Last One Out
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 14 Apr 2026
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- 12,99 €
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- Pre-Order
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- 12,99 €
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Exiles and The Dry comes a captivating new novel set in a modern ghost town.
Carralon Ridge, a once vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of itself, its houses and buildings bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. A decade into its slow death, surrounded by industrial noise and swathed in thick layers of dust, the skeletal town is all but abandoned, with just a handful of residents clinging onto what remains.
After years of scorning those who left the Ridge behind as it fell into ruin, Ro never imagined she'd become one of them. But everything changed when she lost her son. Five years ago, Sam vanished while visiting during a break from college, leaving behind a rental car with his belongings inside. Sam had loved Carralon Ridge, and had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy before it vanished altogether. It wasn't long after his disappearance that the rest of the family began to crumble away too.
But when Ro returns to Carralon Ridge to be with her husband and daughter on the anniversary of Sam's disappearance, she begins to suspect that something important was overlooked in his case. Because while nothing can stop Carralon Ridge from dying, someone seems to want to make sure that its secrets die with it.
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.
