I read Jane Harper's debut novel The Dry this year and throughly enjoyed it. It was, for me, the perfect blend of mystery and suspense. So, I was excited to pick up her second novel, Force of Nature.

Harper is fantastic at writing novels that really keep you on the edge of your seat and turning the pages. Force of Nature, for me, wasn't as gripping as her debut novel but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Harper creates a strong sense of atmosphere in her novels, she describes and encapsulates the landscape so vividly. Force of Nature sees five female colleagues get lost in the forests of a wilderness retreat, with only four returning. The forest is creepy, eerie and instills that feeling of 'the fear of the unknown'. You can feel how claustrophobic it is, it feels like someone or something is watching you.

The story alternates between the present - Falk and his partner Carmen investigating the case, finding out information surrounding the women - and the past - with tension building as the five women find themselves lost and the dynamics of the group shift and change. It was an exciting choice of narrative, helping the story to unfold.

Once again, I didn't guess the ending (which for me is the sign of a great crime/thriller novel). As we get nearer to the reveal, the chapters get shorter, meaning I was completely gripped towards the end. I will definitely be reading Harper's next book - The Lost Man.

Set in the Australian Wilderness this a story of five women who set off on a team building trek and only four women finish. A fascinating story, told from differing viewpoints and investigated by Federal Agent Aaron Falk. Great read.

A tense thriller set in the Australian outback. The terror of being lost in the bush strips away the civilised veneer of group of business women on a company bonding session, which comes to a head with the disappearance of one the women. Reminded me of Lord of the Flies, recast with a group of 30 something women. Gripping to the last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown for the ARC of this book.

I read ‘The Dry’, Jane Harper’s first book in this series, earlier this year and really enjoyed it and found it an easy and engaging read, so I was excited to get the opportunity to read the next book in this series.

I found it had the same good and bad points as ‘The Dry’.

Plus points: I think the rural Australian setting is a really great backdrop for a crime novel; it’s a refreshing change from the standard crime tropes such as gritty urban underworld or 1920s manor house. The writing in both books is very fluid and easy to read, short chapters and well paced. The books are written without gimmicks, in third person past tense, which nowadays is actually also surprisingly refreshing. I don’t know why so many contemporary books stray from this formula, it makes for such a satisfying way to read.

Negative points: both books suffer from same major flaw which is that there is one storyline/character which feels totally irrelevant to the rest of the story and therefore it’s obvious that that plot point/character must be central to the solution otherwise why would the author include it?

This major flaw didn’t stop my enjoyment of the books but it does mean that you don’t feel quite so satisfied when your prediction proves to be correct, as it was so easy the reach that conclusion.

I’ll definitely read any more books that appear in this series, they start with really interesting premises and are fun to read. I liked the premise of ‘Force of Nature’ which is ‘5 went into the bush only 4 came out, what happened?’ as a starting point, just as I liked the ‘did this crime that clearly happened one way really happen that way’ premise from ‘The Dry’, but ‘Force of Nature’ never managed to be quite so intriguing as this premise promised.

I’m not sure about the main detective character, Aaron Falk. His character didn’t feel entirely consistent with the previous book and his relationship with his new partner Carmen seems a bit forced. I think I would have been happier had there been a bit more crossover with characters from the first book to give his character’s personal life a bit more depth.

Overall I think both books are great and I look forward to reading any future instalments.

Fans of The Dry will have been waiting for this book for what seems like forever – and they won’t be disappointed, because Jane Harper’s follow up is as suspenseful as they come. This impressive second novel has you torn between racing to find out what happens and wanting to savour every chapter. We devoured it.

I am gutted to have to report back that I DNF (Did not finish) this one! I was a huge fan of Jane's debut novel The Dry and was highly anticipated the release of this one. However I struggled with the plot. Even though I love Aaron as a character, he plot was a little flat in The Force of Nature and I just couldn't get stuck in. I found myself getting bored every time I picked it up, which actually resulted in me not wanting to pick it up at all.
I am unsure if this is because I enjoyed The Dry soo much and maybe I was expecting something along the same lines. I will be picking Jane'es next book up as I am hoping this plot line just wasn't for me.

