This ran on 1/31/23

At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her stroller, her mother vanishing into the crowds.A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.

Dabney and Maggie read Jane Harper’s Exiles, then (virtually) got together to discuss the novel. and are here to share their thoughts.

Maggie: This is the third of the Aaron Falk novels, and while I would argue that you don’t need to read the first two books to enjoy Exiles, I would certainly encourage readers to do so. I feel that Aaron has changed since the events of The Dry and I enjoyed seeing that and knowing the cause for his growth. Would you agree with that assessment?

Dabney: Look, I love Aaron Falk and I think Harper is a gifted novelist. AND it made me crazy that whole pieces of this book assume you recall what happened to Aaron and his co-worker Raco in The Dry. The Dry was published SIX YEARS AGO. I struggle to remember what I did last week! I loved this book, I really did, but I found it frustrating that Harper writes as though knowledge of Aaron’s past was assumed.

Maggie: Fair enough. I *cheated* by watching the movie with Eric Bana a couple of years ago, so I felt comfortably familiar with everything, but I’m glad you’re able to advise readers they might need to read the first volumes to keep up. Anyway….

One of the things that I love about Harper as a writer is that there are no big ‘evils’ in her stories. Bad things happen but it’s not due to flaming psychosis or super villains but flawed people making bad choices. She delivers a clear mystery – a puzzle to be solved and a smart, capable person to do that, which certainly happens here. What are your thoughts on how she handles suspense?

Dabney: Labels are interesting – I tend to use them very specifically. I’d say that Harper writes psychological mysteries. She builds tension in her books by beginning with a crime – here, a woman’s presumed death a year ago – and then, slowly, through conversations, shows what really happened. Her books aren’t scary or gory – they’re the reading version of a slow motion crash you can’t look away from.

Her villains and her heroes – and this book has more than one of each – are regular people whose actions are believable and rather low key. And, as you say, really no one is evil – although the person responsible for Kim’s death did an excellent job of hiding their true personality.

Were you surprised at the story’s resolution?

Maggie: Yes and no. Certainly, in the first few chapters I would not have suspected the perpetrator, but as the story went on, I began to feel uncomfortable with the information we were getting about Kim. I’d say that by the 50% mark this person was pinging my radar and by the 75% mark I was fairly confident they had something to do with what happened. I appreciated how Ms. Harper used the onion approach to her revelation – at the start, the little things that bothered me were easily explained but with each additional layer those small issues became more problematic. I also felt like it mirrored beautifully how this problem – and the people who cause it – hide in plain sight in real life.

Something I loved here was the opposite of what would be considered healthy in reality, and that is how Joel and Zara continue to fight for justice long after the people around them are embracing acceptance and resignation. I thought both these characters were marvelous – a bit too perfect for teenagers but otherwise really enjoyable. All of the secondary characters are likable (they are meant to be) but along with Gemma, these are my favorites. What did you think of those three?

Dabney: I was sure I’d identified the baddie at the beginning and then lost that conviction for much of the novel. I love that about this book – Harper uses those small revelations to constantly change our sense of what happens. This book, to me, is really about how tight communities often create a shared reality which can prevent them from seeing, you know, actual reality. A shared world view is a joy – we all gravitate towards being known and understood – and its to Harper’s credit that even at the book’s end, you understand – and don’t judge – why Kim’s friends and family saw things the way they did.

I too loved Joel, his mom Gemma, and Zara, Kim’s daughter. Their characters play beautifully with Aaron’s – he is a hero who listens intently to what others say, and their views are key to making sense of the story. They also made Aaron more human – his past and present with Gemma are very well done and give the novel a sexy sweetness that worked for me. Did that part of the book work for you?

