitely holds it on and will be available on February 5th. I would highly recommend grabbing this especially if you are a Jane Harper fan.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper. Thank you @netgalley and to @booksparks for selecting me to be a part of The Lost Man Book Tour and the Advance Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Jane Harper blew onto the scene a few years ago with The Dry, and with The Lost Man, she's somehow managed to write a third book that's just as good as her first two. A standalone, The Lost Man features the most incredible setting from Jane Harper yet. While her first two books also showcased rural Austrailia, I don't know that I've read a story before this one where the sense of isolation possible in a rural life came through as clearly. Nathan, the main character in this story, is more isolated than most even- partly by choice, partly due to circumstances readers learn about slowly. The parching, dry heat; the solitude- the sense of place in this book is unbelievable, and critical to the story.
On top of the vivid setting, Harper has also written a really solid mystery. It's the kind that, once all is revealed, will make you want to start over and see if there were clues you missed. It's not tricky or twisty, which is so refreshing in a world where so many books are hinging their stories on THE BIG TWIST. It's straightforward, it's evenly paced. It's exactly the book I wanted to read.

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This was a great, well written thriller with a punch to the gut ending.! The setting is dramatic and the characters are well developed and interesting. I’ve read and enjoyed her previous books and look forward to the next one.

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Jane Harper is known for her Aaron Falk series set in Australia. This novel is a stand-alone set deep in the Australian outback where if things go wrong, the result is usually deadly. Brothers Nathan and Bub, who are also neighbors, meet for the first time in months at a remote area of fenceline which separates their property because that is the spot where their brother, Cameron, lies dead.

As the family gathers to mourn Cameron, unanswered questions, long-hidden secrets, and suspicions swirl around them. Did Cameron make a fatal mistake that led to his death in the hostile outback, or did someone lure him cruelly to his death? Is he the successful farmer and family man that appearances would have others believe? These questions and many more keep the reader guessing who is to blame for the death of a father, son, brother and friend.

The Lost Man is an exploration of human connection and families as well as an examination of what it takes to survive in a harsh environment. Even though this story is different from Harper's previous novels, I enjoyed this story and found it unpredictable enough to keep me wondering and extremely difficult to put down.

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Again I am left feeling greatly unsatisfied with another of Jane Harper's books. The premise was great this time, the setting spooky and eerie. Loved the plot and the characters (especially Nathan) but the execution was severely lacking. Again the story was predictable, no real mystery there, and again more domestic violence as the main plot line. What really let me down though was the reveal and the ending/wrap-up. Just too tidy and made absolutely no sense.

Giving 3 stars for the setting, Nathan and Xander's relationship, and the eeriness of the QLD rural areas. I think Jane Harper's writing is just not for me.

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The Bright brothers are overseers of a vast amount of land in the Outback in Queensboro. The land is extremely hot, unforgiving and dangerous and no one leaves home without a large amount of supplies. When one of the Bright brothers, Cameron, doesn’t come home one day after supposedly going out for a repeater mast repair, an alert is put out. He’s found dead at the foot of the stockman’s grave, which is a great source of legend in the area. Cam’s brothers, Nathan and Bub, cannot understand why Cam would have left his car, which was fully stocked with emergency supplies, to walk 5.5 miles, which he knew would be a death warrant. Cam has left behind their mother, Liz, his wife, Ilse, and two young daughters, all of who are devastated and confused. This has all happened right before Christmas. While the police and others believe this to be a suicide, doubts and suspicion abound among family members and threaten to tear them all apart.

I was completely glued to the pages of this book. It’s a fascinating tale and the author is an expert at making her characters come alive. Not only that, but what a forbidding area this took place in, one where your life depended on having enough water and air conditioning to survive. It’s a land that could be hated but also loved for its stunning beauty. The author has created a dark, suspenseful atmosphere that is completely riveting. This is a slow burning, heart breaking book that blew me away. It’s not only the mystery of Cam’s death that was fascinating but also the relationship of Nathan and his teenage son Xander and Nathan’s complicated history with Cam’s widow, Ilse. And then there’s their mother, Liz, who loves them all so dearly.

A deeply satisfying, gripping tale that I most highly recommend.

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Jane Harper can bring the Australian outback to life - when you read one of her books, you are immersed in the setting. Reading The Lost Man was all the more striking for me since I was socked in with a snowstorm here in Upstate NY. The Lost Man is not in the Aaron Falk series (please, Jane - more Aaron Falk in the future?) but tells the story of the Bright brothers - Nathan, Cam, and Bub who live on an isolated cattle ranch in Western Australia. The story opens with Nathan and Bub going to the stockman's grave, to watch over the body of their brother Cam until the police and medical authorities arrive. Without giving away the plot, the author begins to reveal the back story of each of the characters, particularly Nathan, as she describes the ferocity and unforgiving Outback. This was definitely a family saga, with the death of Cam playing a significant role. Was it murder? Was is suicide? What family secrets are the Bright brothers hiding? Read the book and find out!

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Atmospheric, Australian gothic suspense. Who-done-it (and why) on this extremely isolated outback cattle ranch? Many family dynamics at play here and tons of twists. Dare to venture to the back-of-beyond and excavate past and present family secrets. Hint: there’s more than one lost man in this novel. Delivers on every level. Warning: kept me up late and indoors on a stormy weekend, turning pages until the ultimate, surprising end.

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Nathan and Bub, two brothers meet at the Stockman's Grave where their third brother Cameron has met his horrific end. Beautiful yet at times inhospitable, the Australian outback seems to have claimed another victim. The slow reveal of the secrets and old wounds at the heart of the family kept me turning pages unable to step away. Through her detailed and vivid writing, Jane Harper brought not only this family to life but brilliantly captured the isolation and harsh life on an Australian cattle station. My favorite of her books so far!

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Whenever an author who has a good thing going with a series decides to step away and write a stand alone, it makes me nervous. But in this case, I'm so very glad that Jane Harper did just that.

In The Lost Man, Harper moves away from anything resembling a procedural and gives us a gorgeously haunting mystery where the most menacing character in the book is the land itself. The ominous and creepy sense of place is so strong that the story almost feels Gothic at times.

The atmosphere here is beautiful, dangerous, and so perfect as a setting for the unsettling tale of familial betrayal and dark secrets that Harper has crafted.
Nuanced, fascinatingly flawed characters populate a book in which nearly everyone is guilty of something, but the guiltiest party of all may not be who you think it is.

The story wends and twists delightfully against the bleak backdrop of the outback, and the ending is one of the most satisfying I've encountered in a while. The Lost Man is now my favorite of Harper's work thus far.

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Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I've read Ms Harper's previous books (the Aaron Falk books), and enjoyed them. Somehow I didn't notice that this was a standalone, so I kept waiting for Aaron Falk to appear - finally, I looked at the description and saw that this was not in the series. Just a note, so you won't feel that you have to read those books before reading this one!

Ms. Harper writes books that are very evocative, about the isolation and "feel" of living in the outback in Australia. I saw a number of themes running through her books, that continue here. First, a theme of ostracism - what happens to a person/family in a small isolated community who is ostracized by some or all of that community? Next, a strong theme of secrets and lies, both within a family and within the community. These themes were strong in her first book, The Dry, but are more developed here.

She does an excellent job of writing books with flawed characters, who you nonetheless feel empathy for and are rooting for. Yes, they create some of their own problems, but don't we all? I think the "who dun it" story line is really secondary to these themes of ostracism, isolation, and secrets, but the story line is an excellent vehicle for the character development and the themes.

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"He used to say the ones who wandered off called the loudest. For the rest of their lives, their mums would hear them crying out in the wind. Do you think that's true? That this place has ghosts? That the mothers would hear their lost children in the wind."

Guys, I'm blown away. I've been a colossal fan of Jane Harper since her debut novel The Dry was published, and more specifically a massive fan of her series' protagonist Aaron Falk. Her lush, atmospheric way of writing makes me feel the heat of the Australian outback, and her character driven plots are more engaging than any high octane thriller, placing Harper squarely in the ring as one of the finest writers today. When I found out that The Lost Man would be a stand-alone novel, set apart from her police procedural series, I was a bit anxious due to the fact that I love those novels so much. Clearly, I had nothing to be concerned over, as I'm tempted to go so far as confirming that this is Harper's best work of fiction to date.

"Dead men didn't talk. Nathan must have thought that a hundred times over the years, but as he drove past the grave, the idea slipped slightly, taking on a strange and unfamiliar form. It was uncomfortable as it lodged itself in the darkest corner of his mind."