3.5 stars. A group of men and women head out into the Australian bush in a company team building exercise. The male group returns safely, the women aren’t so lucky, one of their party is missing and the others are battered and bruised. Nobody seems to know where Alice disappeared to, and so begins this tense, tightly woven novel.
The chapters swap between viewpoints, changing between the search effort and investigation, and the events as they unfold in the women’s group. And so over the course of the book this shifting viewpoint builds a complete picture of events.
The writing was atmospheric, the setting well realised, and all of the characters were believable with all their characteristics and flaws, and it was interesting to see the way that these women interacted and how their increasing stress shifted the dynamics of the group.
I struggled to decide whether for me this was a 3 or 4 star read. It is one of those books that all the time I was reading it I was enjoying it, but, particularly for the first half, I found that once I put it down to do something else I wasn’t in a rush to pick it back up. I just didn’t care what had happened. I think this was because of the way that it was structured, each chapter which followed the women’s group was focused on a different character, and although this helped to build a complete picture in the long run, it made it difficult for me to really feel engaged with any of the characters. I would emphasise though that despite this I enjoyed the writing, and that the second half of the story, when I had had a chance to get to know the characters was even more enjoyable. There were a few times during the novel that I thought I knew what had happened. Thrilled to say that on every count I was wrong.
This was my first Jane Harper, and although there were nods to the previous novel several times she managed to steer clear of spoilers, which was very pleasing as I’m definitely going to pick up the first book at some point.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown for my copy in return for an honest review.

Jane Harper takes the reader back and forth in time to find out what happened to Alice as she goes missing during a team-building weekend in the Australian outback. .As with ‘The Dry’ there is plenty in the shared history and relationships of the main suspects to keep some suspense. Great for the beach.

I read this after reading The Dry where you are introduced to the main character of Aaron Falk, police officer. In this case Falk and his partner Carmen Cooper are looking into potentially fraudulent activities of firm Bailey Tennants, a family run business.
They have an insider Alice who is trying to find them the information they need. Alice goes on a team building in the outback with four female colleagues but Alice doesn’t come back. What has happened to Alice and is it linked to the investigation.
This book was not as good as The Dry but still a hell of a lot better than most police procedural s. The author makes Australia come alive!
Can’t wait for book three.
Thanks to Net Galley and the Little, Brown book publishers for the ARC.

Force of Nature started strongly but went right downhill by the 50% mark.

What I liked

Any story that entails mystery surrounding several people leaving and one less coming back is like crack to me. No matter how many authors do it badly, I'll keep on reading them with a new sense of excitement each time. This book was no exception.

Jane Harper's worldbuilding is second to none. The way she makes the reader feel like they're living the moment is awe-inspiring to an aspiring author like myself. She wastes no words in dragging us right up close to the sights, smells and textures of the land her characters inhabit.

Back outside, the cold was like a slap.


She contrasts the experiences of the bushland and the city expertly and vividly (at least from Falk's P.O.V), pinpointing observations that would often be missed, so that we're never taken out of the story at any given change of scenery.

Falk noticed that the city air now seemed to have a fine film on it that gently coated his lungs with each breath. He stood on the pavement, the concrete oddly hard underneath his hiking boots.


Though I never really empathised with any of the characters, I liked how they were all introduced and their statuses among the group made obvious in their actions without the need for exposition. Each character stood out with their own interesting personality, strengths and weaknesses and the attitude and conduct of the female protagonist - Alison - in particular, was very credible.

What I didn't like

As at least one other reviewer has said, I find it ridiculous and completely unbelievable that Executive Adventures would send ill-prepared and inexperienced rich people into the bush without any means of getting help if they get lost or run into trouble. The hikers are provided with one crappy map that's not waterproof, no radio or surveilled checkpoints, no way of signalling they're lost and no chance of anyone looking for them until they've had easily enough time to die of exposure.
What exactly does Executive Adventures provide aside from the coach out there? Such a negligent company would not be allowed to exist in real life. Not to mention the fact the company already knows there's a kangaroo path that could and previously has been responsible for leading hikers off track, and they still do nothing about it.
Because the entire plot relies on the existence of such an unrealistic company and the complete inadequacy of 5 adult women, 2 of whom spent a whole year at a school camp that taught them to survive in the wild, the integrity of the book falls completely flat from there on out.

Another huge logical flaw is Sergeant King including two police from the bloody finance department so closely in his investigation.

King was waiting for them at the edge of the bushland. His face was grey, but when he moved it was with an undercurrent of adrenaline. He gave a wave as they approached and glanced down at their feet with a nod of approval at their hiking boots. "Good. You'll need them. Come on."


In real life, Sergeant King wouldn't give Falk or Carmen the time of day. He'd be concentrating his efforts on his own team of officers who are actually experienced in that kind of work, the rangers and the searchers. King constantly babysitting the two officers who are in a completely unrelated line of work, only serves the plot in allowing Falk to be the one to relay the story to the reader, though it otherwise makes no sense whatsoever.

After an hour, it disappeared completely as it crossed a stream, then re-emerged to veer erratically towards a steep drop by the side of the gorge King had mentioned... As if in answer, the trees slowly gave way and a few steps later he found himself entering a small clearing. In the centre, squat and bleak behind the lines of police tape and the flash of officers' high-vis jackets, lay the cabin.


So the cabin the women found was merely an hour's walk from the entrance to the trail and not only could the women not find their way out from it, but days of a multitude of rangers (who know the area!!) searching couldn't find it either. Not only that but the searchers 25 years ago looking for Sarah Sondenberg couldn't find it either!
AND how the Hell had the women been walking for days and ended up in a cabin only 1 hour away from the start of the trail, but when they eventually decided to leave the cabin, they ended up at the meeting point, a 3-day hike away from the start of the trail, only a few hours after the group of male hikers reached it. WTF.

Lauren glanced at Alice, but whatever she'd been going to say had been lost with the moment.


The book has quite a few convenient instances of someone being about to say something important, and then suddenly being interrupted by a crack of thunder, a power cut, a scream or something bursting into flames. This is cheap storytelling in my opinion.

Jill could feel a headache starting.


Jill has had no food or water for almost 2 days, she's been walking in the cold and wet, sleeping in her wet clothes, is covered in blisters and scrapes and it's hammering with loud rain against the roof of the cabin they're in that's filled with damp and mould, yet she's only just starting to get a headache.

Jill somehow maintains a position of authority while the hikers are deeply immersed in a life or death situation, even though Jill has the least experience or stamina regarding what they're going through, and for some reason, the rest of them obey her orders.

Aside from Falk getting the message on his phone from Alice, he and Carmen contribute nothing to the investigation. The phone message doesn't even provide any leads, so why are Falk and Carmen even there? They need to get the contracts and they already know they can't get them from Alice, so why are they tagging along in the search for her instead of targeting someone else who works for BaileyTennants for the contracts? Those five women aren't the only ones who work there, it's a big company. The actions of Falk and Carmen, irl make no sense. Literally all they do is go to the trail, get told stuff by King, stay at the lodge for a few days doing nothing, talk to a few of the searchers and a few of the female hikers (NOT about the contracts), go to Alice's house, take her daughter to Lauren's so they can conveniently be introduced to the anorexia plotline (which made it all the more obvious Lauren was the killer), go eat spaghetti, go back to the trail and miraculously save the day by being in the right place at the right time.

Unless I missed something, the message from Alice on Falk's phone wasn't explained or resolved. Where did the faraway voice saying 'hurt her' come from while Alice was trying to call Falk? Lauren was nowhere near Alice at the time and hadn't began talking to her yet, for her voice to have been recorded in the message.

He opened his mouth, still not sure what his answer was, when he heard it. A soft beep. He stopped. "What was that?" Carmen, a half-pace ahead, turned. "What?"
Falk didn't answer. He listened... Had he imagined it? He willed the noise to come again. It didn't, but he could recall it clearly in his mind. Short, subtle and unquestionably electronic.


