I’ve enjoyed each of Jane Harper’s previous three books. And this one wins four stars from me, too. She shows her versatility here, moving from the inland to a small Tasmanian beach town. But her ability to give us a true sense of place is the same.
Kieran has returned home with his young family to help his parents move. His father is suffering from early onset dementia. Kieran has been gone almost twelve years, since a bad decision on his part led to the death of his brother and friend during a violent storm. A young woman went missing in the same storm; her body was never found. Now, one day after his return, a young woman turns up dead on the beach.
There’s a great sense of underlying tension with this story. Everyone seems to have secrets and regrets. Harper totally gets small town life, where everyone knows everyone else’s business. And she adds a slice of modern day life, where an online forum opens up people’s suspicions, anger and vileness.
This isn’t a fast paced book, but it totally engaged me with its character studies and numerous possibilities as to who committed the crime. And I will say the ending took me totally by surprise.
A friend of mine swears by reading and listening to a book simultaneously. This is the first time I’ve done it. I found it a very enjoyable experience, allowing me to keep one story going. And this was a story I wanted to keep going.
I enjoyed the narrator, whose Australian accent was tv worthy. In other words, no problem for an American to understand. He doesn’t try to differentiate between the various voices or throw a lot of emotion into his voice. He’s a more straightforward, tell the story, kind of narrator.
My thanks to netgalley, Macmillan and Macmillan Audio for advance copies of this book.

This is the third audio version of Jane Harper's books that I have read. I love the combination of the intricate multi-layered stories coupled with the reading by Stephen Shanahan.

First the story: Each book by Harper takes me to a different place in Australia, this time to Tasmania. She does such a great job of immersing us in the environment that I feel like I have travelled there. I love the the geography is a character all on its own. In this story the cold and volatile ocean is a constant, dangerous presence. The intertwining of a new murder and a terrible storm from 12 years prior that had profound implications for the community was well done. There was plenty of doubt and suspicion woven through the storyline and the author did a great job of dismissing any guesses I had leading to a conclusion that was excellent.

Now the reader: Shanahan is Australian, which is perfect for the books all set there. This seems like such a simple obvious statement yet many audio books have readers that feel like they do not match the story they are reading. His voice modulation, speed, intonations make it easy to discern different characters without feeling forced. He reads with emotion that clearly matches the happenings in the book without overdoing it.

This is a smart, well written (and read) mystery. I look forward to Harper's next book highlighting other parts of Australia with interesting and real characters.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for an early version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jane Harper's novels as listened to in audio format are atmospheric and unhurried. Stephen Shanahan narrates as he did the last two audio books by Ms. Harper. There is a continuity to her stories though they are unconnected. The story flows well for the listener, if perhaps the tempo could be increased a bit. The descriptions of the beach and town are easily envisioned. And when listening to the narrator read out the confrontation between mother and son, it was done well enough that I cringed as an eavesdropper to an uncomfortable conversation.
The Survivors is a play on words for both the title referring to a monument built to memorialize a shipwreck and the townspeople who have survived tragedy. The story revolves around an ex-townie, Kieran Elliott, who has returned to Evelyn Bay along with his partner, Mia, and their baby girl. Kieran is there to help with his mother's move from the family's home due to his father's dementia to help simplify his caretaking. Kieran's return to his childhood home, brings grief, guilt and more tragedy when a body is found and memories of a long-ago storm that took the life of his brother, a friend, and a young missing teen are revived. Family dynamics are explored questioning long-held memories, anger, guilt, and forgiveness.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for an early audio copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

I’ll probably never get to visit Australia, but every time I read a book by Jane Harper I am instantly transported down under. With The Survivors, Harper delivers another terrific mystery that carefully builds to a dramatic conclusion. The protagonist Kieran, after a long absence, returns to his hometown to assist his parents with moving Dad to a memory care facility. With his father is suffering from rapid onset Alzheimer’s, Kieran tries to reconnect with his estranged mother and face his crushing guilt over the part he played in the death of his older brother during a horrific storm that claimed several lives. The murder of a young woman on the beach, recalls the death of another young girl, who also perished on the day of the storm and once again throws the small community into mourning.
Highly recommend

Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.
The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.
Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.
When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away...

