Last One Out – Jane Harper

Jane Harper, true to form, has written another seemingly impossible-to-solve mystery set in rural Australia: Last One Out. My friends at Pan Macmillan Australia were kind enough to send me a copy for review.

The story begins with our protagonist, Ro, returning to the small (fictional) town of Carralon Ridge, which has been in its death throes for years with the expansion of a nearby mine. She has returned to mark the anniversary of the disappearance of her son, Sam. On the eve of his 21st birthday, five years earlier, he vanished from the side of a dirt road, leaving behind only dusty footprints in nearby abandoned houses. It seems unlikely that Ro, her estranged husband, or her workaholic daughter will ever find out what happened to Sam.

Last One Out unfolds gently, slowly, with Harper apparently more focused on highlighting the plight of small towns squeezed by mining companies than giving readers clues to solve the mystery. I’m relieved to report that she doesn’t go the corporate espionage route to explain Sam’s disappearance – though the specter of the mine still looms over everything that happens in Carralon Ridge.

Gradually, the hints come together, and by the final chapter Last One Out is packaged up fairly neatly. It’s an interesting addition to the genre of Australian books about missing persons, in that it weaves the mystery into a wider story about the impact of absence on those left behind and the pressures of small-town life.

Read Last One Out on audiobook via Libro.fm here. (affiliate link)