Exiles

Although Exiles unfolds very slowly, I was completely drawn in by the story. However, that's no real surprise because Jane Harper has a tendency to do that to me. It takes time for Aaron Falk to become enmeshed in the close-knit circle of missing woman Kim Gillespie's family and friends. And they're a very welcoming bunch-- especially since Falk is to be the godfather of the newest little addition to the group.

Everyone has a story. Everyone has an opinion of both Kim herself and what would make her simply disappear into thin air. Kim's teenage daughter Zara's battle to learn what happened to her mother is poignant, laced as it is with both a child's heartbreak and teenage obstinate prickliness. Moreover, Falk learns that Zara's friend show more Joel has also lost a parent under rather mysterious circumstances. And while Falk searches for answers, he's also finding good reason to re-evaluate his own life, both personally and professionally.

Exiles is just the sort of mystery character-driven readers are going to love. Personal histories. Emotions. Motivations. Evasions. Harper's red herrings are superb. Not only was I led down the wrong garden path, but I also discovered that I wasn't even in the right garden.

For those of you who haven't read one of Jane Harper's books, I urge you to rectify your oversight. Exiles may be the third book featuring Aaron Falk, but it does well as a standalone. Get yourself a copy and dive right into a marvelous tale.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less

If Exiles is indeed the last Aaron Falk book from Jane Harper, then she's thrown him a hell of a going away party.
Falk returns to Marralee at the invitation of Greg Raco, a close friend of his. Maralee is the site of a popular food and wine festival. Falk is to be the godfather to Raco's child. Falk had been there a year earlier when 39-year-old Kim Gillespie disappeared, leaving behind her infant daughter in a stroller. No trace of Kim was ever found except for her shoe which was discovered in a nearby reservoir, leading some to believe she killed herself.

Falk agrees to look into Kim's case at the urging of her teenage daughter, Zara, who hopes to use the festival to turn up new clues to her mother's disappearance. Falk learns that show more the festival and reservoir site is also the location of an unsolved hit-and-run six years earlier that resulted in the death of Dean Tozer.

Falk's investigation reveals the relationships between Kim and her friends who grew up in Maralee, as well as some things that have bubbled beneath the surface for a long time. Falk also reconnects with a woman from Maralee whom he met and shared a strong attraction with when she visited Melbourne. Falk's methodical examination takes him deeper into these people's lives. His investigation will open old wounds as well as create new ones if the truth about what happened to Kim is to be discovered.

Harper excels at evoking a strong sense of place that makes you feel not only that you've seen this part of Australia, but that you know it. She creates a sense of foreboding as characters you grow to like are living with grief and guilt. As the truth is slowly uncovered you experience the tragedy and its inevitability. Nobody evokes pathos better than her.

Jane Harper is Australia's version of Cormac McCarthy. Her novels greatly evoke time and place and her characters are so real that you ache with them. If this is truly where we leave Aaron Falk, then I am filled with both melancholy and happiness for him. Exiles is one of the best books of the year and another in a string of great books from Harper.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. show less

I have loved each of Harper’s novels, but I struggled with this one. It was so slow at the start, but a friend recommended I stick with it, and I’m so glad I did! The repetition and lack of momentum was worth it in the end! Around the halfway point I was hooked and her incredible character development made a missing woman story fascinating. I love the way Falk’s brain works and how his story unfolded. I also loved how a hit-and-run accident from six years earlier was layered into the story. The fabric of the small town is so tightly woven together. Now I want to go back and reread the first book: The Dry.