A slow-burn, beautifully written with descriptions that made me feel that I was there. A story about loss, tragedy and guilt with a mix of mystery and great character development.

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for giving me a copy of this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

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Jane Harper did it again!!! Kieran’s story of death in a small town and the ripples that it causes was so well-done. Past and present were woven seamlessly.

The Survivors was as haunting as the statues in the book. The narrator was wonderful as well.

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator did a great job keeping me interested. However, there were many times that I just wanted to walk away. I found the plot to be extremely slow. There was to much back story and I was not fully invested in any character.

I listened to The Survivors on a 10.5-hour audiobook with much thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio. I have read and enjoyed Jane Harper's three previous books. Her books are always masterfully written with absorbing characters and a wonderful sense of place. The narrator's voice enhanced the atmospheric prose and transported me to the small coastal town of Evelyn Bay in Southern Tasmania. It is autumn, and it is mostly devoid of tourists. It seems a friendly place, but underneath it is a town of speculation, friction and rumours.

A drawback of the audio version was the introduction of so many characters early in the story. I found this confusing and had difficulty keeping up with the relationships, family ties, romantic attachments, resentments, friendships, nuances, and possible clues. Unlike a book in print, it was near impossible to go back to review and clarify these introductions, but everything fell in place later in the story. The early part of the story progressed at a slow pace but picked up further into the story. It moves between two timelines, the present and a torrential, destructive storm twelve years earlier. We feel the cold ocean water, the tides, the churning waves, the dark, moist caves, and the wind.

At the foot of a seaside cliff is a carved sculpture called The Survivors, standing in tribute to a shipwreck. The height of the incoming tide is judged by how deep these statues stand in the seawater.
One storm day they disappeared entirely under the churning water. That tragic day brought destruction to the town and death to two men on a boat that crashed on the rocks. On the same day, a 14-year-old girl disappeared without a trace. What happened to her remains a mystery.

Kieran and Mia return from Sydney with their baby to Evelyn Bay where they grew up. Kieran has been feeling overpowering guilt since the day of the storm and the townspeople blame him for the deaths on the boat heading to rescue him when the rising tide stranded him in a cave. It is a place he secretly went with a girl. People have never forgotten or recovered from the loss. Now he is back and is faced with what happened that day. He and Mia are there to help move his father into a nursing home for dementia. His memory is rapidly declining and he tends to wander. His mother intends to move to a house near the nursing home. One of the deaths on the boat was that of Kiera's brother, Finn, which left his parents shattered.

During Kiera and Mia's first day home, they notice on the beach a young woman photographing the landscape. She is a talented art student from Canberra who works as a temporary waitress at the Surf and Turf. The next morning she is found dead on the beach. Drowned or murdered? There seems to be some unlikely connection between the newly dead art student and the girl who vanished long ago during the storm. They never knew each other so could this be mere speculation?

Kiera is determined to find out what dark secrets are being covered up in the town. Is a murderer hiding within the village or among the friends of his youth? What really happened on the day of the storm? Who recently killed the art student? A police investigation is ongoing. They are faced with many twists and turns and revelations. This leads up to a frightening and dramatic conclusion.

This book was amazing! The narrator is Australian, so this intensifies the setting! I would highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for a fair review.
Jane HArper is back with another strong mystery/thriller. Set in Australia, we meet Kieran Elliot, who is battling his demons of a mistake in his youth that had terrible consequences. Now grown, the demons are back when a body appears on a beach. The story opens up the past like a blooming flower with a cast of characters struggling with their own demons and memories of the past.
Ms Harpers writing is very good...this to me was more of a slow burn, or a gradual whodunnit. It took me a while to latch on. Expectantly the narrator has an Australian accent which is part of the authenticity.
The story is well done, the cover beautiful, and characterization and writing is wonderful. I’m not sure this book in audio format was what I was hoping for. It took me a long time to latch onto it.
I would recommend the book, in print form, to patrons.
4* for the book.

I made it to 62% and just wasn’t getting on with it. It was a slow start and while it did pick up I just felt bored—I usually get on with crimes stories that flash back and have connections with old cases, but this perhaps just unfurled at too slow a pace for me right now. (Please ignore star rating as I did not finish)

For a mystery and thriller I did not find many parts of this book mysterious or thrilling. It felt to me like everything was laid out from the beginning, and then hinted at the rest of the book. I wanted to have more curiosity in what the crime was that haunted our main character, but instead I just felt like I wasn't caring.

