A captivating and atmospheric listen! The narrator can make or break an audiobook, and Stephen Shanahan was a wonderful choice to read Aaron Falk's last outing. After a missing person's case caused the postponement of his godson's christening, Aaron is back in town for the re-scheduled event a year later. While on a rare break from his typical workaholic tendencies as a Federal investigator in Melbourne, Falk has time to consider the nature of families and love as he gets pulled into two cold cases. Loved this and highly recommend it!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for access to an ALC on NetGalley.

This was my first book by this author and I look forward to reading more books by her! This was an audio version and I loved the Australian accent with the audio version. This is about a mother who disappears and leaves her 6 week old newborn at a fair. What happened to her remains a mystery several years later. This was a slow burn with two mysteries built into one. A big bonus! Thank you to net galley for an advanced preview of this book

What precipitated Kim Gillespie to leave her infant daughter in her stroller and walk away the night of the festival? Was it her choice? Foul play?    Her family and friends are under the assumption it was suicide having found her shoe by the reservoir but her daughter Zara was never convinced her mom would do that.  
   It’s the one year anniversary of the tragic event and Zara wants the police and her family to reinterview people. People come back every year to the festival, maybe a new lead could come out if you asked the right questions. It does if you have the right people doing the asking and thinking, like Aaron Falks, a federal investigator.
   There is background between the characters that Ms Harper doles out in small portions to keep you intrigued and turning the pages. More interesting is her incorporation of another mystery simultaneously but independent to the main storyline that involves the same characters.

Jane Harper is a wonderful storyteller. Exiles involves a mystery and a detective, but it is primarily a story about a farming community outside of Melbourne, Australia. Harper’s characters are the meat of this story, and while the plot is intricate and compelling, the heart of her writing is in her people.

We are back together with Detective Aaron Falk who we first met in The Dry (now a first rate movie). As with The Dry, Falk once again is on a break from work to visit with friends. A serious love interest for Falk develops this time while he watches from the outside as the town people mourn the disappearance of a woman from a town festival a year ago. Can the hit and run death of another friend also be connected? I like it when the clues are all there for us to read. Yes, I saw the false assumptions well before Falk, but I enjoyed watching him figure it all out. And besides, the plot is secondary here.

Harper’s strength is in her characters and her setting. The reader can feel the hot winds and the tight community because of the great writing. The many character backstories set us up for failing to see what is in plain sight in the mystery. The story’s friendships and kindnesses between the town people pull us into Exiles, only to understand why Harper chose this title.

A father’s hit and run. A mother who disappeared in plain sight while leaving her baby behind. The anguish of losing a child to drugs. A career ruined by a weakness for alcohol. Compassion, fear, loyalty among friends. Harper pulls many of our human emotions and circumstances into this story and brings us to the end feeling upbeat and satisfied. Exiles is a great story, and another Harper book you don’t want to miss. 5 of 5 stars

This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. Exiles was published on January 31, 2023.

In this third, and apparently final, slowburning and gratifying Aaron Falk novel we are once again back in small-town Australia with two deaths rooted in the past. (The novel stands alone just fine, so you can jump in here).

A year ago, KIm Gillespie disappeared from the opening night of the Marilee festival, abandoning her six-week old baby. Though her body was never recovered, her distinctive sneaker was found in the nearby reservoir, but her 17-year old daughter just doesn’t believe her mum would have drowned herself. Now a year later, Falk is in Marilee for the christening of his godson and the case is being revisited as the festival opening night comes round again.

The author takes her time building up through the rich golden soil of the Marilee community and the intertwining links of the lives of a generation who have grown up there and still remember their high school parties. It is a traditional, conservative (small ‘c’), and quite masculine society: there are no people of color, everyone is heterosexual, most are or have been in couples with children. Even those who leave, the exiles, are still knotted in through their pasts.

As Kim’s final hours are revisited over again, Falk as an outsider is our lens into this close knit world. He also brushes against a second death from six years ago, when he starts courting Gemma, whose husband was knocked into the reservoir by a car.

The resolutions to both these unsolved deaths are both horrifying in their implication of the rips and secrets in the community and satisfyingly well-played out through Falk’s investigative skills.

