Whilst enjoying this, and particularly the Australian setting, I didn't feel that this matched The Dry, Jane Harper's previous novel. There were just too many back stories, and many of the characters were unsympathetic. Mostly the narrative raced along, but at times it did feel a little laboured.
However it is a strong thriller, and I do especially like thrillers with a strong sense of place, which this certainly has. It's certainly worth a read.

A really well written and gripping thriller, some great subplots which twist through and add depth and possibility to the main plot.
Beautiful descriptions of the outback scenery makes for a unnerving and sinister backdrop.
I'd definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys an engrossing thriller.

Aaron Falk is fast becoming my favourite policeman. ‘Force of Nature’ is a mix of ‘Lord of the Flies’ and the best crime and thriller stories. I loved it; food has been served late, washing left in the machine, the drive home from work can’t go quick enough – I really enjoyed this book.

Falk and his partner, Carmen, are investigating money laundering. Their contact, Alice, disappears whilst on a corporate team building event. The five women get lost in the rain sodden bush and their relationship becomes more fraught as they run out of food and water. The descriptions of the wet, Australian winter and the scary, endless bush bring alive the hopelessness felt by the women when they realised that not only were they lost but they had no way of contacting help.

Only four of the women are found. Has Alice wandered off and got lost? Has she murdered by a serial killer or his son? Has something happened between the women?

Great read – I can’t wait to rave about it and get other people to read it so I can talk about it without spoiling the story!

It was always going to be a hard act to follow. Jane Harper’s debut novel The Dry was a spectacular piece of literary fiction and sadly she just doesn’t match it in this her second attempt. In this one, a group of colleagues set out into the Australian bush on a corporate team-building exercise. Something goes wrong and one of the women goes missing. Aaron Falk, the sympathetic detective from The Dry turns up again and we discover he has his own particular reasons for finding the missing woman as soon as possible. As the novel progresses the characters’ back stories are gradually revealed, and one of the problems lies right there. They all have back-stories, of varying degrees of relevance to the main narrative, and there are just too many to hold the reader’s interest. What are the chances that every one of these colleagues has secrets to hide? Problems that are dogging their daily lives? And then there are the holes in the plot. Would any business send out a group of untrained women into the wilderness with no safety measures? No way to contact anyone in the case of an emergency? No, it just doesn’t all add up – an editor should have gone in and pruned. That said, Jane Harper certainly knows how to write, and in spite of my reservations I quite enjoyed the book. But I suspect publication was rushed to cash in on the success of The Dry and unfortunately, for me at least, that strategy has backfired. Not sure if I would now try another in what is apparently to be a series featuring Aaron Falk.

Wow, this was stunningly boring. Sketched out characters, no plot, dull dialogue – an intriguing premise but there’s no way I’m slogging through 300 pages of tedious writing to find out whodunit. Can’t believe this author’s last book was so acclaimed – must’ve been the polar opposite of the turd that is Force of Nature!

Another excellent read from this author (‘The Dry’ being one of the best crime novels I read last year). In ‘The Dry’, the weather was like another character throughout the book; in ‘The Force of Nature’ it’s the setting which is threatening throughout. On a team-bonding weekend, five employees set out and only four return. The characterisation is good – although as the story progresses, the missing employee is shown in an increasingly unsympathetic light – she would definitely be difficult for most to warm to. My only slight issue with the storyline was the behaviour of one of the characters towards the end – trying to avoid a plot spoiler, I couldn’t quite understand why she behaved as she did. Having said that, the novel is very cleverly constructed – in that over-used phrase, it really does have a plot twist you won’t see coming. Jane Harper is an extremely good writer – in a class of her own.

Another terrific read from a very talented writer. The characters are exceedingly well written and you get a strong sense of place from the descriptive and beautiful details of the area. I really enjoyed the subtle feeling of menace and fear injected into the narrative.
A team building exercise goes terribly wrong and five women have to pit themselves against a harsh, forbidding environment at the same time as contending with the petty jealousies and rivalries that are part of a fast paced corporate working environment.
Reminiscent of Picnic at Hanging Rock with shades of Lord of The Flies, intelligent crime writing at its best.

