Published 23rd April 2026 by Pan Macmillan.
From the cover of the book:
He had been here, that was clear from the marks in the dust. And he had been alone.
In a dying town, Ro Crowley waits for her son on the evening of his twenty-first birthday.
Sam never comes home. His footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses offer the only clue to his final movements. One set in. One set out.
Five long years later, Ro returns to Carralon Ridge for the annual memorial of Sam’s disappearance. The skeletal community is now an echo of itself, having fractured under the pressure of the coal mine operating on its outskirts.
But Ro still wants answers. Only a few people remain. If the truth is to be found in that town, does it lie among them?
***********
Five years ago, Ro's son Sam went missing on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. It was an event that tore her family apart, and eventually led to her leaving the dying town of Carralon Ridge.
Ro has now returned for the fifth anniversary of Sam's disappearance, to be present for the annual memorial that takes place at the abandoned houses where he left dusty footprints on that fateful day. Few people remain in Carralon Ridge, but Ro has never given up on the hope that she will find answers to the mystery of why Sam visited that lonely spot, and what happened to him that day. If the truth is here, she is determined to find it.
I am a huge fan of Jane Harper. She is the queen of Aussie slow-burn, and this book is a glorious showcase for her atmospheric-rich writing skills. Carralon Ridge is a town overshadowed by the ever-encroaching presence of the sprawling mine that has destroyed the community, and it is the perfect location for a murder mystery steeped in bitterness and closely-guarded secrets.
The story is told from the perspective of Ro, a mother who is unsure if she will ever find the answers to questions about the disappearance of her son. Back in Carralon Ridge to mark the fifth year since he vanished into thin air, Ro returns to a town more fractured that ever before. Bitter recriminations are the name of the game, in a community now a shadow of its former self - and the same applies to Ro's marriage to her husband Griff, who she left behind when the gulf between them became too much on top of the unfathomable loss of Sam.
Ro drives the plot by shifting the focus between present and past, revealing glimpses of the years leading up to Sam's disappearance, which include the unexplained suicide of Griff's cousin; events at the time Sam went missing; and the dire state of affairs in Carralon Ridge as the latest anniversary approaches. In parallel, Ro is left trying to navigate a crumbling marriage to Griff, complicated by their different views on the town, and the way they have each dealt with loss.
The sinuous course of the story has Ro, and her daughter Della (also back in town for the anniversary) gradually uncovering new leads around previously undiscovered secrets in a masterclass of story-telling by Harper. Relationships are shattered by the shocking betrayals that surface, and the looming presence mine and its impact on the community keeps the tension buzzing throughout.
Deliciously dark; thrumming with thought provoking themes about rural communities, generational trauma, legacy, trust, and guilt; and with a subtle vein of tender reconciliation that will have you sobbing; this is Harper at her finest. What a scorcher!
Last One Out is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Jane Harper is the multi-award-winning author of the international bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man, The Survivors and Exiles. Her books are published in forty territories with more than 3.5 million copies sold worldwide.
The Dry and Force of Nature have been adapted into major motion pictures starring Eric Bana, with The Survivors released as a Netflix television series.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK, and now lives in Melbourne with her husband, two children, and two cats.
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