I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review, thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and the author, Jane Harper.
I really enjoyed this gripping, unsettling thriller from Jane Harper, and didn't feel like I missed any crucial details having not read her first novel in the series 'The Dry', although I gather that by reading them in order, you get a bit of a clearer picture of the main character's history.
The tension, paranoia, and distrust that Harper cleverly portrays in the women lost in the Australian bushland is almost palpable, and despite there being no gory denouement, the ending and resolution is still shocking and thrilling.
A solid detective story, and a satisfying read. Although I don't feel like I can give it more than three stars as it did not leave me with any profound feeling or lasting impression.

This was a fantastic—and chilling—mystery novel, but I didn't find the twist quite as shocking as The Dry, and there were a couple of loose threads left hanging. Despite that, I'll be reading Harper's next title as soon as it's out. She doesn't re-invent the wheel when it comes to crime novels, but her plots are so cleverly done, with pin-sharp prose and unrelenting pace.

For some reason I find the idea of being lost in the wilderness particularly terrifying—a combination of reading Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon at a formative age and growing up in a nice safe city with people around always rather than the anything-can-happen countryside—and in Force of Nature it was incredibly well done, the tension racking up as they strayed further and further off track. (I read The River at Night a few years ago, which is based on a similar idea, and that started well but then got very silly.)

And, to be fair, the conclusion was extremely chilling, but [the fact it was one of the four other women who killed Alice and not for a particularly suprising motive was a little bit disappointing. The bait-and-switch, misdirection was just done so cleverly in The Dry, and I was very confident Force of Nature was heading the same way. But the murder scene, and Bree's discovery of the body, were so well-written and chilling, especially with Lauren not even being sure that Alice was dead. I'm recoiling inwardly now, just thinking of it. (hide spoiler)]

Now I'm writing this maybe three stars is too low. Let's say 3.5, because The Dry is definitely a 4.

Having read, loved and recommended Harper's first novel 'The Dry' to all and sundry I was anxious that her second novel would live up to it - I needn't have worried. 'Force of nature' is every bit as compelling and readable as 'The dry' with the added creepiness of an Australian bush setting and historic murder site to boot. As a detective Falk is likeable as ever, although I did find the semi- romantic relationship with his colleague Carmen unconvincing and half-hearted. However, this did not detract from the overall plot and I was gripped until the very last page. Excellent.

3.5 stars
This was a quick and interesting read. Great atmosphere, intriguing plot, realistic (although not particularly likeable) characters and engaging writing style. I didn't enjoy this as much as The Dry but will definitely read more books by Jane Harper.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This is an enjoyable thriller with a satisfying ending. I must admit I didn't really recognise Aaron Falk from The Dry but he and his partner Carmen make a good duo and its a nice twist for them to be investigating financial crimes and be drawn into a missing person hunt. As in The Dry, I love the Australian outback setting which gives a great different feel to the story. All the characters are really well drawn and I enjoyed the development of character of Falk. A great read as a stand=alone novel but even better as a further story in a series. Bring on the next one.

Jane Harper’s first novel, The Dry, was widely acclaimed, but unfortunately I haven’t yet read it, so Force of Nature is my first exposure to her work. Having heard great things about the previous book I expected it to be good, and it was.

Five women from the BaileyTennant accountancy firm set off, reluctantly, on a corporate “Executive Adventures” outward bound type hike through the Australian bush. None of them really want to be there. Jill, one of the owners of the company, has to show willing. Lauren and Alice, senior members of staff, both have problems at home and would rather not be attending. Then there’s the twins, Breanna - ambitious and keen, deeply conflicted about her relationship with her troubled sister - and Bethany, who’s really, really trying to get her life back together after some very difficult times - and rebuild her relationship with Bree.

Five women set off, but only four will return.

What has happened to Alice?

The plot follows two strands: one following the group of women as they take a wrong turn and battle both hostile conditions and, increasingly, each other. The second, commencing when the four women return, follows Aaron Falk - a federal agent with the financial crimes unit - and his colleague Carmen. They really need Alice - who’s a key informant in an ongoing investigation (if not actually very nice a person).

Meanwhile, the historic crimes of a serial killer cast a long shadow.

Force of Nature is a very well constructed and engrossing story which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The plot is tense and unpredictable but the story really shines in the depiction of both the characters and the terrain. I’m going to seek out Jane Harper’s first book now and look forward to reading it - and her future work.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

I felt I really got to know e characters in this book. Just wish I'd read The Dry before starting on this one. I will certainly be looking out for any future books by this author.

Having enjoyed The Dry I was hoping that this would be just as good. Whilst I did enjoy it, I also found it slightly confusing trying to remember the stories of the different characters (and there was only 5!). I also was a bit disappointed with the ending as I was hoping for a bigger ‘twist ‘ similar to The Dry.
Maybe it’s just me?

