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Last One Out
One way in. One way out. But her son never came home.
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
Five years ago, Sam Crowley vanished on his twenty-first birthday. The only clues were his footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses.
One set in. One set out.
Now, his mother Ro returns to the dying town of Carralon Ridge. The community is a ghost of its former self, fractured by the encroaching mining operation and years of unspoken grief.
Ro is looking for answers. But in a town where everyone is leaving, the few who remain are guarding closely held secrets.
In this disappearing landscape, can Ro find the truth before the dust settles forever?
'I was glued to it for days' – Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
'An exquisite lament for a lost son, a lost marriage and a lost town with a dark mystery at its heart' – Daily Mail
'The drama grows to a spectacular crescendo that will leave you gasping’ Daily Express
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
Five years ago, Sam Crowley vanished on his twenty-first birthday. The only clues were his footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses.
One set in. One set out.
Now, his mother Ro returns to the dying town of Carralon Ridge. The community is a ghost of its former self, fractured by the encroaching mining operation and years of unspoken grief.
Ro is looking for answers. But in a town where everyone is leaving, the few who remain are guarding closely held secrets.
In this disappearing landscape, can Ro find the truth before the dust settles forever?
'I was glued to it for days' – Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
'An exquisite lament for a lost son, a lost marriage and a lost town with a dark mystery at its heart' – Daily Mail
'The drama grows to a spectacular crescendo that will leave you gasping’ Daily Express
Audible Audio
First published April 14, 2026
2506 people are currently reading
32338 people want to read
About the author
Jane Harper
18 books15k followersJane Harper is the international bestselling author of The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man.
Jane is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and has won numerous top awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year, the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year, the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, and the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year.
Her books are published in more than 36 territories worldwide, with The Dry in production as a major motion picture starring Eric Bana.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK, and now lives in Melbourne.
Jane is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and has won numerous top awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year, the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year, the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, and the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year.
Her books are published in more than 36 territories worldwide, with The Dry in production as a major motion picture starring Eric Bana.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK, and now lives in Melbourne.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,777 reviews
November 27, 2025
It pains me to give a Jane Harper book a 3* but this one didn’t work for me in so many ways!
PROS:
* Interesting premise of a dying town and how all of the residents are affected. Businesses closed and there are only a few still determined to stay.
* Description of the atmosphere in the town - the constant dust, dirt and noise from trucks coming and going. The very air in the town smells poisonous.
* Good set up with Sam whose disappearance caused Ro and Griff to separate and
Ro to leave the town.
CONS:
* Sam disappeared from a group of three houses that now belong to the mine, we revisit these same houses over and over. Even Harper’s wonderful writing didn’t save this one from being slow and repetitive.
* So many loose threads and lost opportunities to engage the reader further
* In the end what happened to Sam had to be explained to the reader - “telling without showing” is not the form I enjoy in a mystery.
I think this book is much more of a family drama and mystery - it definitely is not a thriller. If you go into it expecting a slow burn this may work better for other readers.
This was a buddy read with Carolyn, be sure to read her excellent review.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.
PROS:
* Interesting premise of a dying town and how all of the residents are affected. Businesses closed and there are only a few still determined to stay.
* Description of the atmosphere in the town - the constant dust, dirt and noise from trucks coming and going. The very air in the town smells poisonous.
* Good set up with Sam whose disappearance caused Ro and Griff to separate and
Ro to leave the town.
CONS:
* Sam disappeared from a group of three houses that now belong to the mine, we revisit these same houses over and over. Even Harper’s wonderful writing didn’t save this one from being slow and repetitive.
* So many loose threads and lost opportunities to engage the reader further
* In the end what happened to Sam had to be explained to the reader - “telling without showing” is not the form I enjoy in a mystery.
I think this book is much more of a family drama and mystery - it definitely is not a thriller. If you go into it expecting a slow burn this may work better for other readers.
This was a buddy read with Carolyn, be sure to read her excellent review.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.
November 18, 2025
1.5 stars rounded up
That bad? Yeah
This book should have had 2 chapters and it would have suffice.
This is an insanely long book where what you read in the synopsis is what is going to get you till the very end. All it contains till there is memories, regrets, descriptions, more memories, more regrets. A constant atmosphere of pain and doom. Okay I get it...but 50 chapters of this are not going to make it happen.
And when you get to the end...it's some sort of a...mistake and that's when people confess out of the goodness of their heart...
That bad? Yeah
This book should have had 2 chapters and it would have suffice.
This is an insanely long book where what you read in the synopsis is what is going to get you till the very end. All it contains till there is memories, regrets, descriptions, more memories, more regrets. A constant atmosphere of pain and doom. Okay I get it...but 50 chapters of this are not going to make it happen.
And when you get to the end...it's some sort of a...mistake and that's when people confess out of the goodness of their heart...
March 22, 2026
A mother returns to a dying outback town, still searching for answers about her son who vanished five years ago, and quickly realises the past may not be as buried as everyone hoped.
Set in the harsh, dusty heart of rural Australia, Last One Out takes us to Carralon Ridge, a once thriving community now slowly fading away under the shadow of a mining company. Shops are shut, homes are abandoned, and only a few people remain, holding onto what little is left. The setting feels heavy and real, almost like the town itself is grieving.
At the center of the story is Ro, a mother still broken by the disappearance of her son, Sam. He went missing on his 21st birthday, leaving behind nothing but questions. Returning to the Ridge with her husband Griff and daughter, Ro can’t shake the feeling that something important was missed all those years ago. Her pain is raw, and you really feel how much this loss has changed her and her family. The relationships, especially between Ro and Griff, are strained and emotional, showing just how deeply grief can divide people.
This is a slow moving story, and it did take me a little while to fully get into it. It leans more into character and atmosphere than fast paced mystery at the start. But once things begin to unfold, the tension slowly builds, and the story becomes more gripping as secrets start to come to light.
Jane Harper does an incredible job bringing both the town and its people to life. You can almost feel the dust in the air and the weight of everything the characters are carrying. The small town setting, where everyone knows each other, adds an extra layer to the story, making it feel personal and immersive.
The closing carried an emotional impact for everyone. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s more about grief, family, and a community falling apart than just a crime story, and that’s what makes it stand out.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Set in the harsh, dusty heart of rural Australia, Last One Out takes us to Carralon Ridge, a once thriving community now slowly fading away under the shadow of a mining company. Shops are shut, homes are abandoned, and only a few people remain, holding onto what little is left. The setting feels heavy and real, almost like the town itself is grieving.
At the center of the story is Ro, a mother still broken by the disappearance of her son, Sam. He went missing on his 21st birthday, leaving behind nothing but questions. Returning to the Ridge with her husband Griff and daughter, Ro can’t shake the feeling that something important was missed all those years ago. Her pain is raw, and you really feel how much this loss has changed her and her family. The relationships, especially between Ro and Griff, are strained and emotional, showing just how deeply grief can divide people.
This is a slow moving story, and it did take me a little while to fully get into it. It leans more into character and atmosphere than fast paced mystery at the start. But once things begin to unfold, the tension slowly builds, and the story becomes more gripping as secrets start to come to light.