Has spurred me on toread her first, The Dry. Whilst I enjoyed this, none of the missing women I liked, and the historical serial-killer thread, was unnecessary...

I’d really enjoyed Harper’s debut novel The Dry which introduced us to Federal Agent Aaron Falk and explored a mystery from his past, amid the worst drought in a century in a small Australian town. It was tense and atmospheric and I loved the Aussie setting and the brash characters – a refreshing change from my normal diet of American crime fiction. So I was delighted to get my hands on this follow-up book, but would it suffer the curse of many second novels? Nah, not a bit of it!

A group of six women set off into the Australian bush on a corporate team building event. They will hike to their overnight stops where stores of food will be awaiting them. It’s a family firm and the daughter of the company founder is leading this group. At the same time her brother is leading a separate group of male colleagues on a different route. The problem is that on the second day the female group manage to get themselves lost! The backdrop here is that Aaron and his female work partner, Carmen, are investigating the company for potential money laundering activity and one of the women lost in the bush is their mole. Aaron has received a voicemail message from his insider, Alice, (left in the early hours of the morning) but the signal was so bad he can only make out two words – and they’re not exactly comforting. Aaron is also under pressure from his bosses to deliver up potentially incriminating documents and he’s totally reliant on Alice for this.

The story is then picked up in alternating chapters: we continue to follow Aaron and Carmen as they make their way out to the trekking area and what has now become a search for the women but we also now flip back in time, slightly, to track the party as they set out on their trek. This structure works really well in terms of eking out the story at a pace that builds and then maintains tension whilst slowly letting events unfold. As we learn more about the six women it becomes clear that there are anxieties and rivalries aplenty. Eventually the group is found, but one member is missing – yes, Aaron’s mole.

The five returning women are questioned but Aaron learns precious little about the disappearance of Alice. It’s going to be a while before the account of the trek party itself catches up to the point of her disappearance and so it becomes harder and harder to predict how events will play out.

It’s a brilliantly told tale that had me hooked from first to last and I’m delighted to say that the ending was (for me) as satisfactory as the rest of the story. If I have an issue at all with this book it’s that Aaron himself remains a bit of an enigma. We know of his family history and we therefore have an awareness of what has helped shape him, but we know pretty much nothing else. His flat is sparsely decorated and his enthusiasm for any pastime other than reading seems absent. Who is this man? This, of course, might just offer up more opportunity for Harper to put some flesh on the bone in book 3. I hope so, but either way I’ll be at the front of the queue when that one comes out.

A corporate "bonding" event goes horribly wrong in the Australian Outback, linked into an ongoing investigation regarding money laundering. I have never read anything by this author before and the style is light and engaging, the characterisation was good, I particularly enjoyed the relationship between the twins although I confess that the inclusion of Beth in the party, whilst explained, will never really happen ! Unlike some other reviewers I enjoyed the two timelines and as it all unravelled everything became clear. Owes more than a little to Lord of the Flies in terms of just how quickly we can be stripped of our normal behaviours once away from the confines of society, it is a good reminder of how tenuous the grip on civilisation actually is.

I will read the next book and would recommend this one to any reader of the genre. Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All views are my own.

This is a worthy successor to The Dry. Much of its attraction depends on the rawness of the Australian outback which is matched by the rawness of the story. It has the unexpected ending we expect from Harper but the descriptions of people and their relationships are absorbing. A good book for a journey because you'll not want to put it down. What next?

I was really excited to get back into Aaron Falk’s world and this book truly did not disappoint. I was drawn in immediately, it was so atmospheric and I could vividly picture everything that the author described. I think any woman who’s gone through high school will be able to identify with what can sometimes happen when a group of girls are thrown together for an extended period of time. Drawing on my own experiences made this book and even more immersive experience. I thought I guessed the ending but it really was no where near what I thought! A brilliant book that I stayed up past midnight to finish!