Reader is expected to believe that Falk completely forgot what the fuck his text message tone sounds like, just for dramatic effect.

Why did Falk finding a signal on the path mean that Alice or her belongings would be found nearby? The fact they found her backpack right near where the signal was is a complete fluke. What made everyone run around and concentrate their search there? What was the logic behind it? There's a faint signal there so there must be a person or their backpack there too?

Falk turned away. They could speak to Margot later, now clearly wasn't the time.


What are they going to ask the daughter of someone whose body has just been found? Lol. 'Where are the contracts?' They're not homicide police and Margot has nothing to do with the contracts so Falk and Carmen have no business talking to her at all.

"Hiding in a dead tree right next to her. Bloody big carpet python."


So... a bloody big carpet python stayed next to Alice's dead body but didn't attempt to eat any part of her - apparently carpet pythons can grow to 13 feet in length - just so Bree could conveniently be incriminated in Alice's murder. Is there only one carpet python in the bush that could have bitten Bree?

Also, as if Bree would cover up a murder that she thought her sister had committed, just to stop her neurotic mother getting ill from the news of her sister going to prison. She would rather move a body, incriminate herself and have to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life for her sister that she doesn't even like, just because her mother is too much of a little bitch to emotionally handle it all. Bree, who has been deadset on a successful career away from her sister is now suddenly willing to risk life in prison because her sister defended her during cheese-sandwichgate. Yeah, no.

"But then I tripped and I felt the snake near my arm."


How do you feel something that's not touching you?

"Bree's insisting Alice was already dead when she found her, Beth reckons she knows nothing about any of it."


Another illogical way to get plotpoints across to the reader without showing it happening in real time. In all the time they'd been out of the bush, Bree hadn't discussed with Beth what had happened with Alice? What was Bree waiting for? They only don't discuss it so Bree has a credible reason for blurting everything out while she's incredulous to Beth denying all knowledge of what happened. If they had discussed it between themselves beforehand, like ANYONE else would, Bree would have kept quiet about the whole thing and the author would have had to come up with another way to relay what Bree did to Alice.

"Was there anything of interest in her backpack?" Carmen said. "Like a stack of BaileyTennants' financial records?" King managed a very grim smile. "I don't think so, sorry. But here -" He rummaged through his backpack, and pulled out a USB stick. "Photos of the scene. You see anything you need, you can ask the forensics guys to show you when they bring it all down."


HOW IN THE FUCK are crime scene photos going to help the financial police get the documents they need? King gave them the USB so they could see the pictures (and the obvious clue to the identity of the antagonist) from Falk's P.O.V, not because giving the pictures to Falk makes any fucking sense. As if Alice would bring important documents incriminating her coworkers on a hike in the middle of nowhere with her coworkers!

How did a thread of Lauren's bracelet get caught in the zip of Alice's jacket just from Lauren pushing Alice? Did she hold her bracelet in the zip and then pull the zip up? And why was it just one thread that was caught? What happened to the rest of the bracelet? And how did Lauren not notice the bracelet coming off of her already swollen wrist? Surely something getting ripped from your injured wrist would hurt like a bitch? Also, how does a skinny, feeble woman who hasn't eaten or drank anything in 2 days, kill another woman just by lunging at her?

And if Lauren hadn't intended to hurt or kill Alice when Lauren was approaching Alice alone on the path, why set it up to seem that way, with Lauren standing hidden in the treeline, acting like a predator stalking its prey, instead of Lauren just going and waking up the others as soon as she saw Alice leaving? What was her point in going to talk to Alice alone?

Overall

The author made it very obvious that Lauren was the killer as soon as her boarding school history with Alice was introduced. This was solidified by Lauren's scorn for Alice's daughter and the fact Lauren's daughter had essentially been bullied out of the same school that Alice's daughter attended. Because it was so obvious from a very early point who the antagonist was, the plot completely lacked intrigue.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed with Force of Nature. But, because other reviewers insist The Dry is much better, it's possible this one was just rushed. I did enjoy most of Jane Harper's prose, so I will still be checking out her other books.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book which is the follow up to Jane Harper’s excellent debut novel, The Dry.

The principal character, Aaron Falk, is the same in both books although there is little other overlap between the two and this one works fine as a standalone novel.

The plot is based around five colleagues going on a wilderness adventure but only four returning, and the gradual unravelling of events. The book jumps back and forward in time to cover the build up to the person going missing along with the investigation that follows. It also keeps the reader in suspense as several plot strands are revealed including corporate fraud, personal issues between the characters, and a link to a serial killer in the past.

The writing is concise and keeps the action moving at a fast pace. All of these combine to make the book a great page turner and, in my opinion, an ideal holiday read for the summer.

Thanks to the author, publishers and NetGalley for this advance copy for review purposes.
As per the book description five women leave on a team building exercise but only four return.
Excellent read with the author not only telling a great story but providing lots of back ground on the characters personalities and past. Thoroughly enjoyed this, every bit as much as the authors previous publication and no hesitation in recommending. Bring on the next one.

Having not read the first book the dry, i was a bit worried this might not make sense to me, as I am aware the policeman is the same in both books- but I needn’t have worried- although I have now purchased the Dry!- it was a brilliant thoroughly enjoyable read. Five women go on a team building exercise in a forest but only four make it out. Although not necessarily likeable, anybody who has worked in an office will probably recognise the characters!

From one set of women navigating a wilderness to this … erm, another group of women navigating the wilderness … (coughs).

So, to start, what a blurb, tells you everything needed to pull you in, and means I can tell you all about the book without worrying about spoilers, including the fact that it’s Alice that disappears, and it’s very much a case of did she leave or did something happen to her. The one thing I picked out of the book that still stays with me is that to start with one person called the name of Alice when they all found out she was missing, find that person and you find an innocent. Or are they all innocent? Or are none of them? (These ponderings are in no particular order, they’re just what I thought to myself, so don’t try to read into them!)

This was a book I’d left aside, firstly as I hadn’t read ‘The Dry’ which contains policeman Aaron Falk, and secondly because I’ve read so many crime/ thrillers set in vast wilderness that didn’t have the dialogue or storytelling to live up to the beauty the author could capture with their pen (well, computer, but I’m trying to soften this all a bit!). Actually I may as well start with Aarom Falk, because I’m afraid he was the only thing that didn’t work for me. I didn’t feel much for him or his past and wanted to get back to what was happening with the women every time he appeared. This is a pity as obviously there’s times the investigator reels you in as much as the story, but here it wasn’t the case. That being said the rest of the book was so good it just washed over me and I moved on.

The story is excellent because the group of girls work together as opposed to being real friends, so you get that politeness to start off with, because they don’t know each other that well, then the griping and little jibes as things go wrong, followed by all out fighting when everything falls apart and they struggle to find their way to camp.

There are some genius moments in this book including some excellent falsities that sent you totally on the wrong trail! I adored this book and gobbled it up, drinking in the different characters, their predicament and the amazing beauty of the wilderness they stumbled through . There are many people who are saying this is their book of the year to date and I can totally see why! Very much recommended and I’ll definitely get back to The Dry, which is on my Kindle. Thanks so much to Netgalley and Little Brown for the book in return for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5

3.5 rounded up to 4 (just about).

"Later, the four remaining women could fully agree on only two things. One: No-one saw the bushland swallow up Alice Russell. And two: Alice had a mean streak so sharp it would cut you."

Jane Harper's debut novel, The Dry was an instant success. An international bestseller quickly optioned by the Hollywood production team behind Gone Girl and Big Little Lies, I loved it for its rich characterisation, its vivid evocation of setting and place, and the author's exquisite storytelling. In fact, The Dry was one of my favourite reads of 2017 and my review of it reflected that entirely.

I was shocked at the speed of publication of Harper's sophomore offering, to be honest. Releasing a second book, even a follow-up piece, this quickly is quite impressive, but it could also work against an author if readers aren't as impressed by it. Could it be a rushed effort of a writer still high on the praise and success of her first novel?

In a nutshell, Force of Nature is an Australian outback thriller about a corporate retreat that goes terribly wrong. Five women. One missing. Four deeply affected. While these women are all new to us, one character in this book isn't: Aaron Falk is back. First introduced in The Dry, Falk is a police officer in the financial investigation unit in Melbourne. Along with his partner, Carmen Cooper, he is investigating incidences of money laundering in the family-run conglomerate accountancy firm, BaileyTennants. They are building their case against the company by asking Alice Russell, an employee, to cooperate with them and copy certain files that will expose the company's financial sins. Now, Alice has disappeared while on an “Executive Adventures” company retreat with four other BaileyTennants employees, including the company's CEO, Jill Bailey. Also roped into the outback adventure are Lauren (who is also Alice's old schoolfriend) and dysfunctional twins Breanna and Beth. While these four women have emerged from the bush traumatised but relatively unhurt, Alice remains missing. Thrown into the mix is a team of male counterparts from BaileyTennants, who also set off into the bush on the same retreat (although separately from the women), and the threat of a local serial killer who hovers above Alice's disappearance throughout the story.

All of this certainly makes for a captivating premise and without a doubt I was drawn into the world Harper has constructed here. The story is truly gripping with the details of what happened on the retreat being fed to you in alternating chapters. The structure of the novel is similar to that of The Dry in that each chapter set in the present is followed by one in the past. We move from the investigation back to the expedition and, typical of Harper, we are never thrown off course or confused. While the narrative structure is choppy, it is excellently done, coming across as effective and consistent. Each chapter ends with an intriguing hook that makes you long to get back to that scene, whether it be in the past or the present.

This, of course, means that the pace is perfect. The story moves along fluidly and is so clever and assured. We yearn to know what happened to Alice and, indeed, what happened to the women in the outback. Their rapid descent into uncultivated chaos as they lose their way both geographically and emotionally is very well executed, making this a truly engaging read. Harper writes with confidence and her flair for storytelling is undeniable.

While this is a very enjoyable and intelligent thriller, the novel isn't without its flaws, however minor. The one that really stands out for me, personally, is the emotional connection with the story and its protagonist. We were spoiled with The Dry: Falk was brilliantly brought to life and his childhood and connection to Kiewarra and the people in it was faultlessly developed. In this novel, however, Falk isn't as skillfully drawn. While this won't really affect you if you were a reader of Harper's first novel, it will feel a little lackluster if you come to Force of Nature first. He's a little one-dimensional here and even with brief insight into his relationship with his father and a minor flirtation with his partner, Carmen, it doesn't do much to bulk him out. I think Harper was right to assume that most readers will have devoured The Dry before picking up its follow-up, but as a standalone book this lacks a certain dimension and richness in terms of its character development. While Falks is personally connected to the drama of the story when we first meet him, here it is strictly business.

The story presented in Force of Nature is riveting but in terms of how deep it runs, I was left a little disappointed. Again, this is about personal connection. In The Dry, the tales of Falk's childhood and the death of people that he was intertwined with really hit a nerve. I was invested because he was. The series of events presented here just holds less weight and while there were some attempts to enrich the story with problematic family relationships (Jill Bailey and her bother/Jill and her father/Beth and Bree/mothers and their daughters) and 21st century problems (public sharing of private information on social media/online bullying), Force of Nature just lacked that pulsing, central vein. Few of the dynamics between the characters are developed to the point of leaving us gasping. Do we feel sorry for Jill that she was forced into the family business by her Dad? Do we feel sorry for Beth because she had a drug and alcohol problem? There are vague references to a pregnancy, another to an abortion and some flashes back to Alice and Lauren's time in school together, but they aren't given enough of an in-depth focus to allow us to really gel with these characters.

I have to also say that this certainly isn't as literary a novel as Harper's debut. While it is very well written, it isn't as lyrical and I didn't find myself rereading passages the way I did when I was making my way through The Dry. I think it could be because the setting wasn't as well evoked in my opinion. For this story we move from the remote, arid and sticky plains of Kiewarra to the primeval bushland of Giralang Ranges. And while The Dry drew much of its power from it's setting, Force of Nature doesn't quite have the same effect. I didn't feel it; I couldn't smell it or taste it, whereas Kiewarra's unrelenting, scorching dryness consumed me.

