Publication
New York : Flatiron Books, 2018.
Collection
Call number
Fiction H
Physical description
326 p.; 25 cm
Status
Available
Call number
Description
When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness, they reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking down the muddy path. But one of the women doesn't come out of the woods. And each of her companions tells a slightly different story about what happened. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker. In an investigation that takes him deep into isolated forest, Falk discovers secrets lurking in the mountains, and a tangled web of personal and professional friendship, suspicion, and betrayal among the hikers. But did that lead to murder?
Series
Genres
User reviews
LibraryThing member Romonko
This book appeared on a number of lists of new thrillers that should be read. I had read Ms. Harper's first book The Dry, and it was okay, so thought I'd give this one a try.
I like Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen, but that's pretty much where it ended for me. Perhaps it was the back and forth
I like Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen, but that's pretty much where it ended for me. Perhaps it was the back and forth
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from just before the crime and disappearance, and after when the search was on for the missing woman, but I didn't think the book was very exciting. It was easy to figure out what actually happened at that lonely cabin in the woods, but it took forever to get there. No excitement, no tension, and really no plot. I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member rosalita
Australian Federal Police officer Aaron Falk, the focus of Harper's first novel, The Dry, is back in Melbourne recuperating from his adventures in that book. He and his partner, Carmen, have been working hard on a money-laundering case, but their progress is stymied when a key witness goes missing
Harper is a master of scene-setting. Just as her descriptions of the rural drought-ravaged landscape in
The Dry left me panting for water, here she skillfully conveys the remote impenetrability and the needle-in-a-haystack nature of the Australian bush. She uses a flashback device to slowly clue readers into what happened on the retreat that led to Alice's disappearance, while keeping us updated on the progress of the search in real time. Sometimes that sort of split focus leaves a reader disappointed when the focus shifts from the more compelling storyline to the lesser one, but in this case I was eager to follow both threads equally.
Force of Nature was just published in February, two years after The Dry. That does not bode well for how long I will be impatiently waiting for Aaron Falk's next adventure.
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during one of those dreadful "executive trust-building" weekends in a wilderness area. Is her disappearance related to the case she was helping Aaron and Carmen build against her bosses? And where on earth could she have gone?Harper is a master of scene-setting. Just as her descriptions of the rural drought-ravaged landscape in
The Dry left me panting for water, here she skillfully conveys the remote impenetrability and the needle-in-a-haystack nature of the Australian bush. She uses a flashback device to slowly clue readers into what happened on the retreat that led to Alice's disappearance, while keeping us updated on the progress of the search in real time. Sometimes that sort of split focus leaves a reader disappointed when the focus shifts from the more compelling storyline to the lesser one, but in this case I was eager to follow both threads equally.
Force of Nature was just published in February, two years after The Dry. That does not bode well for how long I will be impatiently waiting for Aaron Falk's next adventure.
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LibraryThing member kimkimkim
Choppy, erratic, unhappy characters. Nothing special.
LibraryThing member leslie.98
I liked the setting and thought that the mystery was well done. However, the shifting in time didn't work as well in this book as it did in Harper's first book, "The Dry", in my opinion. I hope that she doesn't plan to make it a feature of all her books.
LibraryThing member jwrudn
Five women set off into the Jiralong Ranges bush on a company retreat. They get lost, miss their rendezvous point, and, for a few days, wander about without food and short on water. When they stagger out of the bush, there are only four and they all deny having seen the fifth, Alice, wander off.
Many balls in the air here, but Harper manages them deftly. This is Harper’s second book after her excellent debut novel The Dry. In The Dry, a heat wave and drought is the backdrop of the story and almost a character itself. In Force of Nature, the cold, rainy Jiralong Ranges are a forbidding presence.
This is a terrific book. It alternates between scenes of the lost women and Falk and Carmen’s effort to find out what happened. The pace is excellent and it quickens as the end approaches. It kept me reading well past my bed time. I anxiously await her next book.
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And it seems Alice was about to turn over incriminating evidence on the company to investigator Aaron Falk and his partner, Carmen. Further adding to the intrigue, the Jiralong Ranges had been the haunt of a serial killer of four women, one of who was never found. The killer is now in prison, but his son disappeared a few years ago. Could he be lurking in the Jiralong Ranges? And the daughters of Alice and another of the women are involved in a sexting scandal at their school. While trying to find the missing evidence Falk is dealing with the suppressed feelings about his dead father.Many balls in the air here, but Harper manages them deftly. This is Harper’s second book after her excellent debut novel The Dry. In The Dry, a heat wave and drought is the backdrop of the story and almost a character itself. In Force of Nature, the cold, rainy Jiralong Ranges are a forbidding presence.
This is a terrific book. It alternates between scenes of the lost women and Falk and Carmen’s effort to find out what happened. The pace is excellent and it quickens as the end approaches. It kept me reading well past my bed time. I anxiously await her next book.
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LibraryThing member KateVane
Force of Nature is about five women from the same company in Melbourne who go on a team-building hike and camp in a remote forest. At the end, only four return. Alice, the woman who is missing, is a witness in a separate investigation run by series protagonist Aaron Falk so he and his partner
Of course the five women, all of different ranks within the organisation, have a complex network of conflicts and relationships, and they are placed in a highly stressful situation, and, just to crank up the tension, this is the stamping ground of a now-deceased serial killer whose last alleged victim was never found, so this should be an intriguing read, but it never really came alive for me.
Firstly, I don’t buy the premise. It’s a matter for debate how much realism matters in a work of fiction, but if you have to suspend disbelief before you’ve become involved into the story, that’s a big hurdle. We are expected to believe that a respected corporate events company sent a group of women off into the cold and rain with one map, which wasn’t even laminated (it ran in the rain), no mobile phones, no way of raising the alarm in the event of a medical emergency, and ran no checks on their progress over the four days of the expedition. I’m not saying this would never happen, but if it did, surely the police’s first thought would be to investigate them for at best criminal neglect and at worst complicity in a crime or its coverup? However, it’s taken as read that this is all perfectly fine.
Next, the disappearance of Alice is being investigated by the state police, which means Falk and his partner, as federal investigators of financial crimes, have only a tangential role in her investigation. They wander around with no clear sense of purpose, occasionally interviewing witnesses and suspects who have already been interviewed. In their downtime, Falk stares mournfully at his father’s old maps, which he happened to bring with him in his old rucksack (along with, implausibly, Alice’s bank statements) and thinks about their relationship.
The novel alternates between the points of view of Falk during the investigation, and the women during the hike. This kind of structure can work, but here it leads to quite a lot of repetition and the suspense is not that great. It’s neither a police procedural, where we can follow the clues, nor a psychological thriller where we have strong empathy with the women, wondering if and how they will all survive.
If Falk is the protagonist we might expect him to solve the mystery, however one vital clue comes when one of the women admits to something she’d earlier kept quiet, and at the denouement he makes a deduction based on a flimsy piece of forensic evidence for which there are any number of plausible explanations.
I haven’t read Jane Harper’s first novel, The Dry, but I’ve heard good things about it so I was looking forward to this one. Force of Nature feels like it was either written in a hurry or is a rehashed novel-in-a-drawer. It’s obviously tempting to get another book out quickly when you’ve had major success, but I wonder if publishers might do better to take the long view.
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I received a copy of Force of Nature from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog katevane.com/blog
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hotfoot it up to the site to join the investigation.Of course the five women, all of different ranks within the organisation, have a complex network of conflicts and relationships, and they are placed in a highly stressful situation, and, just to crank up the tension, this is the stamping ground of a now-deceased serial killer whose last alleged victim was never found, so this should be an intriguing read, but it never really came alive for me.
Firstly, I don’t buy the premise. It’s a matter for debate how much realism matters in a work of fiction, but if you have to suspend disbelief before you’ve become involved into the story, that’s a big hurdle. We are expected to believe that a respected corporate events company sent a group of women off into the cold and rain with one map, which wasn’t even laminated (it ran in the rain), no mobile phones, no way of raising the alarm in the event of a medical emergency, and ran no checks on their progress over the four days of the expedition. I’m not saying this would never happen, but if it did, surely the police’s first thought would be to investigate them for at best criminal neglect and at worst complicity in a crime or its coverup? However, it’s taken as read that this is all perfectly fine.
Next, the disappearance of Alice is being investigated by the state police, which means Falk and his partner, as federal investigators of financial crimes, have only a tangential role in her investigation. They wander around with no clear sense of purpose, occasionally interviewing witnesses and suspects who have already been interviewed. In their downtime, Falk stares mournfully at his father’s old maps, which he happened to bring with him in his old rucksack (along with, implausibly, Alice’s bank statements) and thinks about their relationship.
The novel alternates between the points of view of Falk during the investigation, and the women during the hike. This kind of structure can work, but here it leads to quite a lot of repetition and the suspense is not that great. It’s neither a police procedural, where we can follow the clues, nor a psychological thriller where we have strong empathy with the women, wondering if and how they will all survive.
If Falk is the protagonist we might expect him to solve the mystery, however one vital clue comes when one of the women admits to something she’d earlier kept quiet, and at the denouement he makes a deduction based on a flimsy piece of forensic evidence for which there are any number of plausible explanations.
I haven’t read Jane Harper’s first novel, The Dry, but I’ve heard good things about it so I was looking forward to this one. Force of Nature feels like it was either written in a hurry or is a rehashed novel-in-a-drawer. It’s obviously tempting to get another book out quickly when you’ve had major success, but I wonder if publishers might do better to take the long view.
*
I received a copy of Force of Nature from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog katevane.com/blog
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LibraryThing member runner56
What makes the writing of Jane Harper so appealing to me is the very balanced and articulate style that flows with so little effort (or so it seems) from her writing. In "Force of Nature" she expertly relates a story in both the present and past timeline drawing them together in a nail biting
Two teams from BaileyBennets embark on a weekend of outdoor pursuits and teambuilding along the Mirror Falls trail in the Giralang Ranges outside Melbourne. Alice Russell was supposed to deliver important documents to Federal agent Aaron Falk and his assistant Carmen Cooper and by so doing exposing malpractice at BB. Regrettably at the end of the weekend of executive bonding one employee, Alice Russell, fails to emerge and there is great fear for her safety and welfare. Her fellow friends and colleagues appear to be shocked and fear she may have walked alone into the unforgiving wooded and bush environment. As the two agents dig deeper all is not as it should be amongst the hikers and slowly they begin to uncover a web of treachery not only prevalent in the BaileyBennets work place but also stretching back many years.
For those of you familiar with the writing of Jane Harper and in particular her excellent first novel "The Dry" it is refreshing to see not only the return of Aaron Falk but to learn a little more about his childhood with his late father whom he loved dearly. If we add to this a serial killer known as Marin Kovac who butchered and buried a number of victims in the Giralang Ranges then we have all the ingredients for an ingenious mystery. I can honestly say that Jane Harper once again kept me glued to this thrilling story as the layers of friendship and deceit are uncovered exposing an underbelly of hatred and envy. I had no idea who the killer was until revealed and that surely must be the mark of a master storyteller. As in her first novel Mz Harper uses the harsh and beautiful Australian landscape to great affect..."a curtain of white water. A river tumbled over a cliff edge and into the pool far beneath them."......"The neat trees lining the nature strip looked like plastic models compared with the primal lushness that had lurked over them for the past three days."....."The air was so crisp Jill felt she could almost touch it, and the freshwater spray cooled her cheeks. It was an hypnotic sight, and as she drank it in she almost felt the weight of her pack lift a little from her shoulders.".................
Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group and netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.
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conclusion and in a sleight of hand exposes the perpetrator.Two teams from BaileyBennets embark on a weekend of outdoor pursuits and teambuilding along the Mirror Falls trail in the Giralang Ranges outside Melbourne. Alice Russell was supposed to deliver important documents to Federal agent Aaron Falk and his assistant Carmen Cooper and by so doing exposing malpractice at BB. Regrettably at the end of the weekend of executive bonding one employee, Alice Russell, fails to emerge and there is great fear for her safety and welfare. Her fellow friends and colleagues appear to be shocked and fear she may have walked alone into the unforgiving wooded and bush environment. As the two agents dig deeper all is not as it should be amongst the hikers and slowly they begin to uncover a web of treachery not only prevalent in the BaileyBennets work place but also stretching back many years.
For those of you familiar with the writing of Jane Harper and in particular her excellent first novel "The Dry" it is refreshing to see not only the return of Aaron Falk but to learn a little more about his childhood with his late father whom he loved dearly. If we add to this a serial killer known as Marin Kovac who butchered and buried a number of victims in the Giralang Ranges then we have all the ingredients for an ingenious mystery. I can honestly say that Jane Harper once again kept me glued to this thrilling story as the layers of friendship and deceit are uncovered exposing an underbelly of hatred and envy. I had no idea who the killer was until revealed and that surely must be the mark of a master storyteller. As in her first novel Mz Harper uses the harsh and beautiful Australian landscape to great affect..."a curtain of white water. A river tumbled over a cliff edge and into the pool far beneath them."......"The neat trees lining the nature strip looked like plastic models compared with the primal lushness that had lurked over them for the past three days."....."The air was so crisp Jill felt she could almost touch it, and the freshwater spray cooled her cheeks. It was an hypnotic sight, and as she drank it in she almost felt the weight of her pack lift a little from her shoulders.".................
Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group and netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.
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LibraryThing member Sbojo32
I didn't read The Dry first, but I don't think it matters. I could tell there was a lot of backstory surrounding Aaron Falk, but it wasn't necessary for this book. That being said, the author could have added a little detail for those that did not read the first book (what happened with his hand?).
Back to this book. To me, it dragged. The story dragged and the author seemed to drag it out, especially toward the end. The whole concept seemed pretty far-fetched (really? you send people out with no good maps, walkie-talkies, way to contact anyone if they need help?). There were also too many storylines going on without a lot of depth to any of them. There was the case Falk and his partner were working on, which we got little-to-no information about. There was the camping storyline, obviously. And then there was the storyline with the daughters of two of the women camping. These secondary storylines weren't fleshed out and really lacked a lot that could have made this so much better. The storylines of the women, told in different perspectives, didn't weave together nicely (whatever happened to Jill's storyline? It just disappeared).
The concept was ok, but the book dragged.
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The clear shout-outs to the presents for the kids and his friend at the end are likely from the first book but that didn't seem as relevant.Back to this book. To me, it dragged. The story dragged and the author seemed to drag it out, especially toward the end. The whole concept seemed pretty far-fetched (really? you send people out with no good maps, walkie-talkies, way to contact anyone if they need help?). There were also too many storylines going on without a lot of depth to any of them. There was the case Falk and his partner were working on, which we got little-to-no information about. There was the camping storyline, obviously. And then there was the storyline with the daughters of two of the women camping. These secondary storylines weren't fleshed out and really lacked a lot that could have made this so much better. The storylines of the women, told in different perspectives, didn't weave together nicely (whatever happened to Jill's storyline? It just disappeared).
The concept was ok, but the book dragged.
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LibraryThing member p.d.r.lindsay
Finally I've laid hands on number two in the Australian series by Jane Harper. The library had a long waiting list, now it's my turn.
'The Dry' impressed me although I was hesitant about Aaron Falk as a character, but the Australian setting and the tight writing and clever plot carried me along. I'm
Working with his colleague, Carmen, for the financial investigative side of the Federal police, Falk is trying to obtain documents from a 'mole'. It's difficult and the pressure is on when the 'mole' goes with her company on one of these management bush treks and disappears. Has she been murdered by the company director? What has happened?
Again we have Harper's tricky plot full of surprises. She writes well and makes the reader feel the Australian bush and the terrors of being lost in it. We have a bunch of complex 3D characters and some raw emotions and it was hard to guess whodunit.
The novel is a stand alone but I'd advise readers to start with 'The Dry' and then read this one just to get a more complete picture of the main character.
A great read for anyone and especially for those who like mysteries.
'The Dry' impressed me although I was hesitant about Aaron Falk as a character, but the Australian setting and the tight writing and clever plot carried me along. I'm
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pleased to say that Aaron Falk is coming out of his shell in this novel and I feel less inclined to shake him!Working with his colleague, Carmen, for the financial investigative side of the Federal police, Falk is trying to obtain documents from a 'mole'. It's difficult and the pressure is on when the 'mole' goes with her company on one of these management bush treks and disappears. Has she been murdered by the company director? What has happened?
Again we have Harper's tricky plot full of surprises. She writes well and makes the reader feel the Australian bush and the terrors of being lost in it. We have a bunch of complex 3D characters and some raw emotions and it was hard to guess whodunit.
The novel is a stand alone but I'd advise readers to start with 'The Dry' and then read this one just to get a more complete picture of the main character.
A great read for anyone and especially for those who like mysteries.
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LibraryThing member tandah
Great story and fantastic character development (particularly of Aaron), but the flip between two time-lines grated, as did the repetition of 'get the contracts'.
LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
I’m sure all authors wish for the kind of success Jane Harper had (indeed is still having) with her debut novel [The Dry] but I imagine most would, at least fleetingly, think twice about wishes coming true when presented with the need to produce the next novel. Happily for Harper, and her
One of the things that does carry across though is Harper’s skill at creating a setting with an almost physical presence for the reader. Here we are in a fictional but recognisable bushland area called the Giralang Ranges east of Melbourne. It is isolated, cold and claustrophobic due to the dense foliage. Easy to become lost in. As if that isn’t troublesome enough it is the scene of an infamous series of killings two decades earlier. The perpetrator of those crimes was found but, local legend has it, the killer’s son still roams the area. Into this suitably nightmare inducing setting Harper drops a group of employees from a Melbourne company embarking on one of those corporate retreats designed solely to be such a horrendous experience that staff never complain about their normal office environment ever again. They are separated into two groups – men and women – who must trek through the Ranges for several days on separate, but close, tracks. In the women’s group things go awry and one of them – Alice Russell – goes missing.
Being lost in the bush is a well-mined plot line for Australian artists of all kinds but Harper easily holds her own in the space. The storyline is genuinely original, no mean feat in itself, and the way it unfolds adds a lot of tension. There are two strands: one moving forward from when retreat begins and one beginning when the search for Alice gets underway. This dual thread works really well. Adding to the suspense is that we are almost spoiled for choice as to what might have happened to Alice. Has she wandered off? Is she the victim of the serial killer’s son? Did one of the women do her in because she’s not very nice?
Or has she been killed because of what she knows? Aaron Falk, an Agent with the financial crimes unit of the Australian Federal Police and protagonist from THE DRY, has been working with Alice as a whistleblower at her company. Her involvement was meant to be a secret but Aaron and his partner, Carmen, worry that her actions may have resulted in Alice being placed in danger. Their superiors are worried that she hasn’t handed over all the documents she promised which endangers their case. So the pair become involved in the search and in trying to piece together what led up to her disappearance. I liked reading about Aaron again and seeing him in a work setting rather than dealing with something personal. Though one of the risks Harper has taken with this book is to make his role somewhat smaller than the traditional procedural might do with its hero. For me this worked well as it allowed us to really get to see the victim’s world and did not bog us down in procedural elements. If the series is to be a long one this is a sound strategy as it means we won’t become bored with the main character.
Jane Harper is proving to have a real skill at taking quintessentially Australian settings and making them truly frightening. Not through an overt violence or gruesomeness but by teasing out just enough information to make the reader’s imagination take flight. And telling a ripper yarn. FORCE OF NATURE is good from beginning right through to the end which is, these days, a rarity. If you are an audiobook fan I highly recommend Steve Shanahan’s narration which is outstanding and adds another layer to the storytelling here.
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readers, she has soldiered through that intense pressure and delivered another cracking read. Among the many things I admire about FORCE OF NATURE is that it isn’t the same novel wrapped in a different skin and some risks have been taken with the narrative choices.One of the things that does carry across though is Harper’s skill at creating a setting with an almost physical presence for the reader. Here we are in a fictional but recognisable bushland area called the Giralang Ranges east of Melbourne. It is isolated, cold and claustrophobic due to the dense foliage. Easy to become lost in. As if that isn’t troublesome enough it is the scene of an infamous series of killings two decades earlier. The perpetrator of those crimes was found but, local legend has it, the killer’s son still roams the area. Into this suitably nightmare inducing setting Harper drops a group of employees from a Melbourne company embarking on one of those corporate retreats designed solely to be such a horrendous experience that staff never complain about their normal office environment ever again. They are separated into two groups – men and women – who must trek through the Ranges for several days on separate, but close, tracks. In the women’s group things go awry and one of them – Alice Russell – goes missing.
Being lost in the bush is a well-mined plot line for Australian artists of all kinds but Harper easily holds her own in the space. The storyline is genuinely original, no mean feat in itself, and the way it unfolds adds a lot of tension. There are two strands: one moving forward from when retreat begins and one beginning when the search for Alice gets underway. This dual thread works really well. Adding to the suspense is that we are almost spoiled for choice as to what might have happened to Alice. Has she wandered off? Is she the victim of the serial killer’s son? Did one of the women do her in because she’s not very nice?
Or has she been killed because of what she knows? Aaron Falk, an Agent with the financial crimes unit of the Australian Federal Police and protagonist from THE DRY, has been working with Alice as a whistleblower at her company. Her involvement was meant to be a secret but Aaron and his partner, Carmen, worry that her actions may have resulted in Alice being placed in danger. Their superiors are worried that she hasn’t handed over all the documents she promised which endangers their case. So the pair become involved in the search and in trying to piece together what led up to her disappearance. I liked reading about Aaron again and seeing him in a work setting rather than dealing with something personal. Though one of the risks Harper has taken with this book is to make his role somewhat smaller than the traditional procedural might do with its hero. For me this worked well as it allowed us to really get to see the victim’s world and did not bog us down in procedural elements. If the series is to be a long one this is a sound strategy as it means we won’t become bored with the main character.
Jane Harper is proving to have a real skill at taking quintessentially Australian settings and making them truly frightening. Not through an overt violence or gruesomeness but by teasing out just enough information to make the reader’s imagination take flight. And telling a ripper yarn. FORCE OF NATURE is good from beginning right through to the end which is, these days, a rarity. If you are an audiobook fan I highly recommend Steve Shanahan’s narration which is outstanding and adds another layer to the storytelling here.
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LibraryThing member drmaf
A good read, but not as impressive as The Dry. The claustrophobic intensity is not there, and deprived of a personal stake in the story, returning protagonist Lee Falk becomes just a run of the mill copper. The story does well enough with its tale of the 5 female workers from a company under
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investigation by the AFP who go on a bush trek as a team-building exercise, and only 4 return. A dead serial killer and his never-discovered 4th victim add additional tension to the story. The writing is fluid and the characters believable if not particularly likeable. Its a slick piece of writing, unfortunately the tense gripping quality of The Dry is not there. Still worth reading though. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cherylk
I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. I could not wait to dig into this book and find out what happened to the missing woman. Yet, my excitement was very short lived. After the prologue, I did not find anything intriguing or exciting about the story or the characters. In fact, the other
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women were unlikable. Don't know if this was intentional but it did not help this book. Therefore, I was turned off by the other characters. Then the storyline itself was dry. So the mixture of these two elements did not work well together. However, I wanted to know what happened, so I skimmed along as well as jumped ahead in this book until I got to the reveal. There was no big "uh ha" moment. Other readers have said the author's first book, The Dry is really good, so I might give it a try. Otherwise, just based on this book, I don't want to read another from this author. Show Less
LibraryThing member cburnett5
Force of Nature is an outstanding sophomore outing for Jane Harper following her equally outstanding debut novel The Dry. While The Dry took place in a flat, drought-filled area of Australia, Force of Nature shifts to the rugged Giralang Ranges with Aaron Falk arriving there to investigate the
My favorite things about this book are Harper’s descriptions of the setting, the method Harper uses to tell the tale, and the side story concerning Falk’s regrets about his strained relationship with his deceased father. The author describes the Giralang Ranges so beautifully and effectively that I felt I was climbing through the mountains with the five women. The choice to have the story unfold through the alternating timelines was ingenious. The tension builds as secrets are revealed. When I am reading a dual timeline story, I generally like one better than the other and am eager to get back to the one I like whenever I am reading the other. In Force of Nature, both time periods are extraordinary and contribute equally to the plot and resolution of what happened to Alice. Last, I am pleased that Harper continues to focus on the personal life of Aaron Falk and uses Carmen to help him rethink the way Aaron views his father’s actions towards his son.
I highly, highly recommend Force of Nature; it will be one of the top mysteries of 2018. Kudos to whoever designed the cover also – it is simply perfect. Thanks to Flatiron Books for my copy. All opinions are my own.
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disappearance of a whistle-blower (Alice Russell) partaking in a wilderness corporate retreat (which I will never, ever agree to do after reading this book!). Aaron Falk is paired with a female detective Carmen Cooper, and they make a fabulous duo set on uncovering exactly what happened on that corporate retreat. The story alternates between the present and the day-by-day chronological account of the five women’s adventure gone awry. The pacing is perfect, and the numerous red herrings and realistic twists and turns create an outstanding story. For a fair amount of the story, I worried that the resolution was going in a direction that I would dislike immensely. Thankfully, Harper took the story down another path, and the ending is phenomenal.My favorite things about this book are Harper’s descriptions of the setting, the method Harper uses to tell the tale, and the side story concerning Falk’s regrets about his strained relationship with his deceased father. The author describes the Giralang Ranges so beautifully and effectively that I felt I was climbing through the mountains with the five women. The choice to have the story unfold through the alternating timelines was ingenious. The tension builds as secrets are revealed. When I am reading a dual timeline story, I generally like one better than the other and am eager to get back to the one I like whenever I am reading the other. In Force of Nature, both time periods are extraordinary and contribute equally to the plot and resolution of what happened to Alice. Last, I am pleased that Harper continues to focus on the personal life of Aaron Falk and uses Carmen to help him rethink the way Aaron views his father’s actions towards his son.
I highly, highly recommend Force of Nature; it will be one of the top mysteries of 2018. Kudos to whoever designed the cover also – it is simply perfect. Thanks to Flatiron Books for my copy. All opinions are my own.
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LibraryThing member ClareRhoden
Perfect in its genre, and comfortable in its Australian skin. A great read.
LibraryThing member jfe16
Review of Advance Reader’s Edition
A corporate teambuilding retreat involves a group of five men and a group of five women, all employed by BaileyTennants. But the wilderness adventure in the Giralang Ranges goes horribly wrong when one of the five women does not return . . . and the other four
Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper familiar with the company . . . the missing woman was supplying them with inside information as they built a case against the company. Just what has happened to Alice Russell . . . and why?
The stories of each of the five women, interwoven with the urgency of the search, continually builds the tension even as it slowly unfolds their interpersonal relationships and keeps the reader engrossed in the telling of the tale. Strong characterizations, a twisting plot with unexpected reveals, and the alternating of the search with the day-to-day chronicle of the women’s trek in the bushland are strengths of the tale, as is the strong characterization of the bushland itself. As the suspense mounts, readers will find it difficult to set this one aside before turning the final page.
Highly recommended.
A corporate teambuilding retreat involves a group of five men and a group of five women, all employed by BaileyTennants. But the wilderness adventure in the Giralang Ranges goes horribly wrong when one of the five women does not return . . . and the other four
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don’t quite agree on exactly what happened.Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper familiar with the company . . . the missing woman was supplying them with inside information as they built a case against the company. Just what has happened to Alice Russell . . . and why?
The stories of each of the five women, interwoven with the urgency of the search, continually builds the tension even as it slowly unfolds their interpersonal relationships and keeps the reader engrossed in the telling of the tale. Strong characterizations, a twisting plot with unexpected reveals, and the alternating of the search with the day-to-day chronicle of the women’s trek in the bushland are strengths of the tale, as is the strong characterization of the bushland itself. As the suspense mounts, readers will find it difficult to set this one aside before turning the final page.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member maneekuhi
"Force of Nature" (FN) is Jane Harper's second book following her very successful debut with "The Dry", also featuring Australian Federal Police officer Aaron Falk. This time Falk is assisted by fellow investigator Carmen, also 38 and single. They are assigned to a financial crimes unit and have
From this point, Harper tells her story in a very interesting fashion - flashback chapters of critical moments throughout the women's journey interspersed with the rescue efforts to find all of them. I hesitate to use the word "flashback" because it is such an overused device but clearly the story of FN could not be told any other way and still achieve the ever-increasing levels of tension this excellent book delivers.
And the financial investigation slowly and deliciously morphs into something entirely different. The story is loaded with sub-plots, all very interesting, all hopping back and forth. But not so difficult nor so twisted as to be impossible to follow. The characters are all well developed, the dialog flows very naturally and the prose is excellent. I particularly enjoyed a bit of a respite from all the tension when Aaron extends a last minute invitation to grab a bite at his nearby apartment. As she enters his rather spartan digs, she quickly deducts the salient points of his entire life history, and soon is given an opportunity to share her analysis. A great scene.