Jane Harper does an incredible job bringing both the town and its people to life. You can almost feel the dust in the air and the weight of everything the characters are carrying. The small town setting, where everyone knows each other, adds an extra layer to the story, making it feel personal and immersive.
The closing carried an emotional impact for everyone. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s more about grief, family, and a community falling apart than just a crime story, and that’s what makes it stand out.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
October 18, 2025
Last One Out is a very different novel from Jane Harper. I was so excited to get an early copy to read from ,y lovely people at Pan Macmillan Australia,a big thank you.
This book did take a little bit to get into for me. It is a much slower paced mystery story, it so much crime novel as that part comes much later. This is a character and location driven drama about a family grieving and a town that is dying, corral on Ridge is slowly being taken over by the coal mining company taking over its land and forcing the locals away. Businesses are closing and even the local pub only opens a few hours a week. The Crowley family are grieving their son Sam,how disappeared 5 years earlier on his 21st birthday,never to be seen again.
We see how Sam’s disappearance has broken this family, and changed the people still hanging on in town. The family, especially mother Jo, doesn’t trust anyone anymore, and just wants their boy back. The resolution of this mystery wasn’t quite what I had hoped for but worked for the story.
As always Jane Harpers writing is superb. She really does bring you as a reader into the town with her narrative and descriptions of the land and the people. You can certainly picture it all as you read and get a sense of the feelings and emotions this family and town are experiencing.
If a Jane Harper writes it I will read it. I did enjoy Last One Out of course.
This book did take a little bit to get into for me. It is a much slower paced mystery story, it so much crime novel as that part comes much later. This is a character and location driven drama about a family grieving and a town that is dying, corral on Ridge is slowly being taken over by the coal mining company taking over its land and forcing the locals away. Businesses are closing and even the local pub only opens a few hours a week. The Crowley family are grieving their son Sam,how disappeared 5 years earlier on his 21st birthday,never to be seen again.
We see how Sam’s disappearance has broken this family, and changed the people still hanging on in town. The family, especially mother Jo, doesn’t trust anyone anymore, and just wants their boy back. The resolution of this mystery wasn’t quite what I had hoped for but worked for the story.
As always Jane Harpers writing is superb. She really does bring you as a reader into the town with her narrative and descriptions of the land and the people. You can certainly picture it all as you read and get a sense of the feelings and emotions this family and town are experiencing.
If a Jane Harper writes it I will read it. I did enjoy Last One Out of course.
April 24, 2026
A dying isolated, small town. A long-unsolved disappearance. A mother’s search for answers. While Last One Out delivered all of the above, it was setting that was the star of the show. Haunting, atmospheric, and oozing with main character energy, the remote Australian town came alive thanks to the brilliant emotive prose. This, of course, was something I was expecting since it was a Jane Harper novel. After all, she always manages to create a world that I can step right into as if I’m a fly on the wall. What surprised me, however, was the exceptionally slow pace. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t necessarily a negative as it gave me a chance to get to know the well-developed characters and their complex group dynamics. Still, I would have to say that this was a very different novel from Harper’s normal fare, even though she still brought that outback noir feel with every word.
So what were my favorite parts of this character-driven novel? Well, one of them had to be the exceptionally well-developed personas. Deep, poignant, and vivid, their thoughts and emotions came alive on the page. Due to this as well as the pace of the novel, I would classify it more as a drama/crime fiction mashup. Offering up plenty of mystery towards the end, the simmering tension and slow unpacking of secrets not only kept me fully invested, but delivered a shocking, unguessable ending that I utterly loved. On top of that, there were some truly thought-provoking themes. Exploring grief, trauma, and family as well as the devastation of a small town, the atmosphere was both heavy and real. Paired with the raw, tragic characters, this novel was a definite home run. Just don’t go in expecting a thriller. It’s more of a character study than anything else. Rating of 4 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
Carralon Ridge, a once vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of itself, its houses and buildings bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. A decade into its slow death, surrounded by industrial noise and swathed in thick layers of dust, the skeletal town is all but abandoned, with just a handful of residents clinging onto what remains.
After years of scorning those who left the Ridge behind as it fell into ruin, Ro never imagined she'd become one of them. But everything changed when she lost her son. Five years ago, Sam vanished while visiting during a break from college, leaving behind a rental car with his belongings inside. Sam had loved Carralon Ridge, and had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy before it vanished altogether. It wasn't long after his disappearance that the rest of the family began to crumble away too.
But when Ro returns to Carralon Ridge to be with her husband and daughter on the anniversary of Sam's disappearance, she begins to suspect that something important was overlooked in his case. Because while nothing can stop Carralon Ridge from dying, someone seems to want to make sure that its secrets die with it.
Thank you Jane Harper, Flatiron Books, and Pine and Cedar Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: April 14, 2026
Content warning: missing person, death of a child, violence, kidnapping, grief, murder, suicide, alcoholism
So what were my favorite parts of this character-driven novel? Well, one of them had to be the exceptionally well-developed personas. Deep, poignant, and vivid, their thoughts and emotions came alive on the page. Due to this as well as the pace of the novel, I would classify it more as a drama/crime fiction mashup. Offering up plenty of mystery towards the end, the simmering tension and slow unpacking of secrets not only kept me fully invested, but delivered a shocking, unguessable ending that I utterly loved. On top of that, there were some truly thought-provoking themes. Exploring grief, trauma, and family as well as the devastation of a small town, the atmosphere was both heavy and real. Paired with the raw, tragic characters, this novel was a definite home run. Just don’t go in expecting a thriller. It’s more of a character study than anything else. Rating of 4 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
Carralon Ridge, a once vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of itself, its houses and buildings bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. A decade into its slow death, surrounded by industrial noise and swathed in thick layers of dust, the skeletal town is all but abandoned, with just a handful of residents clinging onto what remains.
After years of scorning those who left the Ridge behind as it fell into ruin, Ro never imagined she'd become one of them. But everything changed when she lost her son. Five years ago, Sam vanished while visiting during a break from college, leaving behind a rental car with his belongings inside. Sam had loved Carralon Ridge, and had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy before it vanished altogether. It wasn't long after his disappearance that the rest of the family began to crumble away too.
But when Ro returns to Carralon Ridge to be with her husband and daughter on the anniversary of Sam's disappearance, she begins to suspect that something important was overlooked in his case. Because while nothing can stop Carralon Ridge from dying, someone seems to want to make sure that its secrets die with it.
Thank you Jane Harper, Flatiron Books, and Pine and Cedar Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: April 14, 2026
Content warning: missing person, death of a child, violence, kidnapping, grief, murder, suicide, alcoholism
March 25, 2026
Wow I absolutely loved this one. A slow burn for sure but all the better of it.
Ro returns to the small and dying town of Carralon Ridge, her former home where five years ago her son went missing on his 21st birthday never to be seen again. This event tore Ro and her family apart, her marriage fell apart and she moved away from the town she had called home. A town that at the time had been and still is slowly dying due to a large coal mine which has appeared on its border and encroached ever closer as it bought out homes and demolished them.