The audiobook was excellent with the narrator perfectly reflecting the rugged and outdoorsy atmosphere and setting of the book with his every “G’day.”

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the audiobook review copy.

𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 (𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐤 #𝟑)
𝐁𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟏.𝟑𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

Thank you @booksparks and @janeharperauthor for a gifted book and a spot on the #WRC2023 #inabookmood tour.
Thanks to @macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook.


I read 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐲 years ago and enjoyed how Jane Harper wrote her characters, especially Aaron Falk. Falk is a federal investigator; he’s a keen observer, and in this book, we get to be back deep in his headspace, which I love.

In this final installment, Aaron Falk finds himself in the middle of an investigation of a young missing mother. At the spring food and wine festival, a baby is found alone in its stroller, the mother nowhere to be found. Aaron was there that night to celebrate his godson’s christening.

What ensues is an intricate, tangled mystery that reveals the cracks that have formed in Falk's tight-knit group of friends. I will say there are a lot of connections to make in this one, but it’s worth it. I believe I suspected most of the characters at one point during the story. Of course, the Southern Australian setting is just a bonus to this sharp and suspenseful thriller.

"Exiles" is my first Jane Harper/Aaron Falk novel. As Falk returns to wine country to celebrate the christening of his God child he is thrown into the remembrance of exactly one year ago, when Kim disappeared from the town festival leaving behind her infant child. Her body was never recovered and no one was ever brought to justice. Concurrently, at the same sight Kim was perceived to have jumped from, Joel is still grieving the loss of his father, six years ago, when a drive ran him over the cliff. These unsolved deaths circle the town and its inhabitants sucking Falk in.

While I found "Exiles" enjoyable, it was a difficult one to jump into via audio. There were a lot of close and comfortable characters housed within the friend group circling this plot that made it relatively hard to keep track of. Falk was certainly entertaining as a lot of personal and profession related events occurred within but the two mysteries and circling cast made this a tough one to fully immersed into at times.

In the end, I loved it. The time between the last Falk novel and this one (five years) hampered my understanding at first. I could have (should have) gone back and reread the first two books before diving into this one.

I also would have loved to both listen and read the ebook. The audiobook was expertly done, and the narrator lovely to listen to. However, his strong accent (to my southern U.S. ears) made it difficult to understand at times.

Jane Harper is an expert at setting and atmosphere. She draws you in with description so that the setting becomes another character. This is a true in this book as it’s ever been. Aaron Falk is as fabulous a character in this book as he was in the previous two. You care deeply about him and the characters around him.

Supposedly this is the final Falk book, but as with all series I love, I hope that isn’t true.

Exiles
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 1/31/23
Author: Jane Harper
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
GR: 4.18

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: This is the third book in the Aaron Falk series. While this can be read as a standalone, you will get character layers and dynamics by reading the first two books first. The series takes place in Australia, which I love. The author really nails down the descriptions and sets the tone so well, that you are transported to Australia with Falk, you are just surrounded by beauty. Falk travels to Southern Australia to attend his godson’s christening. Of course while in Australia, his friend asked him to look into a cold case of a mother disappearing. This story packs in mystery, upon mystery, and even a budding romance.

This is slow burn mystery. The story is narrated in a dual timeline, both past and present, mostly in Falk’s POV. Falk has a troubled past which tends to carry over in his daily life. He see details that others miss and tries to do right by people and has people who care about him, a made family. Falk may have some life decision to make while visiting Southern Australia. The characters were well developed, and built upon, had depth, were mysterious, and creatively woven throughout the story. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, suspenseful, twisty, and kept me engaged.

The narrator does a great job and it is exactly how I would expect Falk to talk, even with the accent. Like I mentioned above, this is a slow burn, but if you are patient, I know you will enjoy the story just as I did. I would highly recommend this one and the prior two novels in this series.

This was my first book by Jane Harper, but it won't be my last! The murder mystery (mysteries) were well thought out and finely detailed through the story lines. As much as I loved how well thought out the book was written, the character development had me feeling as if I would know these characters (I would like to know them) if it were possible to bump into them. Through these characters, I learned a bit about Australia, its wine country, and the closeness of small towns. Took me a while to realize "footie/footy" was football and not a person who liked different foods (foodie).

