This was my first experience with the author, Jane Harper. I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook of The Survivors. It kept you guessing as to the conclusion of the story and you were engaged with the characters in the story. It had me pondering that the negative things that people live through truly make them better people, not less than what they would have been if they had not lived the experience.

Slow to start, the excellent narration kept me coming back to listen. By the halfway mark I cared deeply for the character and the mystery grew. A very satisfying suspense novel.

This atmospheric mystery takes place in a small town on the coast of the island of Tasmania. The book has so many themes: family, loss, dementia, the power of nature, love, secrets, lies and guilt, and what all those mean in the context of a small town where most everyone knows everyone else. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Stephen Shanahan, had me spellbound, his accent bringing the location to life for me. Harper gradually revealed bits and pieces, linking a 12-year-old mystery to a new death, but I didn’t figure out the mystery. When it was revealed, it made sense, which is the mark of a good mystery. This was my first Jane Harper book and I look forward to catching up with her others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advance reader copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Jane Harper delivers again. The Survivors is moody and creepy in the best ways. I love Harper's sense of place and the way she weaves mystery in and through and around the cast of characters. I had a hard time figuring out what was happening until it happened, which made for a fun and exhilarating reading experience.

This was another atmospheric and slow burn mystery written by Harper, and I was captivated by the story right away. I enjoyed the mystery of the current murder and the past girls disappearance and how these events seem to bring out information about the other ones. The tension in this novel is perfect. I was left wondering who the murderer was the whole time, and I thought I was right, but wasn’t. There’s also a lot of complicated family dynamics in this book that I wish had been explored a little more. I also found it hard to follow the time jumps without an indicator and got lost a few times. However, this book was still well done, and I liked the weaving of all the characters throughout. It rang true to what a crime and disappearance will do to a small town.
The narrator was wonderful. He brought the story to life, and I could feel Kieran’s anguish through his performance.

LOVED this book!! The Survivors details a mystery with a hint of small town unraveling drama mixed in. The combination yields a juicy page turner I could not get enough of! I listened to this as an audiobook, and I could not recommend it enough. The narrator was wonderful and gave the story an extra layer of depth and anticipation of what was to come. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Like The Dry, the only other Jane Harper book I’ve read, The Survivors is about a contemporary murder that has its roots in the past. The author does a great job of slowly building a picture of life in a small, tight knit, not particularly affluent beach town in Tasmania and how a huge storm 12 years ago affected the people both then and now.

Kieran was 18 when the storm hit and feels responsible for the death of his older brother Finn and his best mate but we only gradually learn where the source of his guilt lies. On the same day, 14 year old Gabby Birch disappeared and has never been found. Now Kieran and his partner Mia and their new baby are back to help Kieran’s mum pack up the family home as her husband, suffering from dementia, is going into a nursing home and she is moving to be near him.

When a young woman is found dead on the beach, the investigating officers start dredging back through the past and its connections with the current murder. Over the course of the next few days, the townspeople use an online forum to accuse, expose, and speculate and the author does a terrific job of showing how this small town turns in on and against itself. Old stories about the day of the storm re-emerge and nobody is safe from unfounded accusations.

The pace of the novel is leisurely, but never dull, as the truth of the day of the storm is gradually unraveled and then challenged because it takes outsiders to see what really happened. The tensions between those who stayed and those who left Evelyn Bay are nicely drawn as Kieran reconnects with his two best friends. Most heartbreaking are the conversations and lack of conversations that Kieran has with his mother.

This is a satisfying mystery woven into a dissection of a small town. The audiobook is well done, with the Australian narrator giving a good feel of place.

