Book Review: Force of Nature

Jane Harper's flair for atmospheric detail made The Dry one of my favourite thrillers of 2017, and Force of Nature is no different. In what's yet another gripping tale of betrayal and murder, Harper keeps the plot moving at breakneck pace, cleverly unwinding the mystery in bits and pieces even as the narrative moves back and forth in time against a backdrop that's as much unpredictable as the story itself. When five women colleagues from BaileyTennants are forced to go on a hike in the Australian wilderness as part of a team building exercise and only four return, financial investigator Aaron Falk — who had been already looking into allegations of money laundering at the company — takes it upon himself to locate the missing woman at all costs, especially considering the fact that it was she who was cooperating with him by gathering crucial evidence against the company's CEO. Clearly the disappearance is much more than what it is, and the deeper Falk dives into the mystery, the more the number of secrets bubble up, leaving him searching for clues in the accounts of her four colleagues who may have their own grudges to settle against her. Force of Nature ultimately lacks the searing intensity of Harper's debut, but spooky and compelling it is.