One of the most appealing aspects of The Lost Man is how it takes a traditional genre and puts the author's unique flair on the subject. If you've spent any time in the world of crime fiction, then you have likely read your fair share of police procedurals and may have even grown weary of their repetitive, familiar behavior. Here, Harper has inserted an amateur detective, the murder victim's brother, and made it read in a believable manner that feels neither contrived nor overdone. As we follow Nathan's journey in determining if his brother Cam was murdered or committed suicide, there are no fancy tricks or improbable action sequences where we shake our heads thinking, "No amateur would be able to pull that off!"

"Sometimes, the space almost seemed to call to Nathan. Like a faint heartbeat, insistent and persuasive... Life out here is hard. We all try to get through the best way we can. But trust me, there's not a single person here who isn't lying to themselves about something."

Is this a book that will shock you with unexpected twists and floor you with its unpredictable plot? Probably not. As someone who has read more "twisty" psychological thrillers than I can count, I'm finding it beyond difficult to pick up one of those that actually surprises me, or entertains me anymore. The Lost Man isn't that type of read though; this is a timeless tale of family dynamics, all-too familiar abuse, and perhaps a small enough cast that you will possibly guess the final outcome before the reveal. Let it be known, however, that I did NOT have it all nailed down before then.

This is the beauty of the book though; it's a small enough cast that your suspicion is cast upon everyone, and as the story progresses between past and present, the reader is brought to an emotional climax after a tense journey alongside of Nathan and his family. The excellence is in Harper's style of writing, her ability to captivate the reader, and talented way of transporting us to a place we may never have a chance to visit in person in our lifetime. If you enjoy emotionally charged, character driven stories, please do yourself a favor and pick this one up the second it lands in your hands. I feel privileged to have found one of my Top Ten reads of 2019 in the first month of the year, but I'll be thinking about this gem of a novel for a considerable amount of time.

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This was my first Jane Harper book. I must have gone into it with incorrect expectations… I heard it was a mystery and was expecting more of a thriller. While there was a mystery involved, this is much more of a family drama than a thriller. Harper had excellent character development throughout the story. However, it was a slow read and hard for me to get into and connect with the characters. I am definitely intrigued by the author and would consider reading her earlier novels, but I am not rushing to read them right away.

Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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The Lost Man is a highly atmospheric mystery/suspense story featuring the beautiful yet deadly Australian landscape. Harper's descriptive writing style sets a grim, yet hauntingly beautiful scene as readers find themselves stranded in the remoteness of the Outback - a region where the people survive or perish from the elements based solely on their level of preparedness. So the big question is - why would a man born and raised in the Outback, fully aware of the danger posed by the brutal land and relentless sun, wander nine miles from his vehicle leaving his supplies and all means of survival behind? Why is cattleman Cam Bright lying dead in the shadow of the Stockman's Grave in the middle of nowhere? Did the well-liked middle Bright brother succumb to the elements in order to commit suicide? Or did someone leave him there knowing he would die? Why was he at the legendary Stockman's Grave?

The mystery of what happened to Cam and "who-done-it?" may be at the center of this story, but it's the many characters and relationships - people hoarding their own secrets and agendas - that fuel it. The Lost Man is very much a character-driven, suspenseful journey. The utter isolation of these families and their lack of quick help from authorities becomes apparent as the story progresses, as does the role played by the deadly, desolate landscape. Harper excels at drawing readers into the scene, allowing them to see, breathe, and smell the ominous threat bestowed on man and beast by the treacherous, unforgiving land. While the story unfolds slowly, by the halfway point I felt the pace and tension rising to another level, along with the increasing list of possible answers to the mystery. I'll admit to changing my mind about what had transpired and who was responsible several times as I filtered through the clues and examined each player more closely. I began to suspect the truth of it all near the end as various layers are peeled back and blanks are filled in. I'm still not completely sure how I feel about the ultimate resolution, but it in no way lessened my intense satisfaction in the delivery of this story. The Lost Man is truly a study of "nature" - both human and the land. And it's most certainly a story of survival - in more ways than one. Another stunning Must Read by Jane Harper! I'm already looking forward to her next book.

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I was a huge fan of "The Dry" and The Lost Man did NOT disappoint. In true Jane Harper style, the book draws you in immediately and the story slowly unravels through a beautiful and vivid setting. This was hard to put down and possibly Jane Harper's best novel to date.

