Reviews with content warning for Death - The Survivors

Thanks to Libro.fm, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for a complimentary audiobook.

Jane Harper writes character driven mysteries that are slower in pace, which is why it's surprising to me that I keep reading her work, I normally don't like books with a slower pace. But the way she writes about place and emotion and relationships is so engaging and captivating that I cannot stop wondering what she has up her sleeve next. She writes insular communities in such a way that you feel the social dynamics of them so viscerally.

This book intertwines the fallout from a 12 year old tragedy with a recent murder and since this community is so small, of course there is overlap. But how is valid and how much is speculation? And what long buried secrets will come to the surface?

I thought I had the ending to this one figured out about 3 times, but I was not prepared for the gut punch that the ending actually was.

Content Warnings

charliechops's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

chelseasbookshelf2's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was warned by Book of the Month that this was a slow burn, and that was definitely true. This was very slow building, but I really wanted to know what the heck happened all those years ago.

I felt like we didn't really get to know each character very well. The last 1/3 of the book is where it starts to pick up and you find out more. One thing I was glad about was finding out some of the truth behind the "murder" toward the beginning of the story. The author could have kept the readers believing something about the main character until the very end, but let us in on part of the secret.

I enjoyed the ending of this and had guessed every single character at one point was responsible for the current death. Everyone had their secrets, and I didn't think the reader got to fully understand them all. I felt like there were many storylines left unfinished and as a reader left me confused. I think this story needed another couple of chapters to wrap it all up.

Content Warnings