Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Lost Man
Jane Harper
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Lost Man
Jane Harper
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Lost Man, by Jane Harper, is the story of three brothers: Nathan, Bub, and Cameron. Cameron is dead in the isolated outback of Queensland, Australia. Nathan, Bub, and Nathan’s son Xandra, go to find Cam’s car. When they do, it is in fine condition, the tank full of fuel, provisions for weeks stored in the boot, and the keys on the passenger seat. What has happened here? Why is Cam lying dead miles away?
When Steve, the nurse, and a policeman arrive to take the body away, the brothers can’t look as the tarp moves away from the body. He had died from heat and thirst. The body is a mess. The sergeant finds a shallow hole, empty, in the sand near him. They take photos. Author Harper has Nathan describe his property: thousands of acres divided among the three brothers, hundreds of beef cattle, dinosaur bones where an inland sea had once been, and a river that floods every year without rain. Cameron had been an artist and painted a picture of this spot that now hangs in their family living room. It won numerous prizes and post cards were made of it.
The policeman hints that perhaps Cameron had wanted to “off” himself by walking into the outback. The brothers drive back to Bub’s ranch. Harry, their long-time handyman, is waiting on the porch with their mother, Liz, who is crying. Cam’s daughters and wife, Ilse, are inside, listening to Christmas carols. Nathan tells his mother he doesn’t know what happened. Harry says Cam hadn’t been himself lately. At the dinner table, Nathan and Ilse exchange meaningful glances. Simon and Katy, two backpackers, have been hired by Cameron to join the family in helping around the house.
We learn that Nathan and Ilse had met years before, after Nathan’s divorce had become final. They had been attracted to one another then. They see Bub come outside, see him stand over his father’s grave and the open ditch for Cameron’s remains. Bub pees on the ground, but over which grave they don’t know. When Nathan and Ilse first met, they made love in the back of Nathan’s truck. On his way home, Nathan passed his father-in-law’s car that was pulled to the side of the road. He did not stop. His father-in-law had told him to stay away from his family. But you never leave someone alone in the outback without help for many hours. His father-in-law almost died, and a town meeting was held. Nathan was shunned by everyone in town and refused service everywhere.
Janna was a young girl who met Cameron at a high school party and both had had a lot to drink. She claimed to have been raped but never went to the police about it. Everyone thought Cameron had been a good kid. Now Janna returns to the family’s home because Cameron had phoned her before he died. What is happening to this family? They are at odds with one another. How do family members work with or against each other? Xander wants his father, Nathan, to move away before something bad happens to him too. This is a good read to the end. Find it on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
When Steve, the nurse, and a policeman arrive to take the body away, the brothers can’t look as the tarp moves away from the body. He had died from heat and thirst. The body is a mess. The sergeant finds a shallow hole, empty, in the sand near him. They take photos. Author Harper has Nathan describe his property: thousands of acres divided among the three brothers, hundreds of beef cattle, dinosaur bones where an inland sea had once been, and a river that floods every year without rain. Cameron had been an artist and painted a picture of this spot that now hangs in their family living room. It won numerous prizes and post cards were made of it.
The policeman hints that perhaps Cameron had wanted to “off” himself by walking into the outback. The brothers drive back to Bub’s ranch. Harry, their long-time handyman, is waiting on the porch with their mother, Liz, who is crying. Cam’s daughters and wife, Ilse, are inside, listening to Christmas carols. Nathan tells his mother he doesn’t know what happened. Harry says Cam hadn’t been himself lately. At the dinner table, Nathan and Ilse exchange meaningful glances. Simon and Katy, two backpackers, have been hired by Cameron to join the family in helping around the house.
We learn that Nathan and Ilse had met years before, after Nathan’s divorce had become final. They had been attracted to one another then. They see Bub come outside, see him stand over his father’s grave and the open ditch for Cameron’s remains. Bub pees on the ground, but over which grave they don’t know. When Nathan and Ilse first met, they made love in the back of Nathan’s truck. On his way home, Nathan passed his father-in-law’s car that was pulled to the side of the road. He did not stop. His father-in-law had told him to stay away from his family. But you never leave someone alone in the outback without help for many hours. His father-in-law almost died, and a town meeting was held. Nathan was shunned by everyone in town and refused service everywhere.
Janna was a young girl who met Cameron at a high school party and both had had a lot to drink. She claimed to have been raped but never went to the police about it. Everyone thought Cameron had been a good kid. Now Janna returns to the family’s home because Cameron had phoned her before he died. What is happening to this family? They are at odds with one another. How do family members work with or against each other? Xander wants his father, Nathan, to move away before something bad happens to him too. This is a good read to the end. Find it on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.