Review: Force of Nature

Force of Nature by Jane Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Five men and five women went hiking into the bush for a corporate team-building activity. The women came out late with one woman missing, the woman Aaron Falk needs to talk to about a potential embezzling case. What happened in those woods and is Alice Russell still alive?

The Dry was one bad ass book so I snapped this one up once it temporarily fell into my cheapness range.

Force of Nature takes place in a remote part of Australia. The story is told in two threads: Aaron Falk and his partner, Carmen, piecing together what happened to Alice, and a few days in the past, when the women set off on their hike.

The way things unfolded was masterfully done. I had no idea what happened to Alice until it was spelled out for me. In retrospect, Jane Harper planted a lot of clues for me but I blew right by them. I'm going to chalk some of that up to me reading most of this on the plane back from Vegas in a haze after eight days of drinking too much and not eating or sleeping enough.

It was a very compelling read. Even though I wanted nothing more than sleep on the flight home, I forced myself to keep reading. I finished the second half the next day with cats piled around me, wanting to take a nap but not as much as I wanted to find out what happened to Alice Russell.

There's some great character development done with Aaron Falk in this, exploring his relationship with his father, which reminds me a little too much of my relationship with my father. I'll have to go have a beer with the old man soon.

Not a bad thing to say about Force of Nature. It's an easy four star read.



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