Force of Nature
A Novel
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4.1 • 574 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING ERIC BANA
"I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries." —Stephen King
Goodreads Choice Award Finalist (Mystery & Thriller, 2018)
BookBrowse Best Books of 2018
Winner of the Prix Polar Award for Best International Novel
BookRiot’s 25 Best Suspense Books from 2018
Davitt Awards shortlist for Adult Crime Novel 2018
Dead Good Reads shortlist for Best Small Town Mystery 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 bristles with wit; it crackles with suspense; it radiates atmosphere. An astonishing book from an astonishing writer.”
—A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
Select praise for The Dry:
"One of the most stunning debuts I've ever read. Every word is near perfect. Read it!"
—David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A breathless page-turner … Ms. Harper has made her own major mark.”
—The New York Times
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Australian Federal Agent Aaron Falk—the hero of Jane Harper’s blistering debut, The Dry—returns in a thriller that investigates how fear and seclusion can warp the human psyche. When a woman goes missing during a corporate retreat in dense bushland, suspicion lingers over a number of people, and Falk discovers he has professional and personal connections to the case. Harper superbly evokes the sinister isolation of the bush, crafting a detailed, airtight plot that really kept us guessing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Australian author Harper follows her bestselling debut, The Dry, with a gripping tale of an elemental battle for survival. Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper are investigating the role of a respected Melbourne accounting firm in an extensive money-laundering scheme with the help of insider source Alice Russell. Then she vanishes during a team-building wilderness expedition that includes the chief executives of the company she has been working to expose. Pressed by their bosses to get the remaining documents needed for the probe and worried that Alice may have met with foul play, Falk and Carmen head for the rugged Giralang Ranges to aid in the search. Once in the bushland, they discover that the beautiful, brainy, but unabashedly cruel Alice had no dearth of enemies, ranging from her bullied assistant to a fellow executive who's been her frenemy since their years together at an exclusive private school. Although certain plot strands seem contrived, Harper once again shows herself to be a storytelling force to be reckoned with.
Customer Reviews
Great story line
The story was intense and a page turner
Absorbing
Jane Harper is an intriguing writer who offers a complete view to her characters and realizations. I enjoyed this book and hope to read more Aaron Falk stories. After reading The Dry I looked forward to reading another novel with Aaron Falk. This story was interwoven with what happened and how it happened. It held my interest throughout, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys an absorbing book complete with interesting people and an organized tale of who and why.
An interesting take on mystery within friendless nature
Five women, with some negative history betrween them are sent out on a wilderness team building challenge. They become lost and when finally four return a major search and rescue mission is mounted in the hopes of finding the fifth. Two or three sub plots present themselves - possible money laundering, teen bullying by dissemination of revealing photos, and the history of a killer who had worked the area the women had gone for the challenge.
At first I found it hard. to keep track of the personalities that go with the names of the various characters. In the end they became real.
For me not quite as compelling as the authors first novel, “The Dry.