The Lost Man, by Jane Harper

A man dies in mysterious circumstances on an outback property in south west Queensland. It looks like suicide but the dead man’s older brother Nathan isn’t so sure. A bad decision 10 years ago completely estranged Nathan from his community, making his isolation extreme. Not exactly close to his family, he was the one considered ‘at risk’ by the local nurse and cop, rather than his brother Cam. Tension steadily builds as Nathan uncovers secrets and lies while investigating Cam’s death. Was it actually murder? Was Cam really the nice guy the community thought he was? Should some secrets stay buried? Can Nathan overcome the past and give himself some hope for the future? As in Harper’s first two books, the landscape is almost a character itself. It is intrinsic to events and the way people respond to them and Harper evokes it brilliantly and viscerally. The novel’s dark and topical themes include the extended damage of generational family violence; toxic masculinity and the politics of consent; and the isolation and disadvantage experienced in regional areas. A tenuous link to Harper’s first book The Dry is not really necessary. A brief Agatha Christie moment, where Nathan seems to think everyone done it, teeters on the brink of farce, but Harper brings it back from the edge to a conclusion everyone can live with.