In Jane Harper’s fifth novel and third featuring Australian Federal Police officer Aaron Falk, at the invitation of friends Aaron has returned to the Marralee Valley, in the heart of South Australian wine country for a christening, and for the local food and wine festival. Among the people welcoming Aaron to the valley is Greg Raco, the police officer Aaron met and befriended in The Dry, whose family lives in the region. Greg’s brother Charlie runs a vineyard in Marralee. Charlie’s product features at the festival. Unfortunately, it is not an altogether celebratory occasion. Aaron was also there the previous year when an incident occurred that remains unresolved: the disappearance of Kim Gillespie, Charlie’s ex-wife, who was show more last sighted on the festival grounds and hasn’t been seen since. Inexplicably, chillingly, Kim was last spotted pushing a stroller holding her newborn daughter Zoe, and people were alerted to her disappearance when the stroller was found abandoned with the sleeping baby still inside. The only remnant of Kim to appear in the intervening year is a shoe discovered in a nearby reservoir, leading police to conclude that Kim drowned herself. Aaron does not want to get involved, but is pushed to do so by Zara, Kim and Charlie’s teenage daughter, who’s convinced her mother would never end her own life. Along the way, Aaron becomes involved in unravelling a cold case: six years earlier a man named Dean Tozer was killed on the road skirting the edge of the reservoir, a tragic hit and run, his body found in the water months later. Complicating matters is Aaron’s budding relationship with Gemma, festival organizer and Dean’s widow. The story Harper has devised offers bottomless family entanglements, lots of secrets and suspicious behaviour, and a multitude of avenues for investigation. As with her previous novels, Harper is as concerned as much with character as she is with story. The mystery of Kim’s disappearance is absorbing, and Aaron is a deeply sympathetic man whose own past includes tragedy and regret. But all of Harper’s characters exhibit the depth and vulnerability necessary for them come alive on the page, making Exiles a gripping read and perhaps Jane Harper’s best book yet. show less

Harper's third book featuring awkward Aussie federal investigator Aaron Falk is her best yet. It's set in Maralee, a winegrowing area, where Falk's best friends Raco and Rita have asked him to be godfather to their son. He becomes wrapped up in a disappearance and a hit and run accident within a very tight-knit group of friends, occurring years apart. As an outsider, he tries to sniff out what Raco and the area police commander may have missed, but since he was at the fairground when Kim Gillespie vanished, he feels partially responsible for not being able to corral his "spidey senses" into solving that crime. When Aaron falls in love with Gemma, the widow of Dean, the hit-and-run victim, he feels the pressure even more keenly. Harper's show more usual style is to gently push the reader towards McGuffins and red herrings while unwrapping layers of evidence, with two surprising outcomes. I dare you to say you saw them coming! This is the type of novel that makes other activities in your life seem wholly superfluous. show less

Exiles by Jane Harper is the very highly recommended procedural and the third installment of the series featuring Aaron Faulk.

Set in Southern Australian wine country, Australian Federal Investigator Aaron Falk is going to the christening of a friend's baby and the festival on the weekend that marks the one year anniversary of Kim Gillespie's disappearance at the town of Marralee's food and wine festival. Thirty-nine-year-old Kim had tucked her five-week-old sleeping baby into her stroller and then vanished into the festival crowd, never to be seen again.

Now, a year later, Kim's older teenage daughter, Zara, and Falk's friend Greg Raco have asked him to look into the case as they ask anyone at this year's festival with more information show more to come forward. As he looks into the case, questions begin to emerge. What happened to Kim Gilles? What would make a mother abandon her child?

Exiles is an excellent addition to the procedural series, following The Dry and Force of Nature. Although you can read them as stand-alone novels, they are better read as part of the series. The novel sets an atmospheric, thoughtful, deliberate pace as both the setting and the investigation are carefully explored. There are plenty of suspects and motives within the narrative as the secrets and evidence is disclosed. The narrative unfolds in three timelines: a year previously, a week in the present, and three years in the future.

Harper is an exceptional writer and pays equal attention to the development of her characters as she does to the investigational part of the procedural. The characters are all fully realized, complex individuals, with established backstories. Falk is the narrator of almost all of the novel, which gives his character by far the most depth and complexity. His voice is already the main focal point of the narrative.

There is actually more than one mystery that begs to be solved in Exiles. Clues are present as the narrative unfolds and careful readers will appreciate the challenge and the presentation. This is an excellent third novel in the series and rumor has it the final Aaron Falk. This is an excellent ending to the series if that is the case.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Flatiron Books via NetGalley
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A baby lies alone in her stroller in the middle of a festival with no signs of her mother. What happened to the mother is a question investigator Aaron Falk tries to discover. As he goes further into the mystery, long ago truths begin to emerge.

This is a somewhat slow story that focuses on one day at a festival where a depressed mother goes missing and leaves her baby behind unharmed. There is also a lot of focus on the relationships of her family and friends, past and present, in good times and bad. I like the well-developed characters and particularly liked Falk and his new relationship with Gemma. However, I didn’t think this story was as interesting as some of Harper’s others. But I do enjoy her writing and still plan to read more.