Maggie: I thoroughly liked Gemma and the romance she has with Aaron. Even though some dark things happened to her, she seemed to live in the light – to just enjoy all the good around her and stay focused on that. And I loved her down-to-earth nature – her ‘practical’ romance and her sound advice about making life choices. I also thought the author did a nice job of balancing making this an Aaron Falk novel – showing us his character growth, letting us see him fit into a community of friends (something he was essentially incapable of in The Dry), watching him fall in love – while still delivering her trademark low-key but riveting mystery. I didn’t lock all the doors after reading this – I felt no sense of menace, and until the very end we see no one killed on page – but I was still fascinated by the questions of what happened to Kim and Dean and the bigger question of if there is really anything sinister going on or if I was just looking at two of life’s inexplicable tragedies. For me, the charming characters, stellar writing and interesting enigmas added up to an A- read. I would recommend the series as a whole to any fan of detective stories and argue it’s among the best in that genre. What did you think of it overall?

Dabney: It’s a strong B+ for me. It didn’t quite have the I HAVE TO KEEP READING THIS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS that I truly love – Lisa Jewel’s books as well as those of Karin Slaughter are often like that for me – but Exiles is a compelling, fascinating, well told story. I’m very curious to see what Aaron does next – that’s an interesting ending for him, isn’t it? Here’s hoping Harper has more Falk tales to tell!

Maggie: Me, too! I look forward to seeing where (if) it goes next, although I love her standalone tales, too.

Jane Harper returns with her third book in the Aaron Falk series following The Dry and Force of Nature. Exiles can easily be read as a standalone, and readers will not feel lost in the story if they have not read the first two. With her signature style and evocative writing, Harper brings South Australia wine country to life when Aaron Falk arrives to serve as godfather to his closest friend’s baby son. While there for the christening, Falk, who is a federal investigator, finds himself drawn into both the case of a woman who went missing a year ago during the town’s annual wine festival, abandoning her child in the parking lot, and a years-old unsolved murder. As he works to solve both cases, Falk also begins to re-evaluate his own life choices. Harper is my favorite mystery writer, and Exiles’ compelling story and vividly drawn setting permanently cement her first-place position for me.

I love Jane Harper. I love the quiet nuance with which she unspools a story.

This centers around two cold cases — as Detective Aaron Falk heads to Maralee, a small wine country town, for the christening of his godson. Six years earlier, a beloved local man was the victim of a hit & run. One year earlier, a new mother vanished without a trace on the opening night of the Maralee wine festival - leaving behind her six week old daughter.

Through long conversations and introspective musing, Falk comes to unexpected conclusions about these two incidents, and his own future.

Aaron Falk travels to a small town to attend his friend's son's christening. He last visited the town a year ago for the same christening but it was postponed when a woman named Kim disappeared from a local festival. With family and friends reunited for the christening, the year of Kim's disappearance is met with questions about what happened that night. With Falk's background as an investigator, he also wonders what happened to Kim. Visiting the festival and talking with her friends, he tries to piece together the events that led her to abandoning her baby in a stroller and vanishing from the festival. The story introduces different characters such as Kim's teenage daughter, her ex husband and high school friends along with flashbacks from the year before. Falk discovers there are other mysteries in the small town. A great mystery and I still like reading about Aaron Falk and the Australia setting.

A six-week old baby is found in a stroller by the ferris wheel at a busy, small town Wine and Food Festival. Parked with so many other strollers, left undetected for who knows how long. The baby's mother, Kim, is missing.

A year later, Aaron Falk has been invited to be godfather to his friend's new baby. Kim's friends and family come together during the festival for the christening, and Falk, a federal investigator, can't contain his police instincts. Something isn't right. He can feel it. The more he hears about that night, a year ago, and the more he talks to the locals, the more curious he becomes.

Jane Harper has a tight, tense writing style. It's a measured, well thought out mystery with a plausible twist. Not one chapter wasted, perfectly planned out and paced. I was riveted. Can’t recommend this book enough.

I read my first Jane Harper novel in January 2022. I loved The Survivors and knew I needed to read more of her books. Fast forward one year and I’ve read them all. No one does slow burn mystery with depth, intrigue and memorable characters the way she does. And if you mix in some audio with them you get all the Australian accents, which is my favorite 🔥

This post was specifically about the Aaron Falk series, but since it turned into an author spotlight I’m going to rank all of her books here for fun. Shout out to @netgalley and @flatiron_books for my gifted copy of Exiles, which happens to be my favorite! Thank you!

Aaron Falk series:
The Dry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Force of Nature ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Exiles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚡️

The Survivors ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lost Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Exiles takes Aaron Falk to wine country. His friend and former colleague, Greg Raco, asked Falk to be godfather to his new baby. The emotional context of this christening is a blend of joy in the new baby and the christening and grief and melancholy over the mystery of a woman’s disappearance exactly one year earlier.

Falk had been present when Kim Gillespie disappeared. The official narrative is she abandoned her new baby, parking the pram and walking off to never be seen again. It is so out of character that many people think there is more to her disappearance, but everyone seems to have an airtight alibi. They simply could not have done anything in the moments that are unwitnessed at this big event.

A young high schooler insists the narrative is wrong. He watched the gate that everyone says Kim must have used when she walked out of her life and he didn’t see her. Of course, who believes a high school boy?

Kim was Raco’s former sister-in-law. His niece is her daughter, a child determined to find her mother or at least, find out what happened. Raco asks Falk to look into the disappearance, perhaps he can help this fractured family.



Exiles is a melancholic book and a fitting end to the Aaron Falk series. It is interesting how the tempo of her books move from the adagio, The Dry, to the vivace Force of Nature, and ends with with the solemn largo Exiles. It is not a fast-paced book. The crime, if it was a crime, happened a year ago. The investigation is not front and center of the action even though it is far more at the front of Falk’s thought. This is an investigation that is resolved by thinking more than anything.

But just because it is not fast-paced, don’t for a second think it is boring. It kept me engrossed even though every curling quote was in html code (&#8216) which could make a reader dread a conversation. Don’t worry, that is an artifact of being a e-galley. Aaron Falk’s mind is a good place to linger.

As in Harper’s other books, the environment is an essential element. It is more than a backdrop, it is the context. The fertility of the land, the vineyards and wineries as essential to the story. I love that.

I received an e-galley of Exiles from the publisher through NetGalley

Exiles at Flatiron Books | Macmillan
Jane Harper author site
My review of The Dry
My review of Force of Nature
My review of The Lost Man

Jane Harper's writing can only be described as atmospheric. I feel the heat radiate off the page, I smell the brine of the ocean. There's something magical about it. Lyrically written crime novels are one of the best literary trends of the last couple of decades, beautifully descriptive but compulsively readable. Fans of S.A. Crosby, Tana French, and of course Jane Harper will love Exiles, the latest installment in the Aaron Falk line of books.

Aaron Falk is back in wine country to celebrate his friend Raco’s sons’ christening. It’s been a year since Raco’s ex-wife disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a new baby and husband. What happened to Kim?

This is my first Jane Harper book and so, I was behind on Aaron’s past history but I still found this to be an enjoyable read with characters that were both flawed and emotive, making it easy to become invested in.

The plot is twisty and even though I was fairly certain who the baddie was, the how and the why remained a mystery until the end.

I’m going to go back and read the rest of the Aaron Falk series by Jane Harper; I enjoyed both the characters and the setting and would love to see how he got to where he is now!

My thanks to the publisher for this gifted copy.

When I originally requested this book, I thought it was part of a different series. I cannot read books out of order so I am so glad that I had requested this and gone back to properly meet Aaron Falk as he quickly is one of my favorite heroes.

I love Jane Harper's writing and how she completely gets us into Aaron's head once again as he is back with his friend Greg Raco for the christening of his daughter. It was great to see Falk and Raco back together again and how their friendship has evolved to one of extended family. I love that Raco standing Falk up leads to the best part of this story for me because I am a hopeless romantic no matter what I read. Aaron Falk has this amazing way of really seeing more that what we are supposed to and when the Christening falls at the same time as the one year anniversary of Raco's ex-sister-in-law...Aaron once again is on the case even though he is not officially on the job,

I think my Falk colored glasses are on while trying to write this because Aaron truly is a fantastic character. I love how his brain works and how he often thinks out of the box. I love how true he is to his job but how vulnerable his heart is towards those wronged and those he has come to love and treasure. He fits in so well with the Raco bunch and meeting Greg's family was a pure delight.

But the main story of the case was heartbreaking. I had a feeling where both Kim's and Joel's stories were going and that's due to Harper really letting us see everything through Aaron's eyes and letting us in his head. We know what he's thinking, what he wants to remember and what he sees when he does. It sounds simple but it's so atmospheric and cinematic that it is no wonder the first book in this series was made in to a movie.

I'm not expressing myself as well as I'd like but I loved this book. I completely recommend it and the first two in the series to anyone.

And YAY for Aaron! The end made me so happy.

As someone who has never been to Australia before, Harper paints a perfect picture through her story telling. While this wasn’t my favorite of the Aaron Falk series, I still was thoroughly enrapt in the entire thing. There were twists and turns throughout, and I definitely didn’t figure out the mystery until the very end.

At times, the story felt a touch disjointed, trying to pair two mystery story lines together. But these two mysteries, one of heartbreak the other of malice, blended together well in the end. Harper doesn’t disappoint and Exiles will surely do well on the shelves.

I absolutely loved The Survivors by Jane Harper but had not tackled any of her Aaron Falk titles.

Maybe it was that I entered the series mid-way, but the Exiles was just not for me. All the suspense was in the past and while some of the characters were interesting to me, the investigation just fell very slow and very talky. The book felt low-energy and as a result it took me a long time to finish. I will 100% read another of Jane Harper's standalones. Not sure if it was just this book to that Aaron Falk just isn't my cup of tea!

Another great read in the Aaron Falk trilogy. Harper does a great job building the mystery and creating doubt about which characters to trust. At first I was getting a few if the men confused with each other because there are at least half a dozen that are potential suspects, but by a third of the way through I was able to differentiate. I alternated between the ebook and audio book and loved them both equally.

I think this is my favorite of Jane Harper's (and I have enjoyed all of her books!). This one really captures the small town in which it is set and the characters ring true. Also I dod not see the ending coming, which I love in a mystery. I couldn't put it down!

Exiles is the newest mystery by Jane Harper. It’s the third in her Aaron Falk series, which I didn’t know going in, and I suspect that hurt my experience with this book.

Falk is is an Australian Federal investigator who travels to visit friends for their baby’s christening. While he’s there, a woman goes missing from the festival he was attending. A year later, he returns to the town and he finds himself asking questions and trying to solve the mystery.

I didn’t love the pacing in this novel. It’s a slow burn suspense novel — heavy on the sloooow. It felt like it took ages to get going, and then the resolution felt very abrupt.

This story focused a lot on Falk’s relationships and choices, and I think I would have gotten a lot more from that if I had read the other books and (presumably) watched his character grow. Without that background, I just wasn’t invested.

Exiles released yesterday, and I expect readers of this series won’t be disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron books for the e-ARC for review.

Happy Pub Day!!
I LOVED this book!! Jane Harper is an auto buy author for me and I squealed when I got this ARC!! This book was full of so many twists and turns that had me never wanting to put it down!! I loved reading a majority from Falks perspective with Harper’s ability to set a scene! I felt like I really was in the Marralee Valley!! While most twists were predictable for a seasoned thriller/mystery reader, the writing and characters made it incredibly enjoyable!! Congrats to Harper and everyone involved with this great book!!
Thank you to Jane Harper, NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC!! You NEED to read this book!! Out now!!

Jane Harper always delivers a solid mystery. This one was a bit of a slower burn that focused more on the interpersonal relationships of the small town rather than the intricacies of the mystery, but I liked that! Can't wait to see what she writes next, as always.

A competently plotted procedural/domestic mystery.

Generally speaking I’ve enjoyed Jane Harper’s work, though I found her first three books to be significantly better than her last two. These seem to be veering more towards domestic drama, which isn’t my preference.

I loved the atmospheric feel of The Lost Man and felt that the first two Aaron Falk books were compellingly plotted. The last two books have been a bit of a drop off on both counts, though I certainly liked this better than The Survivors.

Falk is a great character and that’s no less true in this book than in any of the previous novels in the series. But this is a really, really slow plot (and this is coming from someone who loves slow burns), resulting in something more akin to dull than to creeping. The story also has no real sense of place or atmosphere, always a big drawback for a reader like me.

If you like a lot of nuanced drama between friends and neighbors, then you’ll likely enjoy this a lot more than I did. Harper is still a good writer, and the mystery, if ultimately disappointing to me and unengaging, is certainly well-plotted and structured.

Ultimately this was just too unevocative and too enmeshed in petty jealousies and domestic drama for me, and I think I’m probably out on Harper going forward since she seems to be leaning this way of late.

Exiles is book 3 in the Aaron Falk series. Each one is set in a different area of Australia--which I love! Exiles is set in South Australia's wine country and follows Falk as he is trying to solve the disappearance of a mother--by why would she leave her newborn and teenager?

I highly recommend reading this series of books if you love detective mysteries and/or Australia!

I’m a big Jane Harper fan, so I was thrilled to pick up her new book on NetGalley. Harper writes mysteries set in remote parts of Australia. In this third book of the Aaron Falk series, investigator Falk is visiting friends in the fictional Marralee Valley, in Southern Australia’s wine country. I’ve actually been to Adelaide and the wine was amazing, plus I loved every part of Australia, so I love revisiting it through Harper’s books.

For some reason I haven’t read the second in the Falk series, an oversight on my part, but I loved her non-series books, especially The Lost Man. What makes Harper’s books so great is that relationships are at the heart of her stories. She explores past and current traumas, addictions, abuses, and other types of malice. Her books aren’t cozy, if that’s what you’re looking for. And yet, she creates characters you’ll really feel for.

Another thing I love about her books is that the setting always plays a role in the mystery itself, and this book was similar. The environment itself can actually kill you, which is true everywhere but seems particularly true of Australia

Exiles is a bit unique in that it explores a disappearance that occurred one year ago. The small town of Marralee is still reeling from the disappearance and possible suicide of one of its own, Kim Gillespie. Gillespie moved away and got married, but a year ago she returned with her husband and six week old daughter, and on the first night of the region’s annual Food and Wine Festival, she carefully left her baby in the stroller area of the festival grounds and was never seen again.

Aaron Falk is returning to visit his friends the Racos for their baby’s christening. Charlie Raco was Kim’s first love and the father of her teenage daughter Zara.The family is still devastated; they think Kim abandoned her family due to mental health issues and post-partum. They haven’t given up hope that someone might remember seeing something at the Festival last year, so one year later they’ve organized a rally.

A recurring theme in this book, as indicated by the title, is the idea of feeling separated from one’s home and family. The characters, including Aaron Falk, are deeply connected to each other, but also feel isolated by various family conflicts. In this very small town there are numerous intersecting plot lines. What I like about Harper’s books is she slowly builds her story, and by the end you can see clearly how the clues add up. Some mystery writers like to throw around a lot of red herrings but Harper tends to leave you mostly in the dark, uncovering a little at a time, until she explains how it all went down.

I’d recommend Harper to fans of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, for the complexity and dark undercurrents of her books. French also tends to give her detectives a personal role in the story, not just having them be neutral observers. And similarly, setting is pretty important in the French novels I’ve read. On the other hand, Falk and the other investigators are more competent and a whole less compromised than the investigators in the Dublin Murder series (something about French’s books I find a bit maddening). Harper also writes a tighter story.

I’ll be going back and picking up book #2 in the series, Force of Nature. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Flatiron Books (Macmillan) for this advanced review copy. Exiles publishes in the U.S. on January 31, 2023.