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Jane Harper has found herself at the top of my Must Read Author's list. When I first requested The Lost Man I wasn't sure what I was going to get. I had read her other two books, part of the Aaron Falk mystery series, and I knew this was a standalone but I was expecting something completely different than what I got. And I was very satisfied. While this book does contain a mystery regarding "the lost man" it is so much more than that. It's about the Bright family, their pasts and their presents, and their relationships with each other, all set amid the Australian outback. At the beginning of the book Cameron Bright has been found dead, underneath the blazing Queensland sun. His brother Nathan, dealing with his own demons, begins to question and piece together what happened to Cameron. Was it an accident? Did he commit suicide? Or is someone among them a murderer? The slow reveal of what actually happened to Cameron is so well crafted, I did not have a guess at the outcome until the very end. The characters have chemistry and are all well developed, the plot is tight and flows well, but the true backbone of this book is the setting. Many reviewers call this book and Harper's other books "atmospheric" and I can't think of a more perfect way to describe her writing. It is atmospheric with just the right amount of creepy. If you love books with a strong sense of place this is definitely the book for you. But I recommend it for anyone who loves a good suspense novel or mystery and also people who just love their fiction with a focus on family dynamics. 5 stars.

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Jane Harper's latest novel, The Lost Man is a story of intrigue and family drama. While a bit slow in spots the book provides the reader with good page-turning mystery. The whodunnit at the end made me pause and
think, really?? Possible?? Fans of Harper's previous books will definitely enjoy this one as well.

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Two brothers are stunned at the discovery of their brother, Cameron Bright’s, death. Was it an accident or something much sinister?

Jane Harper has an incredible talent for writing very atmospheric stories! I was right there, in the outback, with the Bright family mourning Cameron’s death and wondering what happened to him. He was born and raised in the outback and knows how to handle the elements. It is dangerously hot, dusty, and very remote. Precautions are extremely important for one’s safety. The fact that Cameron wound up dead leaves everyone stunned and asking questions.

I thought many of the characters were pretty well developed and some of them have very interesting backstories. I did however struggle with the mystery itself. It dragged on a bit for me and I had trouble getting really invested into the story.

Even though this is not my one of my favorite Jane Harper books I am a fan for life and look forward to her next book!

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I first read Jane Harper when I stumbled across The Dry, which is aptly described as “an atmospheric thriller.” Set in Australia, it features Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk in a nifty crime mystery with possibly the most vividly described environment I can remember reading. EVER. Seriously, I could feel the heat and the dust. I loved that book, and was an instant fan. In her next book, Force of Nature, Aaron Falk is back, and I was sort of expecting a third in a series when I received a copy of The Lost Man (thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley, who provided it in exchange for this honest review).

Alas, it was not to be…this is a standalone and it turned out just fine! While I hope we get more adventures of Aaron Falk, this novel convinced me that I will read pretty much anything Ms. Harper writes.

The protagonist is Nathan Bright, one of three brothers living in an incredibly isolated location in Queensland. Nathan’s brother Cameron (the brother who sort of took the lead in managing the family cattle operation) has been found dead, his body ravaged by the elements in a location far from his possibly abandoned vehicle. In his car were supplies including water, and no one can understand how he got where he was found or why he is nowhere near his car.

Nathan has a somewhat testy relationship with his other brother Bub, but they work together to try to help Cam’s widow figure out the future of the land – and the family. As it turns out, the widow and Nathan have a past, but everyone’s future is uncertain.

What I love most about this book is the way things are revealed gradually. We aren’t slammed with the details of Nathan’s messy divorce, the reasons the townspeople basically shunned him ten years ago, or the mystery surrounding the transient workers who showed up as backpackers looking for jobs.) It just gets spooled out bit by bit, each detail providing a bit more clarity to the story.

It isn’t action packed, but that’s not my thing anyway. It’s interesting to have a mystery where the protagonist is neither a detective nor a member of law enforcement, and I love the dark, atmospheric feeling, which reveals both character and plot. “Over the years, Nathan had discovered that his isolation was strangely easier to cope with when he was on his own for long stretches. Then the loneliness became routine, sometimes fading to barely more than a dull background ache…Other people’s company should have been a relief, but now just stirred up complicated emotions that he later had to deal with all on his own, long after they were gone.” He lives in a land were “Outside, the dingoes had started howling again.” Stunning writing!

Five stars.

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