From The Dry:

"It wasn't as though the farm hadn't seen death before, and the blowflies didn't discriminate. To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse."

"The drought had left the flies spoiled for choice that summer. They sought out unblinking eyes and sticky wounds as the farmers of Kiewarra levelled their rifles at skinny livestock. No rain meant no feed. And no feed made for difficult decisions, as the tiny town shimmered under day after day of burning blue sky."

"First on the scene, the flies swarmed contentedly in the heat as the blood pooled black over tiles and carpet. Outside, washing hung on the rotary line, bone dry and stiff from the sun. A child's scooter lay abandoned on the stepping stone path. Just one human heart beat within a kilometre radius of the farm."

You see?

Overall, this book is an enjoyable, gripping and intelligent thriller with an efficient structure and some clever hooks. While it has its failings, these may only stand out to a deeply affected lover of Harper's first book (like me!) and certainly shouldn't deter you from reading this novel. Well written, thoroughly thought out and perfectly paced; this will certainly be another hit for Harper and leave people hungry for more. Including me, despite my grappling.

Force of Nature opens with a prologue that grips and taunts the reader. Set in the Australian Bush, we learn that two groups, one female, one male, have set out on a team-building hike. Only the men have returned. When the females finally appear, they are one woman down. Alice Russell is missing and nobody has any answers.

Police Agent Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen Cooper work with the Melbourne Financial Investigation Unit and Alice Russell is an important witness in a very important case. Aaron receives a voicemail from Alice; he can hear nothing except two words .... 'hurt her'. Falk and Cooper travel out to the bush and become entwined in the mystery of the missing woman.

Jane Harper really can spin a great story. I was completely engrossed in this tense and atmospheric tale of relationship building and breaking, double-crossing, deceit and desperation. Cleverly narrated, and skipping between the action back at the search centre and what is actually happening during the hike, the reader is treated to characters who are savagely and cruelly realistic. As the hike descends further into the bush, and the women become more and more desperate, their personalities are exposed fully. There's more than a hint of The Lord of Flies within this story, and the tension increases as the pages turn.

The development of the characters within Force of Nature is excellently done. As the plot progresses, more about each of the women on the hike is slowly revealed. First impressions will change, and opinions will alter as the story moves on. This author cleverly combines the unfurling disaster within the heart of the bush with the ongoing police investigations, and the reader grows to love Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen.

With an outstanding sense of place and an atmosphere that is both stifling and confining, Force of Nature is a book that I just couldn't stop thinking about, it deals with relationships; both family and workplace, and is dark and intensely satisfying.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a great follow up to The Dry which I also thought was great. I liked Aaron Falk even more this time round and, while this book is a bit of a slow burner, there are good twists and turns throughout leaving you guessing right until the very end. I'm looking forward now to Aaron Falk #3 with relish.

was really looking forward to this after reading 'The Dry' and Harper didn't disappoint.If anything I preferred this one.The book creates such a fantastic atmosphere you can almost feel it.Great story and look forward to more from this author.

Force of Nature, like The Dry, is set in the Australian outback and features Aaron Falk. He is a police officer with the now compulsory troubled past but, rather unusually, he is not a homicide detective. In fact he is part of a unit which investigates financial irregularities and this means that his methods are a bit less obvious: this is not the maverick cop solving the whole crime by looking at cigar ash but one who employs an interesting combination of accountancy and inspiration. He is a very human and relatable character. He is only involved in the mystery at the centre of this book, the disappearance of a woman on a team-building weekend in the wilds of the Giralang Ranges, because the woman is central to his investigations into the company she works for. The book moves between the police search for the missing woman and the events which led to her disappearance. We gradually discover more about the group of women she worked with, their interwoven lives both now and in the past, but we also see the character of Falk develop as he considers his relationship with his father.

This is a really good crime novel - a plot which is just complicated enough but also makes perfect sense once you get to the denouement - and has some interesting characters. It was a fairly quick and easy read but it sticks with you for a long time afterwards: just what popular fiction should be...