With her son’s 5th anniversary coming up, as she returns to her former home and former family to mark the occasion she is determined to try and find out what happened on that fateful day.
As I said this one is a slow burn. It’s a character study more than a mystery. It’s a story about grief and how it effects people, more than a mystery, be it the grief of losing a loved one or the grief of losing what is familiar as the town itself is the one that is dying.
There is a mystery throughout of course but it often plays second fiddle to the characters, their relationships and their trauma.
I absolutely loved this one. Beautifully paced with vibrant and flawed characters with the bleak backdrop of the town, there’s a melancholy to the story that is constant throughout, only occasionally spiked and dipped by the goodness and badness in people.
A microcosmic look at the human condition that speaks as much about the world we live in as it does about the small town in Australia. An absolute tour de force.
Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.
Ro returns to the small and dying town of Carralon Ridge, her former home where five years ago her son went missing on his 21st birthday never to be seen again. This event tore Ro and her family apart, her marriage fell apart and she moved away from the town she had called home. A town that at the time had been and still is slowly dying due to a large coal mine which has appeared on its border and encroached ever closer as it bought out homes and demolished them.
With her son’s 5th anniversary coming up, as she returns to her former home and former family to mark the occasion she is determined to try and find out what happened on that fateful day.
As I said this one is a slow burn. It’s a character study more than a mystery. It’s a story about grief and how it effects people, more than a mystery, be it the grief of losing a loved one or the grief of losing what is familiar as the town itself is the one that is dying.
There is a mystery throughout of course but it often plays second fiddle to the characters, their relationships and their trauma.
I absolutely loved this one. Beautifully paced with vibrant and flawed characters with the bleak backdrop of the town, there’s a melancholy to the story that is constant throughout, only occasionally spiked and dipped by the goodness and badness in people.
A microcosmic look at the human condition that speaks as much about the world we live in as it does about the small town in Australia. An absolute tour de force.
Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.
November 4, 2025
At 33% I thought I was done with this one, but I persevered, mostly through the encouragement of my GR friend Billie-Jade. Thanks for that.
But as well written and sometimes gripping as the book was, with great descriptions of the town and it's characters, it still was a depressing read. A dying remote town with an ever encroaching mine taking over everything, partnered with the five year anniversary of their then 21 year old son going missing on his birthday, doesn't make for happy or even pleasant. Sam's mother Ro was an excellent narrator and the family and most friends were supportive. But as with all small towns, an undercurrent of malice and unsaid thoughts remain.
But once again, beautifully written. 3 stars, library ebook.
'She did miss Griff, deeply and often, but what she really missed was how they used to be, and that wasn’t who they were now.' pg 156
But as well written and sometimes gripping as the book was, with great descriptions of the town and it's characters, it still was a depressing read. A dying remote town with an ever encroaching mine taking over everything, partnered with the five year anniversary of their then 21 year old son going missing on his birthday, doesn't make for happy or even pleasant. Sam's mother Ro was an excellent narrator and the family and most friends were supportive. But as with all small towns, an undercurrent of malice and unsaid thoughts remain.
But once again, beautifully written. 3 stars, library ebook.
'She did miss Griff, deeply and often, but what she really missed was how they used to be, and that wasn’t who they were now.' pg 156
April 14, 2026
Publication Date: April 14, 2026
There is something deeply melancholy about Jane Harper’s characters, set against a dilapidated rural Australian town that feels as desolate as it is suffocating. From the very first pages, the atmosphere presses in—bleak, heavy, and emotionally draining. The novel moves with a low, simmering energy, steeped in foreboding, grief, and long-buried secrets.
At its core are Ro and Griff, whose 21-year-old son, Sam, disappeared five years earlier. What happened to him? And more importantly, will Ro ever find the answers she needs to begin laying her grief to rest?
Looming in the background is the mine—a symbol of corporate greed and shifting power that has left the town fractured and families displaced. While it may not be directly responsible for the violence threaded through the story, its presence deepens the sense of unease and loss.
The question of whether Sam’s disappearance was a murder lingers throughout, but the narrative and tension unfold at a slow pace, leaving answers seemingly out of reach until close to the end.
Harper captures the enduring weight of grief with aching clarity—particularly through Ro, whose loss is palpable and consuming. Yet that same emotional heaviness creates a distance between the characters and the reader, raising the question: is there anyone we can truly connect with in this story?
Ultimately, the mystery feels overshadowed by the persistent despair woven through both the setting and the characters’ actions. While the novel offers an immersive portrait of loss, for this reader it proved to be an uncomfortable and somewhat unpleasant reading experience.
Please check other reviews, as I may be an outlier.
There is something deeply melancholy about Jane Harper’s characters, set against a dilapidated rural Australian town that feels as desolate as it is suffocating. From the very first pages, the atmosphere presses in—bleak, heavy, and emotionally draining. The novel moves with a low, simmering energy, steeped in foreboding, grief, and long-buried secrets.
At its core are Ro and Griff, whose 21-year-old son, Sam, disappeared five years earlier. What happened to him? And more importantly, will Ro ever find the answers she needs to begin laying her grief to rest?
Looming in the background is the mine—a symbol of corporate greed and shifting power that has left the town fractured and families displaced. While it may not be directly responsible for the violence threaded through the story, its presence deepens the sense of unease and loss.
The question of whether Sam’s disappearance was a murder lingers throughout, but the narrative and tension unfold at a slow pace, leaving answers seemingly out of reach until close to the end.
Harper captures the enduring weight of grief with aching clarity—particularly through Ro, whose loss is palpable and consuming. Yet that same emotional heaviness creates a distance between the characters and the reader, raising the question: is there anyone we can truly connect with in this story?
Ultimately, the mystery feels overshadowed by the persistent despair woven through both the setting and the characters’ actions. While the novel offers an immersive portrait of loss, for this reader it proved to be an uncomfortable and somewhat unpleasant reading experience.
Please check other reviews, as I may be an outlier.
October 27, 2025
This was a book about nothing. You could read the last couple of chapters and know as much as you would had you read the whole book. I skim read this and struggled the whole way through which is a first for me with a Jane Harper book.
April 5, 2026
I really like Jane Harper’s work; she’s a really good writer and storyteller. This is the sixth book of hers that I have read. One of the things that I like about her stories are the Aussie locations, whether they are in some large metropolis or some remote area in the outback, they really capture the Aussie lifestyle and locales.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Ro, once again, making her way back to Carralon Ridge, as she has done every year in the five years since her son disappeared on his 21st birthday. Since then, Ro’s husband, Griff, chose to stay in the house that he and Ro no longer owned (the mine bought it years ago and rents it out to Griff) in a job that he no longer wants or enjoys (he works for the mine now).
There is a secondary storyline of the town basically being split between the ones who sold out for what they could get for their property and left town and the ones who chose to stay and fight the mine and ultimately lost out on getting anything for their property. The latter group now resents and blames the former group who got out and left for abandoning the idiots residents who chose to stay and fight and ultimately lose. This battle has been going on for years and has caused a lot of animosity and bitterness.