Aaron Falk comes to town to be godfather to a friend's new son. The prior year, during the wine festival a young woman goes missing leaving behind a baby in a carriage and a teenaged daughter. The case is still open and, well, it takes a village....

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to hear this audiobook. (The narrator was great!)

Was a good read but felt as if everything was a long drag out on 1 day. A lady went missing and everything revolved around that’s 1 day. It was a little difficult for me to stray focused in it not a nail bitter stay up to 3 I’m the morning book but still a good read if you need some down time between your crazy horrid extreme moods and normal crazy ones.

I absolutely enjoyed this audio version of this book. It was such a thrill of a read. I love the narrator. The storyline overall was just really good. I highly recommend this book and or audio and or both to friends and family. Definitely will be reading more books by this author in the near future.

Australian author Jane Harper has a winner in her latest Aaron Falk book. The audiobook does justice to the characters and the mystery. While it originally took me awhile to get used to the accent, I soon found I was finding more and more opportunities to listen. Even the audiobook is a "page-turner." The switch from Aaron's point of view to the victim's and then the villain's was an unexpected way of explaining what was behind the crime. Even up to the end, I could imagine a number of the characters to be guilty.

Thank you to my partners, BookSparks and NetGalley. I appreciate the #gifted hardcover and audiobook, respectively, and I am leaving this review voluntarily!

1. Everyone Is A Suspect - I love the way Harper is able to write the story to make everyone feel a little suspicious.
2. An Even-Keeled Feeling - This novel had a feeling of a smooth and steady pace. There weren’t any crazy highs or crazy lows. Saying this, I guess it was somewhat of a slow-moving story, but it also easily kept my interest throughout.
3. Two Mysteries In One - I’m not sure you can go wrong with two great mysteries tied into one novel!
4. Small Town Closeness - I love the feeling of family and friends that this story exudes. It really makes me appreciate my small town life even more.
5. And Then It All Makes Sense - I can’t even. How hatred for a character can be so immediate after the truth is revealed! And that one misstep that solved the one mystery from Kim’s past - I wanted to climb inside the story and strangle that character 😠

Yet another great thriller from Jane Harper - she’s an author that will be sure to keep you engaged in a story!

ARC review of audiobook version:

"The things you could have done differently are the things that haunted you."

Having read The Dry, but not the book between in this series, I found myself feeling as if I needed to do some catching up on character backgrounds. The author seems to attempt this in the first few chapters but the old character review and new character introductions come so hard and fast that I almost checked out. I found myself zoning out for about the first fifth of the book, using the audiobook as insomnia fodder.

However, I am pleased that I was persistent as the story started to make the connections and plot twists to peak my interest. I found the writing to be very much in sync with the style of The Dry with similar pacing.

The voice actor also seemed to get more enthusiastic as the story progressed. I became more engaged as he seemed to develop the characters within his reading as well. I listened to this audiobook on the default speed of the publisher & it seemed well edited, paced, and a clean listen without audio artifacts. Definitely a good audiobook publication.

4.5 solid stars!

When I started reading this book I did not realize it was a third in a series. It was a wonderful stand alone book though so don't let that sway you from reading it.

I enjoyed the few twists in this book. Toward the end I got worried that I would be forced to hate one of the beloved characters. I was pleasantly surprised and did not expect the ending until a few pages before the big reveal. It was very well written and concealed.

This book is set in lovely Australian wine country. There is a mix of small town drama, friendship and secrets. It also touched on some serious issues like post partum depression, sexual assault and alcoholism. I felt the author gave these issues their moment to be recognized and validated, but did not linger there or provide too much detail. It was a very good balance. Overall this was a fun quick read especially for someone like me who enjoys the mystery without all the smutty romance.

