What readers think of The Lost Man, plus links to write your own review.

Another great book by Jane Harper! To me, the most important "character" in the book was the isolated Australian outback where the story takes place. The location informs every aspect of the story, and the author did an amazing job of describing the rugged--almost alien--terrain as well as its impact on the people who live there. While I felt the book was a little slow to get started, and I wouldn't characterize it as a page turner, I would definitely recommend this to fans of family drama, with the added bonus of exploring a fascinating, but unforgiving, environment from the comfort of your own home.

This book opens with a dead body and proceeds with a strong sense of foreboding. Add in the Australian outback where harsh conditions and hundreds of miles separate landowners and you've got the first hundred pages of Jane Harper's The Lost Man. Brothers Nathan, Cameron, and Bub know these conditions and how to survive. But when Cam turns up dead with no signs of struggle and a truck full of water and supplies, the remaining brothers are not willing to accept heat and dehydration as the cause of his death.

If you've read either of Harper's previous books you know they start with a slow build, the revealing of a number of clues and the developing story until she adeptly brings it all back together for the emotional resolution and wrap-up.

The characters in this story were so strong and the reader is drawn into this family circle that feels both loving and broken. I think this is my favorite yet.

Jane Harper sets her third novel deep in the Australian outback where people are separated by hundreds of kilometers. When the brother of a family is found dead, we gradually learn more about inter-family and inter-personal challenges. In a technique similar to her previous mysteries, she slowly reveals the significant backstory that each character brings to the situation. Her excellent writing gives a vivid portrayal of the country and its people.

This book took me to a place I've never been, the outback of Australia; and inside a family of interesting individuals. There are many stories where place is not particularly important to the story. That's not the case here. Place is very significant to this story, and the author provides a vivid description of the landscape and how it affects the circumstances and the fate of the characters. There is a line near the end of the book — "The funeral had opened the gates." For me,that's really what this book is about. It is about how the death of a family member can affect every living member of the family. Not only dealing with grief and missing, but it can manifest the complications of the relationships within the family members who remain. It can trickle down from the oldest member of the family to the youngest, affecting them in different ways and for different reasons. Harboring family secrets can be very stressful. Confronting them can be very healing. This is a great read and there are many opportunities for discussion in this book. I would definitely recommend it for book clubs.

This book was a page-turner from the start. The author beautifully depicts the outback, her descriptions made me feel I was there. But the story moved along too slowly for me, and I was a bit disappointed with the ending.

I thought this was a rather slow moving mystery. The main character was very well developed so the story was mainly about him and the mystery was secondary so as a reader I got impatient with trying to figure out what the crime was really about. It did have a very satisfying ending for the main character once I got there.

The Lost Man is a exciting story full of suspense and mystery. It tells the story of a family in the outback of Australia. It is so well written that you can develop a picture in your mind of the way it would look and feel. I would especially recommend this book for discussion as it has a lot of nuanced details.

After reading Ms Harper's "The Dry", I looked forward to reading "The Lost Man"... and I wasn't disappointed. I love the way the author writes! There are no loose ends. The story and the characters are sharply honed. The story took me in so I finished the book in 2 days. It's an easy but intelligent read.