I really loved the way that Harper laid out the story and showed the utter desperation and hopelessness that the town was mired in. I found my heart breaking for the younger generation who were the real victims of the previous generation’s stubbornness and irrationality resulting from the futility of fighting nature and corporate greed and dominance. Parents who truly expected their children to sacrifice their childhoods, lives and futures just so their parents could live in the past and refuse to provide a better life for their kids. I know that it sounds easy coming from a childfree woman, but correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t providing for your kids the number one rule of parenting?
Anyway, so much of this story was just sad and heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine growing up and spending my life in a great little town just to see it crumble and die. Even sadder is seeing the extremes someone will go to just to preserve their way of life and to protect the secrets they have on just how far they’ve gone to keep that life. The ending was a bit of a shocker that I never saw coming.
The character development for many of the characters was well done. The pacing for the first half was pretty steady and picked up a little in the second half. Once again, the storyline was sad but engrossing and the writing was classic Harper. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.1 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #LastManOut
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Ro, once again, making her way back to Carralon Ridge, as she has done every year in the five years since her son disappeared on his 21st birthday. Since then, Ro’s husband, Griff, chose to stay in the house that he and Ro no longer owned (the mine bought it years ago and rents it out to Griff) in a job that he no longer wants or enjoys (he works for the mine now).
There is a secondary storyline of the town basically being split between the ones who sold out for what they could get for their property and left town and the ones who chose to stay and fight the mine and ultimately lost out on getting anything for their property. The latter group now resents and blames the former group who got out and left for abandoning the idiots residents who chose to stay and fight and ultimately lose. This battle has been going on for years and has caused a lot of animosity and bitterness.
I really loved the way that Harper laid out the story and showed the utter desperation and hopelessness that the town was mired in. I found my heart breaking for the younger generation who were the real victims of the previous generation’s stubbornness and irrationality resulting from the futility of fighting nature and corporate greed and dominance. Parents who truly expected their children to sacrifice their childhoods, lives and futures just so their parents could live in the past and refuse to provide a better life for their kids. I know that it sounds easy coming from a childfree woman, but correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t providing for your kids the number one rule of parenting?
Anyway, so much of this story was just sad and heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine growing up and spending my life in a great little town just to see it crumble and die. Even sadder is seeing the extremes someone will go to just to preserve their way of life and to protect the secrets they have on just how far they’ve gone to keep that life. The ending was a bit of a shocker that I never saw coming.
The character development for many of the characters was well done. The pacing for the first half was pretty steady and picked up a little in the second half. Once again, the storyline was sad but engrossing and the writing was classic Harper. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.1 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #LastManOut
October 22, 2025
Too many characters, not very believable, boring and it dragged. Very disappointing! Sorry Jane Harper… loved your other ones but not this one.
April 12, 2026
This is my second Jane Harper book. I read her debut The Dry a few months ago as I knew I'd be reading her latest release and wanted to have a comparison.
In terms of writing style, Harper has definitely grown. This novel is far smoother, it's very readable.
We follow Ro as she approaches the fifth anniversary of the day she last saw her son Sam. Ro and her husband have separated in recent years, she's moved out of town only returning for the yearly memorial. Is this the year Ro will uncover what happened to Sam?
The one thing Harper does very well is create a dry hot windy atmosphere. In both books I've read you can feel the hot sands of Oz burning your eyelids. She knows how to make the reader dehydrate.
I just wish she had plots that filled 400 pages. If we take out all the bumf, the filler that has no impact or relevance, this could be a tight novella. As it is, it's a readable meandering journey that doesn't really go anyway interesting.
It's fine, three stars.
In terms of writing style, Harper has definitely grown. This novel is far smoother, it's very readable.
We follow Ro as she approaches the fifth anniversary of the day she last saw her son Sam. Ro and her husband have separated in recent years, she's moved out of town only returning for the yearly memorial. Is this the year Ro will uncover what happened to Sam?
The one thing Harper does very well is create a dry hot windy atmosphere. In both books I've read you can feel the hot sands of Oz burning your eyelids. She knows how to make the reader dehydrate.
I just wish she had plots that filled 400 pages. If we take out all the bumf, the filler that has no impact or relevance, this could be a tight novella. As it is, it's a readable meandering journey that doesn't really go anyway interesting.
It's fine, three stars.
October 24, 2025
Lacked a sense of mystery, momentum and drive. Lots of repetition to the point of meandering. The character of Ro wasn’t the most compelling to spend time with. A clear, almost clumsy hint to who did it was dropped at one point and I immediately caught it. The alternate suspects were not convincing enough. I would give this a 2.5, there are now much better Aussie crime authors, although the genre is getting more and more crowded and cliched…
December 28, 2025
Honestly a disappointing offering from someone who started so strong. I find Jane Harper's stuff really hit or miss!
If you're into the atmospheric stuff, you might enjoy this tale of a dying town, but I wouldn't look here for a good crime story.
The story begins with a kid going missing, after visiting three abandoned houses. The story then shifts to the present, where we learn more about the abandoned houses than we do about the kid that's gone missing.
It sets the tone for a novel that then discusses every element of the town's collapse, and draws all fun out of the mystery by burying it in dust and broken things. There are broken relationships across town, with many caused by people staying-or-going as the town becomes slowly less inhabited.
It was written well, for sure - no one can ever say Jane Harper doesn't know how to craft a well-written story. It's just that the subject matter wasn't all that interesting.
We do get a payoff eventually, with the mystery unravelling towards the end, but it's mostly dull up until that point so rather disappointing.
If you like the slow stuff that explores relationships between people and setting, this might still entertain. But crime fans might be disappointed if drawn here after reading the more entertaining The Dry or The Lost Man.
With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC
If you're into the atmospheric stuff, you might enjoy this tale of a dying town, but I wouldn't look here for a good crime story.
The story begins with a kid going missing, after visiting three abandoned houses. The story then shifts to the present, where we learn more about the abandoned houses than we do about the kid that's gone missing.
It sets the tone for a novel that then discusses every element of the town's collapse, and draws all fun out of the mystery by burying it in dust and broken things. There are broken relationships across town, with many caused by people staying-or-going as the town becomes slowly less inhabited.
It was written well, for sure - no one can ever say Jane Harper doesn't know how to craft a well-written story. It's just that the subject matter wasn't all that interesting.
We do get a payoff eventually, with the mystery unravelling towards the end, but it's mostly dull up until that point so rather disappointing.
If you like the slow stuff that explores relationships between people and setting, this might still entertain. But crime fans might be disappointed if drawn here after reading the more entertaining The Dry or The Lost Man.
With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC
April 17, 2026
I do enjoy mystery stories set in small out of the way towns. As is demonstrated here, they provide an opportunity to limit protagonists to a relatively small group of people who live in a place largely isolated from outsiders. In this case the town is called Carralon Ridge, situated some five hours drive inland from Sydney, New South Wales. It’s a dying town; driven to it’s demise by the remorseless ever-expanding invasion of a large coal mine on its doorstep. The mine is buying up houses from residents, though as the town’s population drops so do the prices offered by the mine owners. There remains a hardcore of holdouts, but this number is slowly decreasing as more and more families are driven away, largely due to the constant onslaught provided by dust and never-ending noise.
