Force of Nature

(62) This was a really well-written mystery - the second in the Aaron Falk series. He is a detective from the Sydney who investigates financial crimes but is originally from the Outback. The landscape figures in this installment too just as in the first. However, this is easily a stand-alone novel. Five women hike into the bush on a corporate bonding nature retreat and only 4 come out. Agent Falk is pulled in as it appears the missing woman called him last. And so spins a tale of recounting the women's last several days lost in the woods from differing perspectives, alternating with Falk's narration of his role in the case.

Harper does a nice job with atmosphere, setting, and characterization and keeps the dramatic tension right where show more it should be. It kept me guessing and thinking and I really did not figure it all out. Just solid story-telling and plot development - much like 'The Dry'. Love an mystery/thriller author with some literary merit (agree with the Tana French comparison.) I practically read the book in two sittings and it was quite satisfying.

Count me officially a fan. I think I have read all of her mysteries now and will eagerly await the next. show less

Force of Nature by Jane Harper is a highly recommended thriller set in the Giralang mountain range north of Melbourne, Australia. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk, from Harper's debut novel The Dry, is back.

Five women from the BaileyTennants accountancy firm set out on the trek in the Giralang range while on a corporate wilderness retreat, but only four return. From the start, before the team building exercise went awry, it was clear that the participants were all reluctantly participating. After all, it is one thing to work with your colleagues and another to go hiking in the cold and rain through the wilderness with them. When the women are late for the pickup time, and then finally make it out of the wilderness minus one member and show more different stories, it is clear that something happened.

Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper become involved when the missing woman, Alice Russell, turns out to be their informant in their investigation of the accounting firm and an on-going money-laundering scheme. It is unclear if her disappearance has anything to do with their case, because Alice seems to be universally disliked for any one of a number of reasons. Adding to the mystery is the legacy left by a serial killer who murdered young women in the same area twenty years ago. He is dead, but is there a copy-cat?

I appreciate the well-developed characters and setting. The novel expertly portrays the distrust between the five women and reasons for it, including Alice's cruelty and bossy behavior in the present and the past. The women and their backgrounds are slowly revealed, along with current circumstances that influence their relationships with each other. The weather and location both add additional dimensions to the story - wet, gloomy, cold, and dark, oppressive, somewhat sinister. There is also more insight into Falk's character for those who read The Dry, although Force of Nature can be read as a stand-alone novel.

The narrative helps propel the plot forward as it alternates between Alice and the other women, revealing their secrets and past relationships, and Falk's thoughts and investigation. Harper's writing is just as brilliant this time and Force of Nature can also be described as engaging, extremely well-written, and finely paced novel. It's not quite as perfect as The Dry, but, then, Harper set her own bar so high with her first novel. Certainly Force of Nature is worth reading and held my rapt attention to the perfect ending.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Flatiron Books.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/02/force-of-nature.html show less

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 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 show more 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. show less

Jane Harper deserves every bit of the attention and praise she has received from her first book, The Dry. In it, she introduces to her lucky readers to a new and intriguing character, adding to the list of other well-established and complicated characters from the established canon of “detective-centered mysteries.” Federal Agent Aaron Falk appears once again in the Force of Nature, her second novel that is just as absorbing as the first. In this installment, Harper begins the tale with the mysterious disappearance of a woman who did not return from a corporate retreat in the Giralang Ranges of Australia. Alice Russell embarked on a three-day adventure sponsored by their firm BaileyTennants with a group of four other women. The hike show more was part of an effort to encourage cooperation and trust among employees with varying status within the company. The other women returned from the trip in rough shape, but Alice was not among them. Agent Falk and his partner are brought into the investigation because Alice had been cooperating with them as a whistle-blower-providing documents that supported a case of financial criminal activity within the company. The novel’s chapters alternate between the active investigation and search for Alice’s whereabouts, and the days on the hike before she was lost. The evolving plot reveals that the wooded area was notorious for a series of murders and a similar disappearance that took place twenty years prior. It becomes apparent that each of the women on the trip have their own reasons for wanting Alice Russell to remain missing. Harper builds great tension and a sense of foreboding within a cold and haunted setting. Force of Nature is fast-paced but fulfilling, and many mystery lovers will find it a satisfying addition to their list of favorites. Hopefully, Harper will provide another Aaron Falk book soon for those who have eagerly devoured her first two efforts. show less

I'm really glad I've started this series set in Australia. A good, tight mystery with tangled motives and interesting red herrings, it is set in one of those dreary team-building exercises in the wilderness, which of course goes wrong in devastating ways. Some of that wrongness has nothing to do with the wildness of the Australian bush, but instead the wildness of present-day teenage lives and the pressures of family loyalty. A nice peeling of the onion to get at the truth, and no artificial sweeteners.

Difficult to follow a great book like The Dry, but Force of Nature more than lived up to that, for me. Pacey, gripping thriller set in (fictional) Australian wilds. Five women head out on a team building trek, but only four make it back to the rendezvous point. Matching the story of the women chapter for chapter, the story of the two investigators from the police fraud office, who are working with the woman who disappeared. Having spent more than my fair share of time lost with a map somewhere a lot less difficult to navigate than Australia, for me Harper perfectly captured the panicky quality of a group trying to navigate unfamiliar terrain, both in terms of map and characters.
I also loved the black humour she found in a relatively show more dark story.
"Jill watched the backs of their heads and shifted her pack. She could feel the straps rubbing on her shoulders. The man in the shop had told her that they were made from special breathable material for added comfort. The memory of that conversation infused Jill with a sense of deep and lasting betrayal."
Recommended. show less

I liked this second mystery in Harper's series about Australian detective Aaron Falk just as much as the first. This centers around a group of women who go on a forced team-building exercise for work where they do a 4 day hike in the Australian bushland. They have a map and compass but not much else - no phone service - and after making it to the first camp site (supplies are staged at each day's destination) they get horribly lost on day 2. They end up losing one of the women and the search for her is the mystery.

What I actually found most interesting about this book was the dynamic between the women on the team-building exercise. From the beginning, they failed miserably. The five women were from different levels of the company - show more from the president to a data-entry position. The whole point of these types of exercises is to level the playing field and see everyone's strengths outside the office, but the president of the company, Jill, insisted on making all final decisions and controlling everything even though she was by far the weakest link as far as outdoor knowledge and fitness was concerned. And the women couldn't leave their work drama behind them and band together. This was really odd to me - they were completely unsupportive of each other. The nature of my job leads our unit to be very close, even with those we wouldn't otherwise get along with, because we are repeatedly put in high pressure performance situations and also in physically demanding work. Basically, we do constant team-building. So in some ways I found it pretty unrealistic that these women didn't naturally become supportive of each other in the challenging environment, but it definitely made the events realistic so I guess it worked for the book.

Regardless of all that, I find Harper's mysteries interesting and very readable which is exactly what I want in a mystery. show less