Last One Out
The gripping and atmospheric Australian small-town mystery from the bestselling author of The Dry
Published on 23. April 2026
384 pages
978-1-0350-3400-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
'A book to get lost in' Ann Cleeves
'Utterly brilliant. I could not put it down' Marian Keyes
Five years ago, Sam Crowley vanished on his twenty-first birthday. The only clues were his footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses.
One set in. One set out.
Now, his mother Ro returns to the dying town of Carralon Ridge. The community is a ghost of its former self, fractured by the encroaching mining operation and years of unspoken grief.
Ro is looking for answers. But in a town where everyone is leaving, the few who remain are guarding closely held secrets.
In this disappearing landscape, can Ro find the truth before the dust settles forever?
'I was glued to it for days' - Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
'An exquisite lament for a lost son, a lost marriage and a lost town with a dark mystery at its heart' - Daily Mail
'The drama grows to a spectacular crescendo that will leave you gasping' Daily Express
'A book to get lost in' Ann Cleeves
'Utterly brilliant. I could not put it down' Marian Keyes
Five years ago, Sam Crowley vanished on his twenty-first birthday. The only clues were his footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses.
One set in. One set out.
Now, his mother Ro returns to the dying town of Carralon Ridge. The community is a ghost of its former self, fractured by the encroaching mining operation and years of unspoken grief.
Ro is looking for answers. But in a town where everyone is leaving, the few who remain are guarding closely held secrets.
In this disappearing landscape, can Ro find the truth before the dust settles forever?
'I was glued to it for days' - Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
'An exquisite lament for a lost son, a lost marriage and a lost town with a dark mystery at its heart' - Daily Mail
'The drama grows to a spectacular crescendo that will leave you gasping' Daily Express
Reviews / Votes
This is a slow-burn of a novel, claustrophobic and compelling. It's a wonderful exploration of fractured families and communities, and the conclusion is both shocking and inevitable. A book to get lost in -- Ann Cleeves, <i>Sunday Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Killing Stones</i> Jane Harper is mistress of the threats and secrets that threaten life in the backwoods small towns of Australia. She delivers unbearable tension every time -- Val McDermid, bestselling author of <i>1989</i> An exceptional book. The sense of place is very powerful and her characterization is utterly brilliant . . . I could not put it down -- Marian Keyes, <i>Sunday Times</i> bestselling author of <i>My Favourite Mistake</i> A tale of old sins casting long shadows. It is like a locked room mystery with narrow silos of suspects and motives, but it is much more than that. Harper excels at making the reader feel every emotion, every moment of doubt, the thrill of a possible breakthrough, the wrench of another dead end. She takes the reader on a memorable journey that will pull at the heart, stiffen the spine, and thrill the reader. No one can ask for more than that. -- David Baldacci, <i>Sunday Times</i> bestselling author of<i> Nash Falls</i> This intricate story of a dying town and its residents is beautifully written and incredibly atmospheric. Heartbreaking and wonderful. -- Andrea Mara, No. 1 bestselling author of <i>No One Saw a Thing</i> I am a huge Jane Harper fan, and absolutely loved Last One Out. The atmosphere of a dying town, combined with Jane's brilliant characterisation plus a confounding mystery meant I was glued to it for days -- Jennie Godfrey, <i>Sunday Times </i>bestselling author of <i>The List of Suspicious Things</i> An exquisite lament for a lost son, a lost marriage and a lost town with a dark mystery at its heart * Daily Mail * Harper writes perceptively about intense relationships in isolated communities * Sunday Times * Jane Harper delivers another intricate and compelling novel, this one exploring the myriad ways in which 'home' can hurt and heal us. An unforgettable book with a shocking and satisfying twist. -- Sarah Hilary, author of <i>Black Thorn</i> I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries -- Stephen King As ever in a Harper book, the drama grows to a spectacular crescendo that will leave you gasping * Daily Express * Jane Harper's The Dry inaugurated a series in which the parched atmosphere of the Australian outback was conjured with a richly atmospheric sense of place, locating Harper in the upper echelons of Antipodean crime fiction. Her position is consolidated with Last One Out, which is a forensic examination of both familial breakdown and the fracturing of a community . . . she remains incontrovertibly the reigning queen of Aussie crime fiction * Financial Times * Harper builds a slowburning, atmospheric mystery steeped ingrief and place * The i Paper * [An] absorbing novel of loss and guilt * Literary Review *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
File size
2,23 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-0350-3400-0 (9781035034000)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jane Harper is the multi-award-winning author of the international bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man, The Survivors and Exiles. Her books are published in forty territories with more than 3.5 million copies sold worldwide. The Dry and Force of Nature have been adapted into major motion pictures starring Eric Bana, with The Survivors released as a Netflix television series. Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years, both in Australia and the UK, and now lives in Melbourne with her husband, two children and two cats.