We gradually get introduced to the small group of people who have remained in this town. They’ve loved this place, are loath to move on. Yet gradually their number is reducing. Ro (Rowena) and her husband Griff experienced tragedy here. Their son, Sam, disappeared without explanation on his birthday five years ago. The pair, along with their daughter, Della, were understandably left bereft. In time Ro left to start a life elsewhere leaving Griff alone in the house, Della having moved out, too, to progress a career elsewhere. But the three of them still congregate each year at the family home to commemorate Sam’s birthday. We catch up with them now, on the fifth anniversary of Sam’s disappearance.
The narrative is quite slow going early on, and another challenge is that there is actually a core cast of more than a dozen characters to get your head around. Many are related to each other; in aggregate the group comprises a group of close friends. Or in some cases it’s more that they used to be close friends, suspicion falling on who might be next to sell up and leave having caused some edges to fray. I confess to reverting to the taking of notes early on. I can easily get lost when more than a handful of characters are in play.
But despite this minor inconvenience, I quickly started to get really immersed in this tale. It’s so well written, with each character being cleverly and convincingly brought to life. And then it becomes clear that there was a death, eight years ago, that had previously disturbed the residents of this close-knit town. A man had committed suicide, someone related to people readers have now become familiar with. It all paints a rather dark picture of this remote place.
There’s an underlying sadness to the whole piece, but as the story progressed this was offset, for me, by the genuine feeling of suspense that crept its way to the forefront as pieces of the puzzle started to slowly fit together. In the end – and it was an ending that I hadn’t foreseen – I felt sad to leave these people. I’d become very fond of Ro, Griff and Della, in particular. Also, despite the challenges that these people faced I’d admired their collective fortitude, their fight to try to win what was always promising to be a losing battle: that of somehow keeping this town alive.
I’m already certain that this will be amongst my favourite reads this year.
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
We gradually get introduced to the small group of people who have remained in this town. They’ve loved this place, are loath to move on. Yet gradually their number is reducing. Ro (Rowena) and her husband Griff experienced tragedy here. Their son, Sam, disappeared without explanation on his birthday five years ago. The pair, along with their daughter, Della, were understandably left bereft. In time Ro left to start a life elsewhere leaving Griff alone in the house, Della having moved out, too, to progress a career elsewhere. But the three of them still congregate each year at the family home to commemorate Sam’s birthday. We catch up with them now, on the fifth anniversary of Sam’s disappearance.
The narrative is quite slow going early on, and another challenge is that there is actually a core cast of more than a dozen characters to get your head around. Many are related to each other; in aggregate the group comprises a group of close friends. Or in some cases it’s more that they used to be close friends, suspicion falling on who might be next to sell up and leave having caused some edges to fray. I confess to reverting to the taking of notes early on. I can easily get lost when more than a handful of characters are in play.
But despite this minor inconvenience, I quickly started to get really immersed in this tale. It’s so well written, with each character being cleverly and convincingly brought to life. And then it becomes clear that there was a death, eight years ago, that had previously disturbed the residents of this close-knit town. A man had committed suicide, someone related to people readers have now become familiar with. It all paints a rather dark picture of this remote place.
There’s an underlying sadness to the whole piece, but as the story progressed this was offset, for me, by the genuine feeling of suspense that crept its way to the forefront as pieces of the puzzle started to slowly fit together. In the end – and it was an ending that I hadn’t foreseen – I felt sad to leave these people. I’d become very fond of Ro, Griff and Della, in particular. Also, despite the challenges that these people faced I’d admired their collective fortitude, their fight to try to win what was always promising to be a losing battle: that of somehow keeping this town alive.
I’m already certain that this will be amongst my favourite reads this year.
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
November 2, 2025
It’s an interesting addition to the genre of Australian books about missing persons, in that it weaves the mystery into a wider story about the impact of absence on those left behind and the pressures of small-town life.
My full review of Last One Out is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
My full review of Last One Out is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
November 18, 2025
I was really disappointed by this one. I appreciate Harper wanting to do something quiet and maybe more character-driven. Yet, she follows the same format as a typical mystery. Here therein lies the problem: the pacing is dreadful. Page after page of not much other than the repeated observation that the sky is so bright that it brings tears to the eyes (or some close version of that). 30 pages (2/3 of the way in no less!) of characters comparing keys to a found key was less than exciting. I would’ve rather had longer chapters fleshing out the history of the characters but the information is dumped onto the reader. The last 40 pages gets to what Harper is keen to do, so I ask “why fight it for 300 pages.
I wanted to like this; I encourage authors to try new things. This just did not land
I wanted to like this; I encourage authors to try new things. This just did not land
August 21, 2025
I am an absolute sucker for crime novels set in Australia
October 24, 2025
When I heard Jane Harper was releasing a new book I knew I would fly through it in a couple of days. Thanks to the lovely team at Pan Macmillan I received an ARC.
It did not disappoint. It’s definitely a slow burn this one, reminded me a little of one of my favs of hers (The Lost Man). We have a small town seating The Crowley family are grieving the disappearance of their son on his 21st birthday. He was never seen again, 5 years on we see the impact on the small town as a coal mining company is taking over land and forcing out the locals.
Sam’s disappearance is still not solved we see the impact this has had on his family over the years, his mother Jo just wants her boy back. It’s a crime mystery story, as more bread crumbs are revealed.
I’m always immersed in Janes story telling, her vivid landscapes are a character in their own right. I was drawn into this mystery from the get go.
Is this gem on your radar?
It did not disappoint. It’s definitely a slow burn this one, reminded me a little of one of my favs of hers (The Lost Man). We have a small town seating The Crowley family are grieving the disappearance of their son on his 21st birthday. He was never seen again, 5 years on we see the impact on the small town as a coal mining company is taking over land and forcing out the locals.
Sam’s disappearance is still not solved we see the impact this has had on his family over the years, his mother Jo just wants her boy back. It’s a crime mystery story, as more bread crumbs are revealed.
I’m always immersed in Janes story telling, her vivid landscapes are a character in their own right. I was drawn into this mystery from the get go.
Is this gem on your radar?
October 15, 2025
This is a book about grief. It is a book about small towns and the emotional consequences of a town dying - in this case because of a mining take over, but it could be all the other reasons small towns die. It’s a surprising book in the sense that it is not quite what I expected (I’ve read all her other books) though to be fair the last one set in Tasmania was not about cops either. In this the missing presumed dead child is there from the beginning. No police. No investigation. No suspicion really either. Nor about the other earlier suicide…but a slow burn of emotions as things unfold. Slow pace but I couldn’t stop reading regardless- beautiful prose that puts us in the town and family viscerally. The Lost Man was my previous favourite - this is up there with it though a very different book.
April 16, 2026
Another Australian set mystery (for some reason, a type which really works for me) and it's very Australian - a small town slowly getting depopulated due to an encroaching mine. And it's very realistic, very visual, big cast of characters and also depressing. Main character is the mother of a 21 year old who disappeared on his birthday 5 years before the start of the book, even if we all find out how the clues all fit to figure out what happened to him, there will be no real happy ending for him or the town. And such is life, and I am not going to hold out against a mystery author trying to be realistic about grief or the realities of rural depopulation but it just hit the wrong note, at the same time the realism and then focus on the small mechanics of clues and misdirection for us to get the denouement moment.
