Carralon is a small country town in Australia where everyone knows everybody. It is close to an open-cut coal mine, and the mining company is gradually extending its boundaries, buying up properties as it goes.
The divide between those who are considering accepting the company’s offer and those who are resisting borders on toxic.
Sam Crowley goes missing on his 21st birthday. He’d been interviewing residents as part of a university project to ascertain their views and the reasons for their pointless resistance. Could his disappearance – and possible murder – be linked to his investigations?
Rowena, Sam’s mother and one of the town’s former family doctors before she moved away, combs through his notes to find a possible explanation.
Fans of Jane Harper will know what to expect: a slow burn; characters that intrigue; descriptive language; and the town and environs vividly portrayed. Readers new to her style will need to be patient.
Secrets, lies and half-truths proliferate. Anxiety, deception, and deceit are here in spades.
I predict Harper’s prose in Last One Out will release strong feelings in her readers; despair that many Carralon families have lost sight of what matters, and anger that one irascible, selfish curmudgeon can influence so many.
Reviewed by Clive Hodges
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jane Harper is the author of bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man, The Survivors and Exiles. Her books are published in 40 territories worldwide, with more than 3.5 million copies sold to date.
Jane has won numerous awards for writing, 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.
The major motion picture adaptation of The Dry, starring Eric Bana as Aaron Falk, took more than $20.5m at the Australian box office ahead of release dates overseas.
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