The Lost Man: the gripping, page-turning crime classic - Couverture souple

Harper secures her place as queen of outback noir with this haunting family mystery (Sunday Times Crime Club, star pick)

Like its precursors, The Dry and Force of Nature, The Lost Man is a gripping mystery that drips with atmosphere (and sweat). This time, though, Harper has added an emotional heft that is deeply moving. It is her best book yet (Evening Standard)

Jane Harper writes beautifully and compellingly about the Australian Outback. Superb (Evening Standard)

In just a couple of years, Jane Harper has soared into the first rank of contemporary crime writers. The Lost Man... returns to the parched landscape she used to such powerful effect in her debut, The Dry... Three generations of women - the dead man's mother, wife and daughters - struggle to come to terms with terrible events, and the family's shocking history holds the key to this superb murder mystery (Sunday Times)

A riveting, deeply atmospheric read (Mail on Sunday)

Another splendid slice of outback noir...Fabulously atmospheric, the book starts slowly and gradually picks up pace towards a jaw-dropping denouement (Guardian, Best Recent Crime and Thrillers)

Harper's debut, The Dry, centred on the horrific murder of a family in a hot, remote Australian town. Her follow-up, Force of Nature, moved the setting to the bushland, where a woman goes missing on a corporate retreat. The landscape of The Lost Man is even more hostile, even more alien and beautiful, as Harper deftly manipulates her small but fully realised cast to a conclusion (The Observer)

One of the best written and most accessible novels of its kind in years . . . utterly absorbing (Richard Madeley)

A third superb novel from the author of bestseller The Dry . . . Harper's intricate, beautifully woven mystery...sucks you into a world where nothing is ever what it seems and everyone has secrets . . . Told with mesmerising skill, it is a compelling portrait of isolation and the strain it exerts on even the strongest character. A little masterpiece (Daily Mail)

Harper's writing creates a vivid sense of place . . . She tells a disturbing tale, not just of death but also of domestic violence, sexual abuse, hidden secrets and shattered families (Daily Express)