I loved The Dry and once again Jane Harper has given us a top notch mystery to unravel. Fantastic suspense, twists and well crafted characters, I devoured this and cannot wait to meet Aaron Falk again.

Rejected after 15% finished. Very irritating, stupid book.

Prose is good. All the characters speak with the same voice. None of them are sympathetic or particularly interesting. The detective is generic and dull.

But... Crazy idiotic story. Fantasy. No way these people are remotely ready for a hike like this. Completely absurd. Only one map? Twisted ankles, broken bones, falls? No emergency vehicle, flares, radio or phone? No progress checks? Bull shite.

The adventure company should be prosecuted for criminal negligence, at least.

I hate this stupid book already.

At least The Dry was plausible if dull and repetitive.

Five women take part in a teambuilding exercise in the remote Australian bush. They have a route to follow, campsites set up and a meeting point three days later but when they arrive, late, only four of them are there. What has happened to Alice? Aaron Falk is drafted in from the financial investigations unit as Alice was a mole in the organisation and there is an investigation of underhand dealings. However each of the women has an issue with the others and no-one seems to be telling the truth. Add into the mix the fact that the area was the haunt of a notorious serial killer and there are many reasons why Alice has disappeared.

Jane Harper burst onto the scene with her novel 'The Dry' which gave a hugely different perspective on the detective genre with its examination of small town mores and prejudices. With this novel she has proved that was not a one-off. Force of Nature is wonderfully plotted with twists and turns aplenty, it is only towards the very end that the truth comes out. The writing is tight and spare, the characters fleshed out just enough to make the reader want to know more but not so much that everything is obvious, Bree and Beth are particularly well-created. Harper is developing into an astonishingly good writer.

Having recently enjoyed "The Dry", I was excited to get approved for this one. We make a return trip to spend time with Aaron Falk, and are thrown straight in at the deep end in rural Australia, when a corporate away day take a turn for the worse.

Loved the premise - the office politics taken away into a different setting, cracks starting to show in the masks some of them wear around the office, rivalries playing out in a difficult and possibly dangerous setting. Falk is an easy pair of shoes to slip back on, with shadows of previous events still following him from "The Dry".

Overall a very good follow up, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, is this book as fabulous The Dry? Definitely! Honestly, I found this book to be perhaps even better. There is just something tantalizing thrilling about this story, to follow the investigation led by Aaron Falk as he probes the remaining four women's stories while they search for the missing woman. Interwoven with Falk's story are the women's stories from day one when they are off to hiking as a team-building exercise. Only the five women are hardly friends, and there is tension from start.

Force of Nature is a thrilling page-turner. As always with thrillers is it hard to write a review since the less you know is the best. However, I will say this that both storylines are equally good. You know that something bad will happen during the hike since it's already been established in the beginning of the book that one of the women, Alice, is missing. But, why and where is she? What happened during the hike? What are the women hiding? You can really feel the tension rising among the women as the story progresses and you definitely feel that they are hiding something as Falk interrogates them.

Jane Harper is a fantastic writer and I'm thrilled to have given a chance to read this book. One thing I especially like is the setting of Australia. It's so refreshing to read books set down under. I can't wait to find out what's next for Aaron Falk. This is a series that keep on getting stronger and I'm really looking forward to the next book!

I enjoyed The Dry so I was looking forward to reading this, the second in Jane Harper's series of books featuring Aaron Falk. Although I didn't think it was quite as good as the first book I still enjoyed it immensely. Five women enter the Australian bush on a teambuilding exercise, only four come back out - so what happened to Alice? Aaron Falk becomes involved in the search because Alice was helping him in a financial investigation, acting as a mole within her company to uncover irregular practices. It is a role that may have put her into danger, and Aaron feels that he may have been in some way responsible for her disappearance. As the search continues, and we discover more about what happened during the women's time in the bush, will Alice be found alive? This was well plotted with a satisfying conclusion, and I am becoming quite fond of Falk who is an engaging character. I look forward to reading his next adventure!

I was gripped from start to finish with this thriller. The pace is just right; Harper knows both how to build suspense and to keep it believable so that the reader is kept on edge throughout. The fact that the denouement was understated rather than melodramatic also added to the experience. I’d highly recommend this book to any crime/thriller fan.

This is how you do modern crime without the vicious twist. Harper plots like an Agatha, lures you in with the vivid imagery of the location and keeps you dangling on a string for the solution. It’s well-plotted, has a steady pace and the solution isn’t predictable.

Although Aaron Falk is the lead detective and main character Harper doesn’t let him overpower the plot, which is a good thing. Sometimes the personal problems and attitude of a main character can completely consume an intelligent and captivating plot.