Having recently raced through ‘the Dry’, Jane Harper’s previous book, i was delighted to find that Forces of Nature was just as enjoyable. The setting of the bush is vividly brought to life, the characters are quickly delineated and the plot is exciting and a real page-turner.
The approach of alternating chapters between the investigators in the present and the events leading up to the disappearance is excellent at maintaining and building tension, and the parallels to historical murder / disappearances in the outback are well drawn.

I’m looking forward to the next book already...

I was hooked from the very first chapter. Two groups of company employees are sent on an outdoor adventure course in the Australian bush but one of the team doesnt come back.....what has happened? Has she got lost? There are echoes of the work of a local serial killer so is her disappearance linked to this or is it something closer to home? Fabulous, edge of your seat thriller. I stayed up far too late to finish this. Thank you to the fabulous Marian Keyes for recommending it in the U.K.

I enjoyed The Dry and the second Falk thriller didn’t disappoint. It is refreshing to read a murder story set in Australia and the plot was unusual as well. There were enough red herrings to keep me guessing until the end and I’m looking forward to more Jane Harper novels featuring Detective Falk.

I was delighted to receive this book, but, sadly, was disappointed. I found the two timelines quite distracting and confusing and by the time I reached the rather flat ending I didn't feel I knew the characters much better than at the beginning. It felt that maybe this was the difficult second book after the phenomenal success of "The Dry" and I have every confidence Ms Harper will return to form in any future books.

I had read the author’s first book ‘The Dry’ last year and thought it was an amazing book for Jane Harper’s debut novel and was not surprised it won so many awards. I believe that ‘Force of Nature’ will also be similarly be lauded and win as many awards as an outstanding novel.
It is a compelling read and again features Falk and Carmen who were the police officers featured in The Dry, who work well together as a team. It begins with a group of work colleagues going on an adventure bonding trip, which ends in the death of one of them.
Highly recommended.

Force Of Nature by Jane Harper is the second book in a series featuring Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk, yes it can be read as a standalone but if like me you prefer to start a series at the beginning I would highly recommend you read The Dry first. From the start this book has such a different feel to it, we leave the blistering heat and claustrophobic setting of a small town in the outback and move to the cold, wet and hostile environment of the remote Giralang Range. The author has a flair for describing her settings in great detail, so much so that you feel you are there amid the harsh terrain, the howling winds and the torrential rain, the sense of isolation the author evokes is palatable from the start.

Can you imagine trekking through the wilderness with your work colleagues? Putting all your trust in them? Reliant on each other to survive? All in the name of “team building” well that's pretty much the premise for this book.
Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen are called to the Giralang Range, when Alice one of the team members goes missing. Force Of Nature is told in alternating timelines, you have chapters that take the reader back in time to follow the women on their hike, and then you have chapters featuring Aaron and Carmen in the present assisting the search and slowly revealing the details of Alice's disappearance.

Force Of Nature reminds me very much of the traditional “whodunnit”, where the focus is more on the characters and guessing whose behind the skullduggery, rather than the fast paced, gruesome crime thrillers most of us are use to reading. Jane Harper focuses her time on building on the tension and suspense, which some readers may find off putting, but personally I enjoyed the more sedate pace. As Jane Harper reveals more details of the five women I found myself scrutinising everyone of them with suspicion. The author very realistically portrays the woman's behaviour and emotions set against the backdrop of an isolated environment where their instinct to survive far outweighs their allegiance to their work colleagues. Force Of Nature is a complex tale that explores themes such as grudges, bullying and family ties, it's a book I would recommend to those who enjoy a more sedate read, but doesn't skimp on the intrigue and suspense to keep the reader captivated.

I enjoyed her first book The Dry, and I enjoyed this book too.I did take some time to get to grips with all the characters there were a few, but I loved the idea behind the story, and of course there were other subplots going on as well.I like this writers style very easy to read and flows well.This book kept my interest and kept me guessing and I enjoyed reading it.Thanks to the Publishers and Netgalley for an ARC.

This is the second book by this author. And again the author has produced an excellent book, showcasing a completely different area of Australia.
A gripping thriller that jumps between the investigation and the events as they unfolded. With an great twist right at the end showing how quickly things can go wrong.
Would highly recommend this book.
5 stars