Last One Out: A Novel
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"A memorable journey that will pull at the heart, stiffen the spine, and thrill the reader. No one can ask for more than that.” —David Baldacci
From the New York Times bestselling author of Exiles and The Dry comes a captivating new novel set in a modern ghost town.
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.
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Community Reviews
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
A farmhouse, an ivy cottage, a stone bungalow. Three small shapes, each cast into shadow as the sun dipped lower behind a blue door with a key found beneath floorboards. Carralon Ridge may be a ghost town abandoned to the mines, but it has not always been this way.
A recurring theme is appreciation for the way people in small towns support each other. The warm, golden glow of friendship and grassroots sports for the kids. Community fundraisers and neighbourly chats in the streets. The comfort of recognising a friendly face in shops and pubs. Tucked up in its embrace, citizens feel like they’re part of something that makes life better for everyone. But that embrace can only stretch so far; its reach is not without limits. Because a community isn’t a single living, breathing organism. It is made up of flawed individual members with their own hopes, beliefs, bank balances, and family structures, all trying to do the best they can when faced with a difficult situation.
So when a mining industry offers to buy citizens’ property, a chasm is created between those who leave and those who stay. Those who accept the mine’s money and the ones who had hold onto their community. But at what cost? Neighbourly understanding that is only offered to those willing to toe the line isn’t real understanding at all. It’s easy to be supportive when your goals align; the challenge comes with emerging differences. The community members are so ingrained with a sense of honour–sell out or stay–that honesty becomes a weapon they wield against one another until someone is murdered.
And the cause comes down to just one question: why are we still here? A truly universal question we could all ask ourselves. Because there’s no prize for being the last one out. Grief and guilt, shame and loyalty. Love and forgiveness, community and family. Jane Harper’s Last One Out is a triumph!