The Lost

The Lost is a 2014 novel by Sarah Beth Durst. It tells the story of Lauren Chase, a woman who decides to go for a long drive rather than face the results of tests her mother has had, and who ends up in the fictional town of Lost. Actress Selma Blair bought the rights to the novel in 2018 intending to adapt it to film. Plans for a sequel called The Missing were already in development by the time the novel was published. Plot Lauren Chase is a young woman from California who has allowed her mother to move in with her after her struggles with cancer. After realizing that her mother's cancer might have returned Lauren gets into her car and drives all day. Caught up in a dust storm Lauren hallucinates a mysterious man with feather tattoos on his chest and winds up in the town of Lost where she is given free food and lodging. Preparing to go home the following morning she is once again caught up in the dust storm. After driving in and out of it several times she is eventually rescued by the tattooed man who turns out not to be a hallucination. Returning to Lost looking for help, Lauren is told that she will receive aid from the Missing Man. However when Lauren meets the Missing Man and tells him her name he refuses to help her or the other residents of Lost and walks away. As none of the residents can leave Lost until the Missing Man helps them, they are terrified of Lauren and shun her. After an angry mob sets upon her, Lauren is rescued by a six year old child named Claire who rescues Lauren as she is the only person she has ever seen independently walk in and out of the dust storm. Lauren is taken to the apartment of Peter, who turns out to be the man with the tattoos. Peter tells Lauren that only lost things and people end up in Lost and no one can leave without the Missing Man. Peter, who is a "finder" of the lost, decides to help Lauren as she is the only other person, aside from himself, who the Missing Man has ever refused to help.