#BlogTour: Force Of Nature by Jane Harper @janeharperautho @LittleBrownUK @kimberleynyam

I’m delighted to be on the blog tour for the fantastic book Force of Nature by Jane Harper.  This was another 5 star read for me (I know i’m on a roll) and I absolutely loved it.

Force of Nature is available to buy in ebook and hardback here.

The hardback is currently only £5 an absolute bargain!

Book Description:

FIVE WENT OUT. FOUR CAME BACK…

Is Alice here? Did she make it? Is she safe? In the chaos, in the night, it was impossible to say which of the four had asked after Alice’s welfare. Later, when everything got worse, each would insist it had been them.

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side.

The hike through the rugged landscape is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.

Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case – and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with.

Far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell Falk a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. And as he delves into the disappearance, it seems some dangers may run far deeper than anyone knew.

My Review:

I so enjoyed this fabulous book.  I thought the premise was very intriguing and I found myself gripped from the beginning with the fascinating mystery of what happened to Alice and why.

The thing that most stands out about this book is the brilliant use of the dual storyline. One follows Federal Agent Fauk and his partner Carmen as they help investigate Alice’s disappearance, the other describes what happened on the woman’s team building hike.  This makes for truly fascinating reading as it helps the reader get a better understanding of all the characters involved, what makes them tick and about their past experiences that still impact them today.  This is especially true in the parts describing the women’s experiences as things start to go wrong and the cracks in their fragile relationships begin to show.  This was expertly done with the author gradually revealing things about each character that really keeps the reader on their toes and guessing who was responsible for Alice’s disappearance.  I must have changed my mind at least a dozen times as each new chapter threw up new information that twisted the story in another direction.  This was hugely enjoyable for me as I love the to be kept guessing and the anticipation of discovering the truth.

I didn’t particularly like any of the women characters as they all seemed fairly unlikable.  They were all quite selfish and no one seemed particularly bothered about anyone other than themselves.  They are all well very different to each other which becomes more apparent as the story and the hike) go on.  I did like Fauk though and developed a bit of a soft spot for him throughout the book, especially when bits of his past are revealed.  He seemed to really care about his partner and his work which was lovely to read about.  I loved how real he seemed and found myself willing him to succeed and discover what happened.

The setting of the book, The Giralang Ranges, help create a very tense, eerie and claustrophobic atmosphere  due to the vivid descriptions on the dense trees which grow close together.  The history of what had happened there a few years previously also helps to create an almost menacing atmosphere and the sensation that the trees could be hiding anything and anyone.  I certainly found myself holding my breath at times as the women ventured further into the trees, wondering what they would discover.

This book is brilliantly plotted and the gradual revelations makes the book very difficult to out down.  The story is very addictive and I started carrying my book around with me and hiding in the toilet from the kids just so I could read a couple more pages.  It’s been a while since a book has made me do this.

This is the authors’s second book, but the first one I have read.  It is the second in a series but I thought it could easily be read as a standalone as anything you need to know is explained to you.  I will definitely be going back and reading her first book, The Dry, soon.

Huge thanks to the lovely Kimberly from Little Brown for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour. Just read this book you won’t be disappointed!

About The Author:

Jane Harper is the author of The Dry, winner of various awards including the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, the 2017 Indie Award Book of the Year, the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year Award and the CWA Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of 2017. Rights have been sold in 27 territories worldwide, and film rights optioned to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK and lives in Melbourne.

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If you liked the sound of this book from my review do follow the blog tour and find out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying!