Last One Out

 

Last One Out by Jane Harper
4/14/26; 368 pages
Flatiron Books  

Last One Out by Jane Harper is a recommended domestic literary drama/mystery set in a dying town in rural New South Wales.

Carralon Ridge is a dying town, with many of  the houses and buildings all previously bought up by a mining company. Five years ago during a college break, Sam, the son of Griff and Rowena (Ro) Crowley disappeared when visiting at Carralon Ridge. All that was left was his rental car with all his belongings inside. Sam had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy. After Sam disappeared, the family fell apart and Ro left, leaving her husband and daughter behind. Every year Ro is returns to the town to be with her husband and daughter Della on the anniversary of Sam's disappearance for a memorial service. 

With the dust and grit from the mining operation ever present and a handful of people left among the abandoned, empty homes and buildings, the setting is depressing. This visit, however, Ro is determined to find clues in the disappearance of Sam that may have been previously overlooked. Even though their relationship is strained, it becomes clear that someone may have secrets they want to keep secret.

Undoubtedly, Harper is an exceptional writer and she manages to create an atmospheric novel that is depressing and generates a sense of menace and danger while exploring a mother's grief amidst a dying town. Harper gets all the points for her ability to create a scene and bring it to life. On the other hand, this is also a glacially slow-paced plot focused much more intently on the character's grief and trauma rather than the mystery. Some descriptive scenes seem repetitious in the narrative.  

In the end much of Last One Out felt overly long and much too slow paced for the majority of the novel. It does pick up toward the end and becomes the promised mystery, but it wasn't quite the great novel I was expecting from Harper. It is still recommended for the quality of the writing. I'll be looking forward to Harper's next novel.  Thanks to Flatiron Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.