We get a lot of backstory on lot of characters which also makes it slow - I got a feeling this would be a good tv series and that there is a lot of great material here for good actors and that it would be more compelling as a tv series with a visual medium and added interpretation. If this ever gets adapted I will not be surprised. (Might it have been written with that in mind?)
It touches an important theme, rural depopulation and how gender asymmetric it is, but again I felt that is so important that it should have been more in focus rather than just a drop for the whodunnit, or I was more interested in the lives of some of those teens than I was in our main character (middle aged doctor grieving a lost son) or figuring out who was the killer, or what happened to the parents of the missing young man.
In all really well done, very interesting setting but kind of missing me as a reader, I ended up feeling like I was reading a tv series focusing on the characters I was least interested in, for a conclusion which ended up being just about the whodunnit and healing from that, with what interested me not adressed. That is on me but not the book.
We get a lot of backstory on lot of characters which also makes it slow - I got a feeling this would be a good tv series and that there is a lot of great material here for good actors and that it would be more compelling as a tv series with a visual medium and added interpretation. If this ever gets adapted I will not be surprised. (Might it have been written with that in mind?)
It touches an important theme, rural depopulation and how gender asymmetric it is, but again I felt that is so important that it should have been more in focus rather than just a drop for the whodunnit, or I was more interested in the lives of some of those teens than I was in our main character (middle aged doctor grieving a lost son) or figuring out who was the killer, or what happened to the parents of the missing young man.
In all really well done, very interesting setting but kind of missing me as a reader, I ended up feeling like I was reading a tv series focusing on the characters I was least interested in, for a conclusion which ended up being just about the whodunnit and healing from that, with what interested me not adressed. That is on me but not the book.
April 14, 2026
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ if only for the beautiful writing. I felt like I knew these characters, really knew them in real life by the time I was done. And the description of the area and it's atmosphere.. So well written.
Now, be sure to go into it prepared for a story that is slow to unfold, a domestic drama with mystery and that may help to temper expectations. It also may have helped me out that this was my first Jane Harper book! So having not yet read her previous books or popular series, I went in with no expectations.
When the book opens with Ro having lost her son Sam, who is a young man who just vanished while home from college, I almost had to put the book down. I was hit where all my fears lie as a mother with a son close to that age, and I was hooked from the start.
The characters here unfold so slowly, as they would to you, an outsider, trying to understand them. We are immersed from the start in Sam's family's grief at his disappearance and their pain is palpable. I was so drawn in by the different characters and how each of them interacted with each other and how grief, suspicion and the unknown can drive wedges in relationships.
I cant recommend the audio version enough, it gave beautiful voice to the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the sneak peak at this one! Happy publication day on April 14, 2026! Be sure to give this one a read or you may be the Last One Out!
Now, be sure to go into it prepared for a story that is slow to unfold, a domestic drama with mystery and that may help to temper expectations. It also may have helped me out that this was my first Jane Harper book! So having not yet read her previous books or popular series, I went in with no expectations.
When the book opens with Ro having lost her son Sam, who is a young man who just vanished while home from college, I almost had to put the book down. I was hit where all my fears lie as a mother with a son close to that age, and I was hooked from the start.
The characters here unfold so slowly, as they would to you, an outsider, trying to understand them. We are immersed from the start in Sam's family's grief at his disappearance and their pain is palpable. I was so drawn in by the different characters and how each of them interacted with each other and how grief, suspicion and the unknown can drive wedges in relationships.
I cant recommend the audio version enough, it gave beautiful voice to the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the sneak peak at this one! Happy publication day on April 14, 2026! Be sure to give this one a read or you may be the Last One Out!
April 23, 2026
Review to follow.
Published today 23rd April.
I’ve read all Jane Harper books and this one is entirely different from her others. I felt Last One Out was very slow going and I nearly stopped reading a few times but the authors writing kept drawing me back.
Last One Out is a book about grief and loss, it’s not a mystery as such. Though the last chapters read more like one. I thought at times it was quite repetitive and have taken a star off for that reason.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Published today 23rd April.
I’ve read all Jane Harper books and this one is entirely different from her others. I felt Last One Out was very slow going and I nearly stopped reading a few times but the authors writing kept drawing me back.
Last One Out is a book about grief and loss, it’s not a mystery as such. Though the last chapters read more like one. I thought at times it was quite repetitive and have taken a star off for that reason.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
May 1, 2026
This is Jane Harper’s sixth novel, and the third one to not include her popular Detective Aaron Falk, who might have had his last hurrah in her last book. If so, it was a strong send-off into potential retirement. This is a mystery with new characters in a new Australian location. And the good news is that even without Faulk’s presence, the results are excellent. This book is a winner! Harper proves herself again to be one of the most entertaining writers in the mystery genre.
For me, this book reminds me a lot of her third novel, “The Lost Man”. It is about a family who has lost one of their members, living in a small town that is dying out economically. Long time residents, friends, and families, are giving up and leaving their generational homes and lives behind.
“Last One Out” is a tightly woven tale that relies on strong characters, a setting that you can see and smell as it comes to life before your eyes, and strong storytelling skills that provide a highly emotional and thought provoking reading experience.
This is the story of the Crowley family – the mother, Ro; her husband, Griff, and their grown daughter, Della – who are each suffering in their own ways due to the loss of Ro and Griff’s son and Della’s older brother, Sam. Five years ago, on the afternoon of his 21st birthday, he mysteriously disappeared while running some errands while home for his break time from University. His body was never found, nor any clue as to what happened to him. The only clue was his footprints found in the dirt around three abandoned homes outside of town that belonged to other towns people that the Crowley’s associated with.
Now, five years later Ro returns to their home in Carralon Ridge, a village in rural New South Whales, to take part in their family’s and town members annual memorial of Sam’s disappearance. His loss has devastated their family. While Griff went quiet and refused to leave his longtime home and town he grew up in, Ro left and found a new job in Melbourne, where their daughter also lives and works as an accountant.
When Ro arrives in Carralon Ridge, she is shocked to see how skeletal the community has become. Pretty much all of the businesses have closed and even the pub is inconsistently open for a couple hours a few times each month. The pressure of the only remaining business being a coal mine located outside of town that has a business model that’s unsupportive of the local economy, and helping push the residents out by forcing them to sell their land to expand their mining operations.
It’s been five long years without answers and Ro has had enough suffering and not knowing what happened to her only son. She wants the truth before it’s too late to have closure. Neither she nor Griff can address the different ways that each of them have chosen to deal with such incredible loss – one has shut down emotionally and stopped communicating while the other has run away and removed herself from the physical situation.