Love her books this one wasn’t quite her best, but I will stick with her as an author can’t wait to see what they do with the television drama of this

4-1/2 stars. This was a compelling mystery that kept me in suspense until very near to the end. Although I did have my suspicions about the killer from the beginning, I couldn't figure out a motive that made any sense to me. The fact that the author had to tell the last part of the story from a different perspective in order to make the big reveal rather than having it emerge naturally felt a little off to me, and is the reason this novel didn't merit a full five stars. Despite that -- and perhaps it was the only feasible way to come to resolution -- I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with these characters, and following the bittersweet story of their coming of age, coming together, and in some cases, coming apart. It's sad that this is the end of Aaron Falk's story, but he's going out with the best story yet, having helped to solve two mysteries in this story.

Aaron Falk has returned to the Marralee Valey in Australia’s wine country to be godfather to his friend Greg Raco’s young son. The christening coincides with the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Kim Gillespie, Greg’s ex-wife and mother of his teenage daughter. Falk quickly becomes involved with Greg’s closeknit circle of friends in the small town and, although his police expertise is as a member of the Financial Intelligence Unit in Melbourne, is drawn into trying to understand why Kim would leave her husband Rohan and abandon her new baby at the local wine festival. Falk is attracted to Gemma, the festival director, and befriends her son Joel. Both are still grieving the hit and run death of her husband Dean. These two unsolved mysteries drive the plot of Exiles, the superlative thriller by Jane Harper.

As in her previous novels, Australia is the main character here. The wild wine country is lyrically described and makes the perfect backdrop for this story of small town secrets, loyalties and suspicion. Stephen Shanahan, with his heavy Australian accent, is the perfect reader to draw you deeper into the evocative Exiles. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Jane Harper for this audiobook.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away ~ Elvis Presley

Book Information

Exiles was written by Jane Harper. The book was released on January 31, 2023 and is 368 pages. The audio version is 12 hours and 29 minutes and is narrated by Stephen Shanahan. Harper has penned several bestsellers and won numerous awards including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year, and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advance reader copy for review prior to publishing.

Summary

A year ago, as the Marralee town festival is closing for the night, a baby sleeping in a stroller is discovered abandoned. The baby’s mother, Kim Gillespie, is nowhere to be found.

Fast forward to current day, Aaron Falk, a federal investigator, is headed back to Marralee for a christening. Kim is still missing, and Falk is drawn into the mystery of what happened to her.

Can Falk trust his own memories? His friend? Kim’s daughter? Kim’s husband? Her old boyfriend? Why would Kim abandon her child?

Even on vacation—Falk can’t ignore the questions and the hidden truths all around him.

What happened to Kim?

My Thoughts

Exiles was an intriguing book. Layered. It was my favorite kind of mystery---one where you actually have all the information necessary to solve it, but you very likely won’t until the main character pulls it all together for you.

The book is very heavy on dialogue and mostly told from the perspective of Aaron Falk. We see the things that he sees. Hear his thoughts. All of this helps us to understand his conclusions and, at least in my case, wonder why I didn’t get there sooner. While heavy on dialogue, Harper still does an excellent job vividly describing the settings—bringing the reader into the rural Australian town, vineyard, and town fair.

Exiles is layered. Stories build upon stories. Things that we think we understand may not be as clear-cut as we thought. Falk thinks over and over “We see what we expect to see” – and that is very true. The reality is we really only ever know our own reality. We can never know someone else full experience or life—only do our best to understand. Falk does exactly that. He is determined to get to the truth.

It's a great mystery, heavy on suspense with brilliant characters, a stunning setting, and engaging dialogue. If you like romance—there is even a bit of that. If you don’t—it's ok, it’s not too much.

I listened to the audiobook and Stephen Shanahan did a fantastic job bringing the story to life. I have to say that it was the first time I have listened to an audiobook narrated by an Australian. I serve on an international board at talk to several Australian friends monthly—but given my limited interactions, it was almost like listening to one of my friends read to me. It was somewhat fascinating to hear such similar mannerisms and colloquialisms in an audiobook. Something we obviously take for granted when we read or listen to books that are from our own culture or country. At any rate, it was a very well-done production.

Recommendation

If you like layered stories, mysteries, suspense, or books that will keep you guessing until the end—Exiles is a solid pick. Recommended.

Highly recommended.

Rating

4 Australian Vineyard Stars