Five women go on a hike into the Australian bush, but only four come back out. What seems like an innocent exercise in team-building becomes a battle to survive the elements, and not to knock the living daylights out of each other.

Team-building is neither here nor there when you can’t stand the people you are supposed to work together with as a team. So when difficulties arise you are more likely to turn on each other instead of helping each other to achieve a common goal.

Alice isn’t really very popular with her colleagues. She looks out for herself in life and her career. She is the grown-up version of a mean girl. There are plenty of reasons to dislike Alice in general, there are plenty of reasons for the other four women to dislike Alice, so when they come back and she doesn’t the suspicion falls on all of them equally.

Harper is adept at giving the reader the sense of being right there in the bush with those women. Every tree looks the same, every path looks like the one before, and it is easy to feel as if you’re being swallowed alive by nature. This is an excellent example of how dangerous the Australian bush is, despite civilisation only being a spit away in this case.

The author writes a captivating read, and it certainly keeps the reader riveted until the end.

This book is set six months after The Dry, and could well be called The Wet because it is set in winter and the weather is very cold and wet.
A group of women have gone on a team building exercise in the Giralong ranges, where, many years before, some girls had been murdered, and get lost. When they finally return, one of their number is missing.
The missing woman, Alice, just happens to be helping the Melbourne police, and so Nathan Falk, and his partner Carmen become involved.

There is obviously more to the story that the returning women tell, and the narrative unfolds in alternate chapters detailing the investigation, and the story of the womens’ misadventures.

As the conflicts between the women become clear, the question is posed “what would you do to protect your child”, and the relationships between parents and children, and siblings are examined. The discovery of what happened to Alice, when it finally comes, is not straightforward, and causes more questions.

Nathan’s relationship with his father, and his colleagues becomes clearer, and he becomes a more rounded character.

I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more about Nathan Falk.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the opportunity to read this book.

It was one of those 'team building' exercises. A mixed group of people from a finance company- none of them wanting to be there- set off on a trek through the Giralang Ranges . Split into two groups, five men & five women set off. The men reached their destination. Much later a battered straggling group of women emerge, but there are only four of them.

Adam Falk & his partner have been investigating this finance company and Alice,the missing woman, is the one who had agreed to uncover dodgy dealings. Did her disappearance have anything to do with that or is it just a coincidence? What really happened out there in an area already haunted by memories of a serial killer twenty years ago?

As the story followed the women on their disastrous trek I was totally swept along. The author really transports you to that dark eucalyptus forest. None of the women were particularly likeable but Alice was one you could really dislike very quickly!

The search continues and Adam & Carmen continue to try and solve the mystery of these characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It kept me guessing throughout. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for a great read!

I absolutely loved Harper’s first outing, The Dry, with intrepid financial fraud investigator Aaron Falk, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of her next title Force of Nature from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Let’s start with a little personal anecdote. Back in my younger days, I went on an outdoor adventure camping trip which involved a three day hiking expedition into remote back country. Somehow I ended up being in charge of the map reading one day and we got lost. Finding our way out again wasn’t quite as dramatic as the turn of events described in Jane Harper’s novel Force of Nature but I can say from experience that I know from how a simple plan can go so horribly wrong quite quickly when you’re in the outdoors.

Like the Dry, Harper utilises the features of the harsh and unforgiving Australian landscape as a foil for her story telling. I did find certain aspects just slightly contrived though. A team building exercise takes place over the weekend with a group of work colleagues, many of whom don’t exactly get on. They just so happen to be conducting this expedition in the territory once frequented by a notorious, now deceased, serial killer? I felt this added an unnecessary measure of drama. This was fast paced read- I looked up to find I was already 20% of the way in- but if it bogs down at all, it’s around the point where the serial killer stuff is most fully introduced. The other issue I had is that the narrative jumps about from person to person and some of the characters felt more believable than others to me- but there was also a huge element of unreliability to their tales. At times this made things a little hard to follow, particularly as two of the characters are sisters with similar names.

Despite these minor flaws, I really enjoyed the story. Falk is an engaging character and Harper manages to make him relatable without becoming a cliché. I actually found him more compelling in this book than in the Dry. There are some fun twists and turns in the tale and you don’t know for a big chunk of it if it’s a missing person case or if it will turn into a murder mystery. For the most part I was hooked right the way through. There are some interesting clues but I didn’t quite guess the ending so it was exciting right up until the end. All in all, a great read which I will definitely be recommending.

I was so pleased to be able to review this book after buying her first novel The Dry and loving that book a lot ... and this book did not disappoint ... was a page turner from start to finish and i could not put it down looking forward to the next book found myself a new author I love