Review: Exiles by Jane Harper

Author: Jane Harper
Publisher: September 2022
Publication Date: Flatiron Books

 At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds.

A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems.

Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.

Exiles is the third book featuring detective Aaron Falk.  I really enjoyed the first two books in the series and was excited to finally dive into this one.  This time around sees Aaron visiting his closest friend for a christening.  He gets pulled into the case of a missing woman.  

I'll admit that this is not my favorite of the trilogy.  It was very slow in the beginning and I felt like there were too many characters.  I was having a hard time keeping everyone straight and how they related to one another.  At about halfway through, the story did pick up a lot more.  I do love Falk.  I love the way his mind works and how he figures things out.  The solution was a surprise.  The ending was interesting and makes me wonder if this is it for the series.  I kind of hope that it is not true.  I would love to see this character again.  He is one of my favorite detectives.

Review: The Lost Man by Jane Harper

Author: Jane Harper
Publisher:Flatiron books
Date of publication: February 2019

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

The Lost Man is another book that was on my most anticipated reading list for 2019.  This is not a part of the Aaron Falk series. The book opens as Nathan and his brother Bub are standing over their dead brother Cameron.  Neither brother understands why Cameron would be out in the outback desert  in the intense heat without water.  It looks like a suicide.  The story is told through Nathan's perspective as he tries to navigate the mystery of what happened to Cameron.   

I'll be honest, I had my reservations about the book when I first started it. The story was a little slow in the beginning.  But as we learn more and more about the family and their secrets, the book does pick up.  It's a slow burn family drama with a mystery.  I definitely didn't figure it out in the end.  In fact, I was totally floored by the solution.  I ended up loving the book.

I enjoyed the characters as well as the family dynamic.  Like most families, there are a lot of secrets and regrets buried.  I also enjoyed the setting.  I've never been to the Australian Outback, but the author did a wonderful job of conveying the intense heat and starkness of the landscape to the reader.  

Jane Harper is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine.  If you haven't tried one of her books yet, I highly recommend any of them.  I hope that she isn't done with Aaron Falk.  I would love to read another book featuring him.  

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Author: Jane Harper
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Date of publication: February 2018

Five women go on a hike. Only four return. Jane Harper, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dry, asks: How well do you really know the people you work with?

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?

Force of Nature is the second book featuring agent Aaron Falk.  We first met him in The Dry.  I enjoyed that book, so I was looking forward to reading this one.  This time around, five women go into the woods for a corporate team building weekend and only four come back out.  The missing woman, Alice is involved in a case that Falk is working on.  

I actually liked this one a bit more than the first one.  The story is told through flashbacks and the present just like the first book.  I found the pacing smoother and faster here.  I was engaged the entire time and definitely didn't call the ending. I'm not going to give anything away so I won't talk plot too much.  With a lot of suspects, I was kept guessing. We learn a bit more about Falk in this one.  I still really like him as a character.  I didn't feel like you really needed to read the first book to get a sense of his character and motivations.  References are made to the happenings in the first book, but this is an easy stand alone. I highly recommend this one as well as The Dry.  I look forward to following Falk on his next case.

The Dry by Jane Harper

Author: Jane Harper
Publisher: Flatiron Books (Macmillan)
Date of publication: January 2017

Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well...

When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra for the funerals, he is loath to confront the people who rejected him twenty years earlier. But when his investigative skills are called on, the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge.

And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones. For Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret... A secret Falk thought long-buried... A secret which Luke's death starts to bring to the surface...

The Dry was a  pleasant surprise for me. Aaron Falk is an investigator who comes back to his old hometown for a friend's funeral.  It seems like his friend Luke killed his family and himself in a bizarre murder/suicide.  Things don't seem to add up for Aaron and the local police captain.  The Answers to  a disappearance years before might have a play in the case.

As I said, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  The story goes between the present and 20 years before.  We get glimpses into what really happened on the days leading up to the disappearance of a young girl who happened to be a school friend of Aaron's.  I'm not going to give away any of the plot because there are quite a few surprises.  I honestly never saw most of them coming.

 I definitely recommend this one and look forward to the next book featuring Aaron.  I enjoyed his character and really want to see him in future books.  The Dry does have a fairly slow pace, so if you are looking for a fast moving thriller, you won't find it here.  Instead, you are in for a steady, "suck you in mystery" that will keep you guessing until the end.