I have no major criticisms of FN - only tiny ones here and there. For example, I thought that the five women, once on their own in the woods and somewhat insecure rather quickly and frequently got very aggressive with each other, including punching, scratching, hair pulling. And this executive training course was very different from anything I had been exposed to in the USA; I didn't quite see how it would result in enhancing team building skills. But maybe that's the way things are done down under.
I recommend "Force of Nature" highly and look forward to Aaron #3.
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been pursuing a money laundering case. Suddenly, a spanner is tossed into the works - their secret source is one of five women gone missing while on their company's executive training course in a nature reserve outside Melbourne. Hours later, four of the women arrive at their ultimate destination. Guess who is missing.From this point, Harper tells her story in a very interesting fashion - flashback chapters of critical moments throughout the women's journey interspersed with the rescue efforts to find all of them. I hesitate to use the word "flashback" because it is such an overused device but clearly the story of FN could not be told any other way and still achieve the ever-increasing levels of tension this excellent book delivers.
And the financial investigation slowly and deliciously morphs into something entirely different. The story is loaded with sub-plots, all very interesting, all hopping back and forth. But not so difficult nor so twisted as to be impossible to follow. The characters are all well developed, the dialog flows very naturally and the prose is excellent. I particularly enjoyed a bit of a respite from all the tension when Aaron extends a last minute invitation to grab a bite at his nearby apartment. As she enters his rather spartan digs, she quickly deducts the salient points of his entire life history, and soon is given an opportunity to share her analysis. A great scene.
I have no major criticisms of FN - only tiny ones here and there. For example, I thought that the five women, once on their own in the woods and somewhat insecure rather quickly and frequently got very aggressive with each other, including punching, scratching, hair pulling. And this executive training course was very different from anything I had been exposed to in the USA; I didn't quite see how it would result in enhancing team building skills. But maybe that's the way things are done down under.
I recommend "Force of Nature" highly and look forward to Aaron #3.
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LibraryThing member Brumby18
good read for the bus but not much else.. didnt give me too much feeling.
LibraryThing member smik
On the surface this crime fiction novel is a stand alone, but in fact it is the second to feature Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk. However I think it functions well as a stand-alone.
Two groups set out on a teamwork exercise - a men's group and a women's group - a bushwalk to cover three nights in
Right from the beginning the reader knows that the women's team is late, and when they do emerge from the bush. one of them is missing. The question is whether "foul play" has occurred.
This is an engrossing read. Highly recommended.
The novel has been shortlisted for the 2018 Indie Book Awards, the winner to be announced on 26 March 2018.
Two groups set out on a teamwork exercise - a men's group and a women's group - a bushwalk to cover three nights in
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the bush, camping along the way. Both groups belong to a corporate company from Melbourne. We learn almost nothing about the male group which completes its walk in time and apparently without problems. However within the women's group there are a number of underlying tensions which almost ensure that the team will fail. If the team does not make the campsite each night then they will have no food provisions as these are stored at each campsite. So the potential consequences for misreading the map provided can be catastrophic. One thing that took me aback was that the group had no means of contacting the organisers in an emergency and the organisers also had no way of monitoring the team and its progress.Right from the beginning the reader knows that the women's team is late, and when they do emerge from the bush. one of them is missing. The question is whether "foul play" has occurred.
This is an engrossing read. Highly recommended.
The novel has been shortlisted for the 2018 Indie Book Awards, the winner to be announced on 26 March 2018.
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LibraryThing member naturalbri
Absolute brilliance! Harper has definitely done it again! I adored The Dry and found myself desperate to read more like it. Nothing since has touched the same level of detail, eeriness and feeling that you need to look over your shoulder, until Harper brought out this second book.
It does have
We still had Falk as a big player, in this second read, and it meant we did pull a little from The Dry, in that you could link back to what you knew about Aaron, but it is not a must. I liked having that link, just as a bit of background as to why he did things certain ways or said certain things, but without it the book would have still be perfection, so there is no need to feel you have to read The Dry first, though you will want to just because it is so good.
I loved the premise of this book. It was great to see the scenery change up a bit, and move to the dense forest, and that it was based round a group of ladies, work colleagues, who have been forced on a retreat. Nothing is worse than ladies who are not overly keen friends, as a whole group, being forced to do something for work, outside work hours! Plus, rivalries and petty competition come in to play, leaving you questioning just what happened and how.
I loved that as a whole, and then when you add that the ladies ALL have different stories, and the creepy feeling something more is going on and someone is watching you, you end up with a book where you are constantly questioning everything, from motives to whether or not what the ladies say and do is meant to mean more or it is honesty.
I truly adored the story and felt the level of detail and the pace really brought both the story as a whole and the feeling that Harper is known for being able to conjure in her books. All together, this is definitely not a book to be missed. Seriously, I am already counting the days until she brings us more!