The writing wasn't bad, but the narrator delivered the lines in such a monotone way that I caught myself zoning out and not relating to the characters. Maybe the narrator is even why I felt like the book wasn't thrilling? I cannot say for sure, but I do know that I am not a fan of who was selected.

I think if you are a reader who liked crime mysterious and the ocean, this could be a really good book for you.

With thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this digital copy, all opinions expressed here are my own.

The Survivors is the first book I have read by Jane Harper, but certainly won’t be the last. The story was well written intermingling past events with current events until the end revealed what had actually happened to each of the people. With relatable characters and a firmly woven storyline this is a highly recommended read.

The narrator did well, though as an Australian I’m ashamed to say (after listening to so many audiobooks) when I listen to a fellow Australian they sound like they have an accent!

Overall an enjoyable read and a solid 4 stars.

The Survivors was my first encounter with a novel by Jane Harper although I have several of her books in my TBR pile. I only regret that it took this long to spend some time with this excellent author.

The Survivors is a bit of a slow burn of a book. It is set on Tasmania in a small community that is heavily impacted by the sea around it. The location with its small town, the beach, the caves and more is brought to vivid life. (Interestingly, I read that the author often thinks of place as one of the first things when she embarks on a novel).

There are many characters and they have numerous interconnections. Some are alive and some, who are no longer living, are those who were important to the novel’s characters in the past. Past tragedies, mysteries and disappearances all have their parts to play. There is also a murder in the present.

A sculpture called The Survivors was commissioned after a disaster at sea. But…there are other survivors as well. So, think about the title as you read.

This is a complex, rich novel and one that I highly recommend. I listened to it and the narrations was very good. The male reader had the Australian accent that perfectly matched the story that he was reading.

Whether in book or audio format, I recommend this one highly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

First, let me say the narrator is decent and does a good job with too thick of an accent that this American was able to understand her perfectly ;)

The story is decent, the writing vivid and the narrator brings that to life, I feel and smells of the ocean etc are easy to imagine as you listen.

The downside for me is I was expecting more of a thriller and while this has mysteries to be solved, it really drug on quite a bit. With a lot of characters that are difficult to distinguish between at times, I can see where the written book would be easier for parts than the audio book. It's a decent story, a little too long (gasp! can't believe i said that)

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Survivors felt like it was jam-packed with so many mysteries. In it, you will meet Kieran and his girlfriend Mia. From the very beginning, you are wondering what happened in the past that changed Kieran's life. Once we learn about the tragic accident that took the life to three people, one of which was his brother, we start to realize why.

Kieran has definitely fought with his inner demons trying to grieve about this whole situation. Even to this day. He thought he was doing pretty well until he saw how his parents were dealing with it still. So he decided to meet up with some old friends but the memories and demons come rushing back at full force.

Honestly, this book had so many freaking twists and turns throughout it. My head was starting to hurt with each new one because it usually meant that another person was going to die. Definitely made this book super interesting until the very last page.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. I love anything Jane Harper writes! Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Buried secrets surface in this tragic mystery set in Evelyn Bay, a small coastal town. The survivor of a tragedy from the past is forced to face his demons and come to terms with his troubled life.

ARC/Netgalley

Jane Harper is one of my favorite current mystery authors. I have a weird mystery genre reading criteria where I only really like them if they’re set outside America and have good accents. So all of Harper’s novels being set in different parts of Australia works perfectly for me. A stand alone story set in a small beach town in Tasmania, The Survivors is the perfect whodunnit to cozy up with on a cloudy day. Murders from the past and present collide and drag everyone’s secrets back into the open.

Jane Harper's stories are always such a treat. I have listened to all of her books and the Survivors did not disappoint. The Narration was on point and a treat for your listening ears. I loved this story. The character development and the storyline were perfection and you slowly learned what was happening and going on. Jane Harper has such a talent for telling a story that you find yourself immersed in. You see the surroundings she describes and you find that you know these characters once the story is done. A great read. Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillion Audio for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.