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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Five women entered the wilderness … four came out!
In my working career, I’ve been forced to endure pointless well-intentioned but ultimately futile corporate team-building exercises and retreats. I also have a wealth of wilderness camping experience through four seasons in a variety of wilderness environments. I’ve gone on solo trips and carefully arranged trips with a group of experienced fellow enthusiasts but I’ve also endured plenty of group vacations with random collections of strangers who are wilderness neophytes. I’ve had the privilege of watching personalities clash and relationships unravel. I’ve seen the level of mistakes that wilderness beginners can make and understand the life-threatening possibilities that can arise from those errors. So the idea that a corporation would make the misguided decision to send a group of city-folk employees into the bush for a four-day tramp expecting them to come out the other side as a united team firing on all cylinders is definitely a puzzling one but, based on my experience, an entirely realistic possibility.
Five reluctant participants begin the hike … and four worn, weary ladies, definitely much the worse for wear, finish the trip! But the missing hiker was a whistleblower informant helping Federal Agent Aaron Falk to gather evidence for a money-laundering investigation! Foul play is clearly a possibility and the hunt for the missing hiker is put into high gear! That the area was the hunting ground for a former serial killer tosses an extra creep factor ingredient into the mix.
A brilliant premise, in my mind, for what should have been a scintillating thriller. I really wanted it to work but, for my money, Ms Harper’s execution was simply flat. Dialogue, narrative, plot development, character building, suspense – the whole nine yards – was never anything more than OK. I finished the novel but I definitely never got into that thriller state-of-mind that said I didn’t want to put the book down.
Not recommended to be honest. You’ve definitely got better places to spend your limited bank account of reading time.
Paul Weiss
In my working career, I’ve been forced to endure pointless well-intentioned but ultimately futile corporate team-building exercises and retreats. I also have a wealth of wilderness camping experience through four seasons in a variety of wilderness environments. I’ve gone on solo trips and carefully arranged trips with a group of experienced fellow enthusiasts but I’ve also endured plenty of group vacations with random collections of strangers who are wilderness neophytes. I’ve had the privilege of watching personalities clash and relationships unravel. I’ve seen the level of mistakes that wilderness beginners can make and understand the life-threatening possibilities that can arise from those errors. So the idea that a corporation would make the misguided decision to send a group of city-folk employees into the bush for a four-day tramp expecting them to come out the other side as a united team firing on all cylinders is definitely a puzzling one but, based on my experience, an entirely realistic possibility.
Five reluctant participants begin the hike … and four worn, weary ladies, definitely much the worse for wear, finish the trip! But the missing hiker was a whistleblower informant helping Federal Agent Aaron Falk to gather evidence for a money-laundering investigation! Foul play is clearly a possibility and the hunt for the missing hiker is put into high gear! That the area was the hunting ground for a former serial killer tosses an extra creep factor ingredient into the mix.
A brilliant premise, in my mind, for what should have been a scintillating thriller. I really wanted it to work but, for my money, Ms Harper’s execution was simply flat. Dialogue, narrative, plot development, character building, suspense – the whole nine yards – was never anything more than OK. I finished the novel but I definitely never got into that thriller state-of-mind that said I didn’t want to put the book down.
Not recommended to be honest. You’ve definitely got better places to spend your limited bank account of reading time.
Paul Weiss
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Murder
Minor: Eating disorder
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to this on my 4 hour daily commute to school and it was really good. I loved the character development and the fact that nothing is what we think it is several times in the book.
I enjoyed this, and didn’t guess the solution. The Dry is a better book, I think. This does not have the portrayal of a town, just a Li,tied cast of characters. Falk is a good creation
adventurous
tense
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another solid, thoroughly enjoyable instalment from Jane Harper!
5 women enter the Australian bush on a work-bonding weekend - a three day hike and camping adventure designed to promote cohesion - but only 4 emerge. Where is Alice, and what is the truth of what happened to them?
We once again follow Aaron Falk, loveable *cough*ACAB*cough* AFP agent notably of ‘The Dry’, as he pursues his own investigation into the firm behind the women, and the leads that Alice had promised him.
Now sure, I’m an avid ACAB girly, but I’m also an apologetic yet unreformable crime slut. Add to that an author with a knack for telling a story via flashback and drip fed info and I’m hooked. Harper really grabs your attention from the start but in sneaky, subtle ways, and I’m never mad that I can usually guess where the story will go (after all, it’s hardly her fault I’ve been watching crime procedurals since kindy).
Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a decent crime novel set against more of the untamed Australian wilderness.
5 women enter the Australian bush on a work-bonding weekend - a three day hike and camping adventure designed to promote cohesion - but only 4 emerge. Where is Alice, and what is the truth of what happened to them?
We once again follow Aaron Falk, loveable *cough*ACAB*cough* AFP agent notably of ‘The Dry’, as he pursues his own investigation into the firm behind the women, and the leads that Alice had promised him.
Now sure, I’m an avid ACAB girly, but I’m also an apologetic yet unreformable crime slut. Add to that an author with a knack for telling a story via flashback and drip fed info and I’m hooked. Harper really grabs your attention from the start but in sneaky, subtle ways, and I’m never mad that I can usually guess where the story will go (after all, it’s hardly her fault I’ve been watching crime procedurals since kindy).
Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a decent crime novel set against more of the untamed Australian wilderness.
What an unlikeable bunch of people to go walking and working with. Team building goes wrong. This is eventually captivating but nowhere near as much as The Lost Man. The writing goes up a notch where the hint of romance enters the story - a quality repeated in the next Harper mystery. Falk is a reasonable character but the main characters are repellent!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced