Last One Out

When reviewing Jane Harper's previous book, Exiles, I noted that her odd-numbered books have been stellar—each cracking my Top 10 for the year it was released—while her even-numbered books have been so-so. Last One Out is book #6 from Harper—that's an even number, for those of you scoring at home—and unfortunately it carries forward that trend, not quite living up to the excellence of the odds.

The novel takes place in a small town several hours west of Sydney, Australia dubbed "Carralon Ridge". It's a tight-knit community that is slowly dying due to a mining operation that moved in years prior that has gradually driven residents from the town. Through a combination of land grabs and pummeling the atmosphere with coal dust and noise pollution, the Lentzer mining company has turned once bucolic Carralon into a shadow of itself, and only a few hundred stalwart inhabitants remain.

The novel focuses on one family, the Crowleys, whose son Sam went missing on his 21st birthday five years prior. He is presumed dead, but matriarch Rowena "Ro" Crowley and her husband Griff are haunted by the lack of answers. Sam's disappearance fractured their marriage, causing the couple to separate and Ro to move to Sydney. However, Ro has returned for the anniversary of Sam's disappearance, and the pair continue to try to determine what happened to their son.

Compared to Harper's previous novels, Last One Out is a particularly slow burn, with bits of information about Sam and the research project he was conducting about the town (and the mining company's impact on it) very gradually parsed out. In one flashback, Griff gives his opinion to Sam about Letzner Mining: “Listen, whatever you end up researching or writing about, mate, the mine never gave a shit about the houses, or the land. Still don’t. They just want us all out so there’s no one left to complain. Just remember that.”

We meet core members of the town who have all known the Crowleys for their entire lives, and we begin to see the broader impact that the Lentzer mining company has had on the psyche of the townspeople and the wedge it has driven between several relationships. Over time, the inhabitants have descended into two camps: those who have sold out to the mining company, and those who have stalwartly refused their offers. The division on what to do could be between neighbors, or could be within a single household. It's the overwhelming force that has impacted every relationship in the town.

The book was especially reminiscent of Tana French's Cal Hooper novels, specifically The Hunter. Like in that novel, the town itself almost becomes a character. As I wrote in that review, "The town, as a composite character, has its own motivations, quirks, and unpredictabilities. It very much has a pack mentality, and survival of the whole trumps the survival of any one individual. Group think is on display, and a few tastemakers in town have the ability to manipulate a narrative that, seemingly overnight, the entire town comes to know and adopt." The same is true in Last One Out.

While there are some interesting dynamics at play, this one didn't grip me as tightly as Harper's previous books, but a so-so Jane Harper novel is still better than many. The slow burn can at times feel tedious, but there's just enough movement in the mystery that I didn't get too impatient. Decent, but not her best.