Last One Out
No one stays forever
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3.7 • 21 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
THE DAZZLING NEW NOVEL FROM THE MASTER OF CRIME
He had been here, that was clear from the marks in the dust. And he had been alone.
In a dying town, Ro Crowley waits for her son on the evening of his 21st birthday.
But Sam never comes home. His footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses offer the only clue to his final movements. One set in. One set out.
Five long years later, Ro returns to Carralon Ridge for the annual memorial of Sam's disappearance. The skeletal community is now an echo of itself, having fractured under the pressure of the coal mine operating on its outskirts.
But Ro still wants answers. Only a few people remain. If the truth is to be found in that town, does it lie among them?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Ever since her career-making 2016 debut The Dry, Jane Harper has showcased her talent for crafting sturdy characters and intricate plotting against the evocative backdrop of desolate outback towns. This time, the setting is Carralon Ridge, a declining NSW village that draws the attention of a young man who decides that it deserves an oral history. But he vanishes during the process, and five years later, his family travel to the town to honour his memory. The mournful visit triggers his mother’s renewed interest in the case, and she stubbornly begins overturning rocks that not everyone wants to see exposed to the light of day. This standalone novel is part downbeat family drama and part meticulous thriller, with all of Harper’s signature insights into how the plucky Australian way of life can begin to sour.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A woman returns to a deteriorating Australian mining town five years after her son's disappearance in this satisfying slow-burn from Harper (Exiles). The once close-knit community of Carralon Ridge has thinned in recent years, with most residents either fleeing or contemplating buyouts from the ever-expanding Lentzer coal mine. Rowena "Ro" Crowley's estranged husband, Griff, still works for Lentzer, though he spends most of his time grieving the couple's son, Sam, who vanished five years earlier while conducting in-person interviews for a research paper about the socioeconomic impact of the mine's expansion. Ro moved away from Carralon Ridge soon after, but she's come back to be with her family on the fifth anniversary of Sam's disappearance. When she arrives, the community is abuzz about the death of the local pub owner. His suspicious demise and the ensuing dispute over his property rights fuel gossip and speculation about Lentzer's business practices; soon, Ro starts to suspect that the company might be hiding details about Sam's disappearance. Harper's evocative portrayal of a decaying landscape and the grief-burdened people who live there provides the narrative with simmering tension. It's a solid outing.