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

The Survivors was 5 stars all the way! I became so entrenched in the characters, the setting... Jane Harper captured my attention completely with this story. It is beautifully written in a way that will keep you wanting to read (or in my case, listen, as I had the audiobook narrated wonderfully by Stephen Shanahan) about Kieran, his family, and friends in a small community. The community was impacted by a tragic accident years before that led to the loss of two young men and disappearance of a girl. Years later, Kieran has returned to help his mother pack and move herself and Kieran's dad, who is now suffering from dementia. A waitress is murdered, and the unanswered questions from the past surge back into the forefront. A powerful story with a mystery that will keep you guessing, while beautifully addressing topics like dementia, depression, and guilt.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for this honest review

I love Jane Harper's books. They are always the right level of mystery/suspense with drama. They are also generally atmospheric too since they are based in Australia.

The Survivors is a standalone novel about a small coastal town with a scarred past and an uncertain future when a body is found on the beach. There's a lot of intertwining the backstory of the characters with the current situation. At times it was a bit of a slow burn, but the buildup was necessary for how everything comes together in the end.

The audio was really well done and I would recommend it for fans of audiobooks.

My small gripe with it was there are so,so many characters that I kept getting confused while listening to it and had to slow down my speed.

3.5/5⭐️

Loved this audio book! I have read a couple other books by Jane Harper and have always enjoyed her storytelling, The Survivors was her best yet! Kieran Elliott and his girlfriend go back to their coastal hometown to help his mother pack up and move out of his childhood home. Kieran is still dealing with the death of his older brother twelve years ago and the guilt he feels about his part in the accident.

There is a murder of a young student who is working as a waitress for the season early on in the book. Her body is found on the beach and Kieran is very interested in knowing what happened and if it is connected to another young girl who went missing on the same beach the day his brother died. As Kieran is sucked in, so are we as the readers (or in my case, listener).

The book is beautifully written and and I felt that I really got to know all the characters; not only the Kieran but his father with Alzheimer's, his childhood friends, and the townspeople who all seem to know everybody else's business. I highly recommend this book!

“The Survivors” is the latest mystery by the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Jane Harper. And it’s my first read by the Australian-based author. Unfortunately, the slow-moving drama of the deaths of four people in a tiny Tasmanian town didn’t pique my interest.

Despite the myriad of four- and five-star reviews, I just couldn’t connect to Kieran Elliott, our narrator, who was called back to his tiny coastal town. He has a lot to deal with including a father with Alzheimer’s, a new daughter with his partner, and a mother who he cannot communicate with. He also has immense guilt for causing his brother’s death.

This may seem a bit heartless, but I also wasn’t invested in the mysterious death of a local young aspiring artist, Bronte. I feel like her character was not developed enough for me to care.

While I typically prefer audiobooks over the print copy, the narration by Stephen Shanahan didn’t do much for me. I very much appreciate his Australian accent, but found his voice on the audio a bit sleep-inducing. Overall, this just wasn’t for me, but I’m glad other readers enjoyed it much more.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio, via NetGalley, for this digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Survivors by Jane Harper was a gripping thriller. I’ve read several titles by this author and one of the things I like most is that she is able to bring a setting to life. Many of her stories are set in Australia or some other exotic location. I enjoy reading stories set in locations I have never been. This one is set in a small coastal community in New Zealand. Kieran Elliott and his long-term girlfriend and their new baby go home to help his parents prepare to move from the family home. Going home brings up memories of the past. Memories that have been the cause of Kieran’s survivor’s guilt for most of his adult life. He has always blamed himself for his brother’s death in a boating accident during a storm that happened late in his teenage years. His relationship with his parents has been strained ever since as well. The entire cast of characters is well written and the pacing of the book easily draws the reader into the mystery of what really happened last night so long ago. A new mystery has rocked the small community again and it dredges up old suspicions among the locals. The narrator did a wonderful job and I absolutely loved that they were a native to the area. Their accent made this story come alive while I was listening. Great choice!

"Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets in The Survivors, a thrilling mystery by New York Times bestselling author Jane Harper."