It does have
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differences from The Dry, which I thought kept it fresh. I was left, once again, guessing about what was coming, rather than feel I already knew what a Falk story was going to be like, which is a big deal for me. We still had Falk as a big player, in this second read, and it meant we did pull a little from The Dry, in that you could link back to what you knew about Aaron, but it is not a must. I liked having that link, just as a bit of background as to why he did things certain ways or said certain things, but without it the book would have still be perfection, so there is no need to feel you have to read The Dry first, though you will want to just because it is so good.
I loved the premise of this book. It was great to see the scenery change up a bit, and move to the dense forest, and that it was based round a group of ladies, work colleagues, who have been forced on a retreat. Nothing is worse than ladies who are not overly keen friends, as a whole group, being forced to do something for work, outside work hours! Plus, rivalries and petty competition come in to play, leaving you questioning just what happened and how.
I loved that as a whole, and then when you add that the ladies ALL have different stories, and the creepy feeling something more is going on and someone is watching you, you end up with a book where you are constantly questioning everything, from motives to whether or not what the ladies say and do is meant to mean more or it is honesty.
I truly adored the story and felt the level of detail and the pace really brought both the story as a whole and the feeling that Harper is known for being able to conjure in her books. All together, this is definitely not a book to be missed. Seriously, I am already counting the days until she brings us more!
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LibraryThing member nyiper
It took me a little while to realize that of course Aaron Falk was back---in this sort of second installment. I'm not quite sure why this book just seemed slower --- it was harder to get pulled into the story and he pace just didn't keep me involved as much as The Dry, her first book. There is
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certainly room for more about Aaron---and I would like a little move involvement of the financial aspects of his work. Although it was there, we really didn't get into the details and the outcome. Show Less
LibraryThing member Maydacat
Just as the characters in this suspenseful tale are trying to find a trail that will take them back to safety, so will the readers of this story endeavor to find the trail that will enlighten them as to what exactly happened. Five men and five women take separate trails in what is supposed to be a
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bonding experience. The men return in good spirits. The women, when they finally show up hours late, are hungry, dirty, hurt, and missing one of their members. The novel vacillates from current time back to the four-day hike. Little by little, the reader is exposed to what went on during those four days. While trained rescuers are looking for Alice, we gradually learn more about the back stories of the individuals who make up the dynamics of the groups, both men and women, as federal agents try to determine why Alice went missing, and if they had unintentionally caused it. This page-turner will keep you interested as follow the correct clues while discarding the red herrings. Though a follow on to The Dry, this novel is complete in itself. Show Less
LibraryThing member cathyskye
The only incentive any of the participants have in this retreat is their fear that-- if they don't toe the line-- they'll lose their jobs. None of them have either the desire or the aptitude for hiking and camping in bad weather and treacherous terrain, and I enjoyed watching them go into
Falk and Cooper make a good team, and I hope I see them together in another book. Falk is enjoying his move to white collar crime because he never forgets the people that are devastated by what the criminals think of as insignificant crime that doesn't hurt anyone.
The premise of Force of Nature isn't anything shiny and new, but I certainly enjoyed how Jane Harper put it all together. The missing woman is disliked by everyone, everyone has something to hide, and even two teenage daughters figure into the plot in interesting ways. While not quite as intense as her first book, The Dry, this second book featuring Aaron Falk kept my attention from first page to last, and I'm looking forward to book number three.
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withdrawal when they discovered that this remote area had no cell phone reception. Falk and Cooper make a good team, and I hope I see them together in another book. Falk is enjoying his move to white collar crime because he never forgets the people that are devastated by what the criminals think of as insignificant crime that doesn't hurt anyone.
The premise of Force of Nature isn't anything shiny and new, but I certainly enjoyed how Jane Harper put it all together. The missing woman is disliked by everyone, everyone has something to hide, and even two teenage daughters figure into the plot in interesting ways. While not quite as intense as her first book, The Dry, this second book featuring Aaron Falk kept my attention from first page to last, and I'm looking forward to book number three.
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LibraryThing member Susan.Macura
This is the engaging tale of five women who take part in a work-related team-building retreat. Each of them brings with them significant personal baggage that makes this situation unbearable for them all. However, four do make it out of the bush. The search for the missing woman becomes more and
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more intense as the book moves forward. However, in flashbacks we see what really happened between the women as they began their adventure and how all of these things resulted in tragedy. The scariest thing of all was how easy such a thing could happen to any of us. Show Less
LibraryThing member Faradaydon
Two small niggles about an otherwise excellent story. Using the bureaucratic term "bushland" in place of the traditional Aussie word bush is jarring; and choosing two names so similar for the sisters could be confusing at times. But it's a gripping tale,.
Awards
Davitt Award (Longlist — 2018)
Australian Book Industry Awards (Shortlist — General Fiction — 2018)
The Indie Book Award (Longlist — Fiction — 2018)
BookPeople Booksellers' Choice Award (Shortlist — 2018)
Language
Original publication date
2018-02-08
ISBN
9781250105639