The only way to save whatever remains of the crumbling Crowley family is to discover who has been keeping the deadly secret of not only what happened to Sam, but also why…
There are a lot of reasons to love this book and the emotional journey it provides. It is a Shakespearian examination of deep and unbelievable family loss, on a level that most of cannot imagine having to live through. Harper draw you in without warning and immerses you into the deeply flawed and beaten down lives of Ro and Griff set against a dying town and community that once stood tall and supported each other. Harper makes us witness the unfolding of the multiple, interconnecting plot lines through the perspective of various town members and loyalty that they fought for and lost. Strong family ties and lifelong friendships are scrutinized and questioned. Trust, loyalty, and commitment are challenged.
Harper is not only a master creator of multi-dimensional characters that pull on your heart strings, like Ro, Griff, Anne-Marie, Sylvie, and Warren, she has several other strengths. She melds her plotlines together synergistically in a John Grisham-like flavor for an exquisite and memorable reading experience. Just like her previous five books, I spent several nights staying up late, fully immersed in the lives and history of these family members. It was well worth it. I loved the riveting and fast-moving plot lines that were woven so tightly together and then slowly peeled away like the layers of an onion. Harper artistically uses the dying village and countryside of Carralon Ridge like Michael Connelly uses Los Angeles for his atmospheric settings to pull me in with visual context, history, and colorful dark secrets that amplified the tension of the story. And one of the most important factors, is that the climax lives up to the buildup and makes complete sense as to the outcome. This was easily one the most emotionally draining climatic ending of her six published books and it gripped me on multiple levels. Facing the loss of a child, let alone having them taken without any knowledge of what happened to them must be one of the most incredible painful and challenging experiences a parent can possibly face…
My only constructive criticism worth mentioning, and unfortunately, it is a rather important one, has to do with the pacing of the mystery. The overall pace of the book is good from a reading perspective – it flows smoothly and effortlessly like a relaxing lazy ride along the river in a raft or inner tube – but the mystery driving the story is a slow boil. Slower than any of her other books to be honest. Harper lays out the foundation of Sam’s disappearance at the beginning, then sets the stage with characters – their roles, relationships, histories, and all of the elements (both clues and red herrings) that will propel the peeling of the mystery surrounding Sam’s disappearance. Unfortunately, that slow building mystery doesn’t pick up as much momentum and steam as you want until almost two-thirds of the way through the book. For those driven by mystery first, characters and setting second, may feel a bit impatient with how long it takes to get that going. For me it didn’t take away too much from my reading pleasure, but it was surprisingly notable; however, it did not stop me from continuing the book. It’s impact for me was a 4-star rating rather than 5 stars. My comment would be just to be aware of it and keep going.
Overall, I am greatly impressed with Harper’s sixth outing. “Last One Out” is another one of her winning combinations of a tightly focused and layered mystery in a small-town setting with truly authentic and flawed characters. Harper turns that synergistic recipe into a modern-day Shakespearian tragedy that demands the truth to be revealed, elevating the story and family history in a way that flows seamlessly from present to past and connects everything together in the most symbiotic way possible. Harper’s ability to create history, character depth, and internal conflict continues to prove she is not a one hit wonder. Rather, each outing validates her own seat at the table of successful mystery writers.
Without any reservations, I can honestly proclaim that I look forward to new Harper novels with joy and excitement, devouring them in late night reading sessions, and then lament when I am done knowing I will have to wait 12 – 18 months for her next book. If you like strong mysteries with real clues and outcomes that make you think about the complexities in life, she is an author you must add to the top of your reading list. Even with this one being more of a slow burner in which the mystery doesn’t pick up full steam to the latter third, it is still a great place to start if you haven’t read her before. It will be well worth it.
For me, this book reminds me a lot of her third novel, “The Lost Man”. It is about a family who has lost one of their members, living in a small town that is dying out economically. Long time residents, friends, and families, are giving up and leaving their generational homes and lives behind.
“Last One Out” is a tightly woven tale that relies on strong characters, a setting that you can see and smell as it comes to life before your eyes, and strong storytelling skills that provide a highly emotional and thought provoking reading experience.
This is the story of the Crowley family – the mother, Ro; her husband, Griff, and their grown daughter, Della – who are each suffering in their own ways due to the loss of Ro and Griff’s son and Della’s older brother, Sam. Five years ago, on the afternoon of his 21st birthday, he mysteriously disappeared while running some errands while home for his break time from University. His body was never found, nor any clue as to what happened to him. The only clue was his footprints found in the dirt around three abandoned homes outside of town that belonged to other towns people that the Crowley’s associated with.
Now, five years later Ro returns to their home in Carralon Ridge, a village in rural New South Whales, to take part in their family’s and town members annual memorial of Sam’s disappearance. His loss has devastated their family. While Griff went quiet and refused to leave his longtime home and town he grew up in, Ro left and found a new job in Melbourne, where their daughter also lives and works as an accountant.
When Ro arrives in Carralon Ridge, she is shocked to see how skeletal the community has become. Pretty much all of the businesses have closed and even the pub is inconsistently open for a couple hours a few times each month. The pressure of the only remaining business being a coal mine located outside of town that has a business model that’s unsupportive of the local economy, and helping push the residents out by forcing them to sell their land to expand their mining operations.
It’s been five long years without answers and Ro has had enough suffering and not knowing what happened to her only son. She wants the truth before it’s too late to have closure. Neither she nor Griff can address the different ways that each of them have chosen to deal with such incredible loss – one has shut down emotionally and stopped communicating while the other has run away and removed herself from the physical situation.
The only way to save whatever remains of the crumbling Crowley family is to discover who has been keeping the deadly secret of not only what happened to Sam, but also why…
There are a lot of reasons to love this book and the emotional journey it provides. It is a Shakespearian examination of deep and unbelievable family loss, on a level that most of cannot imagine having to live through. Harper draw you in without warning and immerses you into the deeply flawed and beaten down lives of Ro and Griff set against a dying town and community that once stood tall and supported each other. Harper makes us witness the unfolding of the multiple, interconnecting plot lines through the perspective of various town members and loyalty that they fought for and lost. Strong family ties and lifelong friendships are scrutinized and questioned. Trust, loyalty, and commitment are challenged.
Harper is not only a master creator of multi-dimensional characters that pull on your heart strings, like Ro, Griff, Anne-Marie, Sylvie, and Warren, she has several other strengths. She melds her plotlines together synergistically in a John Grisham-like flavor for an exquisite and memorable reading experience. Just like her previous five books, I spent several nights staying up late, fully immersed in the lives and history of these family members. It was well worth it. I loved the riveting and fast-moving plot lines that were woven so tightly together and then slowly peeled away like the layers of an onion. Harper artistically uses the dying village and countryside of Carralon Ridge like Michael Connelly uses Los Angeles for his atmospheric settings to pull me in with visual context, history, and colorful dark secrets that amplified the tension of the story. And one of the most important factors, is that the climax lives up to the buildup and makes complete sense as to the outcome. This was easily one the most emotionally draining climatic ending of her six published books and it gripped me on multiple levels. Facing the loss of a child, let alone having them taken without any knowledge of what happened to them must be one of the most incredible painful and challenging experiences a parent can possibly face…
My only constructive criticism worth mentioning, and unfortunately, it is a rather important one, has to do with the pacing of the mystery. The overall pace of the book is good from a reading perspective – it flows smoothly and effortlessly like a relaxing lazy ride along the river in a raft or inner tube – but the mystery driving the story is a slow boil. Slower than any of her other books to be honest. Harper lays out the foundation of Sam’s disappearance at the beginning, then sets the stage with characters – their roles, relationships, histories, and all of the elements (both clues and red herrings) that will propel the peeling of the mystery surrounding Sam’s disappearance. Unfortunately, that slow building mystery doesn’t pick up as much momentum and steam as you want until almost two-thirds of the way through the book. For those driven by mystery first, characters and setting second, may feel a bit impatient with how long it takes to get that going. For me it didn’t take away too much from my reading pleasure, but it was surprisingly notable; however, it did not stop me from continuing the book. It’s impact for me was a 4-star rating rather than 5 stars. My comment would be just to be aware of it and keep going.
Overall, I am greatly impressed with Harper’s sixth outing. “Last One Out” is another one of her winning combinations of a tightly focused and layered mystery in a small-town setting with truly authentic and flawed characters. Harper turns that synergistic recipe into a modern-day Shakespearian tragedy that demands the truth to be revealed, elevating the story and family history in a way that flows seamlessly from present to past and connects everything together in the most symbiotic way possible. Harper’s ability to create history, character depth, and internal conflict continues to prove she is not a one hit wonder. Rather, each outing validates her own seat at the table of successful mystery writers.
Without any reservations, I can honestly proclaim that I look forward to new Harper novels with joy and excitement, devouring them in late night reading sessions, and then lament when I am done knowing I will have to wait 12 – 18 months for her next book. If you like strong mysteries with real clues and outcomes that make you think about the complexities in life, she is an author you must add to the top of your reading list. Even with this one being more of a slow burner in which the mystery doesn’t pick up full steam to the latter third, it is still a great place to start if you haven’t read her before. It will be well worth it.
October 29, 2025
I was apprehensive about going into this book as I’d read some of the other reviews about it being slow, and less about the crime and more about the town. I’m a big Jane Harper fan so was worried I’d be let down, but to be quite honest, I think this is one of her best works. Admittedly, it is more ‘literary noir’ than traditional crime; it’s very much character focussed, with the dying town one of the main characters, and the crime itself is more background, particularly for the first half of the book. It’s definitely much slower, but the writing is evocative and beautiful, with a sharply developed mystery to keep things interesting. I’m glad I had lowered my expectations, because I think if I was expecting a typical Harper, I would have been disappointed, but going in knowing it would be a bit different allowed to me to slow down and enjoy the richness of it.
September 18, 2025
A poignant depiction of a dying town…and a mother grieving her missing son, but it didn’t quite work for me. I did have Jane Harper high expectations 😔 out mid October, and massive thanks to Macmillan for my arc.
October 28, 2025
I was very disappointed in this book ,I couldn’t finish it so very slow . Nothing made any sense . It just dragged on . Skipped a few chapters to see if it got any better . But sadly didn’t work for me .
April 29, 2026
4.5*
Australian author Jane Harper's 2026 release Last One Out is more mystery-suspense-intrigue and/or character-driven drama than thriller, which appears to have resulted in mixed reviews of this title from her legion of fans. I for one thoroughly enjoyed reading Last One Out, finding it a nuanced and fascinating account, both of the slow death of a once-thriving community, and of the particular brand of grief that comes from not knowing what has happened to a lost loved one.
The book opens with a short prologue in which 21-year-old Sam Crowley steps out of his inadequate hire car and walks the dirt track towards a group of three abandoned dwellings near the (fictional) town of Carralon Ridge in central-northern New South Wales. Hours later, his parents Ro (Rowena) and Griff Crowley arrive to find his car abandoned and Sam mysteriously missing from what should have been the night of his 21st birthday celebrations.
Five years later, Ro Crowley returns to Carralon Ridge, for the annual memorial the family observe on the date of Sam's birthday, and also the date he went missing from a lonely spot outside the town. Ro is now separated from her husband Griff, having left Carralon Ridge for Sydney with her daughter Della eighteen months after Sam disappeared. Each time she returns, Ro finds that the town has further deteriorated - fewer shops open, fewer residents remaining - than the last time she was there. Since the arrival of a coal mine nearby, the town has been subject to the constant low rumble and vibration of the mining operation, and the presence of a constant noxious dust. This, combined with the mining operation's predatory behaviour in acquiring adjoining properties with a view to future expansion, have caused many long-standing residents to leave the area, abandoning once beloved homes and gardens to the harsh elements, and leaving the town with few remaining services.
[IN PROGRESS]
Australian author Jane Harper's 2026 release Last One Out is more mystery-suspense-intrigue and/or character-driven drama than thriller, which appears to have resulted in mixed reviews of this title from her legion of fans. I for one thoroughly enjoyed reading Last One Out, finding it a nuanced and fascinating account, both of the slow death of a once-thriving community, and of the particular brand of grief that comes from not knowing what has happened to a lost loved one.
The book opens with a short prologue in which 21-year-old Sam Crowley steps out of his inadequate hire car and walks the dirt track towards a group of three abandoned dwellings near the (fictional) town of Carralon Ridge in central-northern New South Wales. Hours later, his parents Ro (Rowena) and Griff Crowley arrive to find his car abandoned and Sam mysteriously missing from what should have been the night of his 21st birthday celebrations.
Five years later, Ro Crowley returns to Carralon Ridge, for the annual memorial the family observe on the date of Sam's birthday, and also the date he went missing from a lonely spot outside the town. Ro is now separated from her husband Griff, having left Carralon Ridge for Sydney with her daughter Della eighteen months after Sam disappeared. Each time she returns, Ro finds that the town has further deteriorated - fewer shops open, fewer residents remaining - than the last time she was there. Since the arrival of a coal mine nearby, the town has been subject to the constant low rumble and vibration of the mining operation, and the presence of a constant noxious dust. This, combined with the mining operation's predatory behaviour in acquiring adjoining properties with a view to future expansion, have caused many long-standing residents to leave the area, abandoning once beloved homes and gardens to the harsh elements, and leaving the town with few remaining services.
[IN PROGRESS]
April 21, 2026
3 stars... blah
February 5, 2026
3.5★
Last One Out by Aussie author Jane Harper is a book I was really looking forward to as I have loved all of her previous books. I must admit I didn’t love this book, and that's not to say it’s a bad book at all. I really struggled to get into the plot of this story, mainly because it is a slow burn, and I prefer mystery/crime to be fast-paced when I read. If you enjoy slow burns then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one a bit more than I did. This may not have been my favourite of this author, but I will continue to read her books. Recommended.
Last One Out by Aussie author Jane Harper is a book I was really looking forward to as I have loved all of her previous books. I must admit I didn’t love this book, and that's not to say it’s a bad book at all. I really struggled to get into the plot of this story, mainly because it is a slow burn, and I prefer mystery/crime to be fast-paced when I read. If you enjoy slow burns then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one a bit more than I did. This may not have been my favourite of this author, but I will continue to read her books. Recommended.
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