This novel of long buried secrets arisen from the grave with the discovery of murder on the beach is suspense at its best. While I struggled a little with the narrator at the start, it was well worth the effort and his accent really helped to place the reader in the story. The pacing is slow, but right for the story, as years of background and history unfold before you, like the tide on a clear day. I look forward to reading more by this powerhouse author.

I enjoyed this audio book by this author. A young art student is found dead on the beach and it stirs up the mysteries of the storm of many years ago, where a local girl went missing, two men died, and more. So many different stories going on and so many red herrings. I enjoyed not having any idea of who did it. Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

#ARC US publication: February 2, 2021

Eagerly anticipated getting my hands on this book having thouroughly enjoying her first three titles (The Dry, Force Of Nature, The Lost Man) two of which I didn't figure out the culprit. But this one was lackluster for me. Good but not great. Long winded in parts and didn't keep me as eagerly invested as her other titles.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ALC. – This is the best psychological thriller I’ve read in a while. The setting on a coastal town on the island of Tasmania, off the coast of Australia, gives it a unique setting. The story surrounds the survivors of a boating accident 12 years prior who are forced to remember events of the past when the body of a young girl is found. The story is well-paced with great characters. One of the things I most like about the books is that rather than making it a dual timeline, Harper wove the two stories together in a way that kept tension in the story until the final secrets were revealed at the conclusion. Harper is on top of her game with this one.

Release date is 2/2/2021.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

I really did not like this book. The audio had an australian man reading it ( it was difficult for me). The premise of the book sounded amazing. But I couldn't get into it and when it got "better" it was still dull. There was no suspense. Just very flat. Im sorry.

Jane Harper leaves Aaron Falk for this stand alone story about a murder that bring up a 12 year old mystery. I felt like I knew who the murderer was quite early in the book, and while that sometimes is a bother, it absolutely did nothing to prevent my enjoyment of this novel. Some misdirection kept me wondering if I was correct, and while I did figure it out, I enjoyed the ride. The narrator was great. I don't like when narrators give characters strange voices, and this narrator just read us the story in an exciting, but straightforward way.

The Survivors by Jane Harper is an excellent read. Listen to the audiobook narrated by Stephen Shanahan and you will fall in love with his voice! His narration brings so much warmth and color to this story.

Jane Harper has a way of luring us into the lives of others. As she paints their portraits we fall deeper until we come to know these people as our family, friends and neighbors. So happens in The Survivors. You feel the love, the caring, the suspicions and the fear.

A suspenseful story that pulls at the heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan for providing a free audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. First time reading Jane Harper, about whom I'd heard good things. This is definitely a better than average thriller; it reads more like a novel where someone happens to get murdered.

Kieran and his girlfriend Mia, and their new baby are visiting their hometown from Melbourne. 12 years before, the town suffered a compound tragedy: a terrible storm came up quickly on the shore, leading to an accident in which Kieran's brother Finn and his best friend both died, and it's (sort of) Kieran's fault. Separately, a young teenage girl, Gabby, disappeared that same day and was presumed to have drowned. In the current day, Kieran and Mia meet up with his old friends to catch up, only to become immediately embroiled in the murder of one of their roommates, drowned in the surf overnight.

Harper keeps ratcheting up the tension deftly, introducing more and more history and backstory of the large cast of characters: Kieran's dad, now suffering from early onset Alzheimer's, was the last to see Gabby before she apparently drowned. Finn's best friend left behind a son, Liam, who despises Kieran for his role in his father's death. Kieran's friend Ash sure seems upset that the famous author who bought his grandma's house is so intent on digging up the garden he so carefully planted, and that same author taught Gabby and Mia in a creative writing course earlier in the summer of the storm ...

Through it all, the steadfast statues of the Survivors stand in the bay, indicating the water's level and watching over Evelyn Bay and its secrets.

The book is nicely paced and plotted, and Stephen Shanahan does a great job narrating in a crisp and easy-to-understand Australian accent.