Review of Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Hello Readers,

Thank you to Flatiron Books for generously supplying me with a review copy of Force of Nature by Jane Harper. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved Jane Harper's first book The Dry. I went into reading that book very hesitantly and ended up reading a story that completely absorbed me and then I proceeded to recommend it to everyone. Needless to say, I was excited to hear that she was writing another book with Aaron Falk at its center. Force of Nature is a stand-alone book from Harper's previous work The Dry. The only thing that connects the two books is Agent folk himself, so if you are wondering where to start with Harper's books the answer is either one is just fine, but The Dry is the first in the series and does give you the upper hand of introducing you to Aaron and his story.

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"Later, the four remaining women could fully agree on only two things. One: No-one saw the bushland swallow up Alice Russell. And two: Alice had a mean streak so shart it could cut you." - Page 1
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Harper is brilliant at the opening line. Her opening line for The Dry was so intense I couldn't help but keep reading, and this book had the same starting off point. Force of Nature is about a group of employees who go on a team building adventure hike. The problems begin almost immediately and when the return date for the hike comes and only four of the five women return there are many questions and lots of different versions of the story. The question this book begs to ask is "How well do you really know the people you work with?" The concept of going on a hike and not returning with one of the members of your group is pretty much why I try to avoid doing anything outdoorsy, but the story kept me interested to see what happened to the missing woman and why everyone had such a different version of how everything happened.

I enjoyed this second installment of the Agent Falk series, but I could not help comparing it to The Dry and it definitely came up lacking for me. It did not feel as fleshed out and gripping to me. There were a few times where I was shocked by what was happening but overall it did not leave me engulfed in the story as well as her other work. But, that being said I did enjoy reading this book and finished it because the story was intriguing and I wanted to figure out how everything ended.

I would recommend this book for readers of mysteries that unfold in a slow and methodical way.

Overall Rating - 3/5 Stars

Links-

Amazon 
Goodreads

Happy Reading,
Rachael