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“It’s the panic that gets you. Makes it hard to trust what you’re seeing.”


 Tall gums. Tasman National Park, Tasman Peninsula. May 2021.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper 

Much like The Dry, I found this one a gripping little police procedural with a small cast of characters, an intriguing mystery and a suitably claustrophobic setting. Like the earlier novel, the landscape is at the forefront of generating tension. This time around, the dark, cool temperate rainforest of Victoria's east replaces the dry and arid plains of the northwest. However, ghosts of the past remain.

Events move at a cracking pace, and the narrative jumps backwards and forwards across multiple perspectives. Then, finally, the story moves back towards the explanation as to exactly what happened out there in the bush. Harper has chosen a particularly odious bunch of corporate women within which she centres her mystery. Suffice to say, there are plenty of candidates from this small bunch with whom we'd enjoy some comeuppance.

The book deftly treads the line between exciting, engaging and pacy and doesn't outstay its welcome. The villains are suitably villainous, the wounded damaged (but not entirely beyond repair). Our hero Aaron Falk remains aloof but charming and is slowly working his way towards healing. We even get the slightest hint of romance in the air to spice things up. The perfect palate cleanser after a run of the heavier stuff!

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

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