Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Exiles

I love Jane Harper’s mysteries. I love reading about Australia and an environment that is often foreign to me. I love her intelligent plots, strong character development, and quirky dialogue.

This is the third in her Aaron Falk series. He’s visiting his best friends in wine country where, despite the happiness of family get-togethers, there’s a pall of grief. One widow and her teenage son lost their husband and father in a hit-and-run six years earlier. The mom of a 6-week-old baby disappeared a year ago, never to be seen again, leaving sadness and dissatisfaction in her absence. The stories are connected through the shared trauma of a small town where everyone is close to everyone else.

There’s a lot here about family and love, but also about how people who are depressed can be increasingly isolated from their best friends. If something happens to them, it’s chalked up to their depression, an easy scapegoat for unusual behavior.

Despite the sadness there’s more warmth here than in Harper’s previous books. There’s so much caring and concern for friends and neighbors that the overall feeling is of welcome and comfort. This is a satisfying mystery as well as a rewarding novel of friends and neighbors.

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moran's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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ofpagesandparagraphs's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This is my least favorite of hers so far. It took my FOREVER to finish it because for the first 80% of the book, nothing happened. For the actual mysteries themselves, there seemed to be a lot of "ah-ha" moments for Fall where something just came to him rather than actual investigating, which seemed kind of phoned in to me.

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katiejohns's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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firefly's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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mysterymom40's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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meliemelo's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

While this is much more of a slow-burn and less captivating than Harper's other books (or what I remember of them), I eventually accepted the pace and ended up enjoying it, and it doesn't stop the last act from being absolutely chilling.

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