Exiles
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4.4 • 67 Ratings
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- £1.49
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- £1.49
Publisher Description
Critically acclaimed international bestseller Jane Harper returns.
A mother disappears from a busy festival on a warm spring night.
Her baby lies alone in the pram, her mother’s possessions surrounding her, waiting for a return which never comes.
A year later, Kim Gillespie’s absence still casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather to welcome a new addition to the family.
Joining the celebrations on a rare break from work is federal investigator Aaron Falk, who begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.
As he looks into Kim’s case, long-held secrets and resentments begin to come to the fore, secrets that show that her community is not as close as it appears.
Falk will have to tread carefully if he is to expose the dark fractures at its heart, but sometimes it takes an outsider to get to the truth...
An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man and The Survivors.
Pre-order your copy now.
Praise for Jane Harper:
The Dry
‘Spellbinding’ - Ian Rankin
‘A sense of place so vivid that you can almost feel the blistering heat’ - Guardian
‘A stunningly atmospheric read’ - Val McDermid
Force of Nature
‘This gripping thriller will have readers hooked’ - Sunday Telegraph
‘Brilliantly paced, it wrong-foots the reader like a rocky trail through the bush. I adored it’ - Susie Steiner
‘Thoughtful, moving, troubling’ - Irish Times
The Lost Man
‘I devoured it in a day. Her best yet!’ - Liane Moriarty
‘Harper secures her place as queen of outback noir’ - Sunday Times
‘It totally transcends genre, and it should win all the prizes’ Marian Keyes
The Survivors
‘A gripping mystery… her best book yet’ - Evening Standard
‘Phenomenal.’ - Chris Whitaker
‘A compelling, terrifying thriller’ - Observer
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Harper has been hailed as “the queen of outback noir” and proves why with this precisely plotted, emotionally powerful novel. When a mother disappears from a bustling food and wine festival, leaving her baby behind, the scandal sends shockwaves around a South Australian vineyard town. A year later, the missing woman’s friends and family gather to mark the tragedy’s anniversary. Among them is federal police investigator Aaron Falk, who suspects there’s more to the case than meets the eye. What’s the connection to a hit-and-run death which also coincided with the festival years before? Secrets, resentments and rivalries soon bubble to the surface, and the rural community isn’t as closely knit as it appears when it becomes apparent there’s not only a murderer in their midst but a cover-up in operation. This is the third outing for unconventional detective Falk, who we first met in The Dry. Harper skilfully combines a rich exploration of his inner life with a vivid sense of place and ingenious twists which you won’t see coming. It’s also a compassionate portrait of grief in all its forms.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Harper's stellar third outing for Aaron Falk (after 2018's Force of Nature) takes Falk, of the Australian Federal Police's financial division, back to the town of Marralee, the site of a popular food and wine festival. A year earlier, Falk was in Marralee when a tragedy occurred. During that year's festival, 39-year-old Kim Gillespie left the stroller containing her five-week-old daughter in the stroller storage area—and disappeared. Despite frantic searches, Kim never turned up, though her shoe was found in a nearby reservoir, leading to the belief that she drowned there. Falk agrees to revisit the mystery at the behest of Zara, Kim's teenage daughter, and Greg Raco, a friend of Falk. The inquiry suggests a possible link to another unresolved case—the hit-and-run death of accountant Dean Tozer six years earlier, also coinciding with the Marralee festival. Writing at the top of her game, Harper effectively uses whodunit tropes to explore her characters' hidden lives. Readers interested in literate and nuanced mysteries will be eager to see more of Falk. 5-city author tour.
Customer Reviews
Not her best
Not her best book. A little long winded.