Friday, February 16, 2018

Force of Nature/ Jane Harper/ 326 pgs

I really enjoyed Harper's first novel, The Dry. This one was a bit disappointing after that. The writing is still stellar--Harper does atmosphere very well. It's the plot that lacks here. The setting is still Australia only this time it's a rainy, wooded, mountainous region in the middle of nowhere instead of dry farmland in the middle of nowhere. Five women and five men head out on a corporate, team-building adventure in the forest. The men return on time at the end of the weekend. The women return late and one of them is missing. Our federal agent from the first book, Aaron Falk, is called in because his financial team was investigating the company the hikers worked for. The plot here is mostly unbelievable and entirely predictable. There are a couple of red herrings thrown in but they lack substance and so do not add to the already weak suspense. Falk and his partner, Carmen, seem to have no direction. They wander here and there, not really helping with the search directly and even their interactions together lack focus until the end of the book. I'd love to read another book from Harper but I hope it's more like her first novel than this second one.

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