Reviews - The Survivors | The StoryGraph

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3.09k reviews for:

The Survivors

Jane Harper

3.66 AVERAGE

orangesnapples's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

assaphmehr's review against another edition

4.0

sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A small-town murder mystery, where there are a lot of under-the-surface tensions and old wounds.

What to Expect

A new novel from one of the originators of Outback Noir, this time set in a small town in beach-side Tasmania. A young couple and baby daughter go back to his home town to visit the man's aging parents. While there, a waitress is murdered, and this reopens wounds from the past. The man, Kieran, tries to navigate relationships with his parents and friends, as the murder throws the town in to chaos and brings back an accident from 12 years before. Back then, his brother and another lost their lives in a freak storm trying to save Kieran from drowning. Those scars never healed properly, let alone the disappearance of another teenage girl at the same storm.

What I liked

I love the setting, being Tasmanian myself these days. It 'feels' right, and -- for those outside -- would be a familiar-yet-exotic location for a cosy mystery. Harper is adept at creating the various personalities around town, at building tensions, and slowly exposing the old wounds and correlating them to the current crime.

What to be aware of

Harper is repeating a similar formula to her debut novel, The Dry; in both cases the current crime is deeply related to the old one, and details are slowly exposed via flashbacks and memories, and the perpetrator is the one you least expect. I found Kieran somewhat less relatable than Falk (protagonist of The Dry), a bit feckless. Then again, he's a visitor and not a police investigator. Even though Kieran plays a key role in both the old accident and uncovering the current perpetrator, at least Harper doesn't fall into the 'police are clueless' trope -- they are just half a step behind.

Felix's and Jack's Reviews

Felix thought Kieran could use a good slap to make him appreciate life, as that's how he was raised to deal with trauma. He's very familiar with past accidents and guilt from dark chapters in his own past, but he takes it as a motivator for action, not for moping. In terms of mystery, he thought there could have been more red-herrings before the sudden 'nice character from the sidelines' turning out to be the perpetrator. Jack approves of the novel, having recently been seconded to Tasmania Police himself. He did prefer the TV series to the novel, which -- being a different medium -- shows a far greater role of the police (and other characters) and has a more dynamic pace. Aside from that, he found the setting, the dynamics, and the mysteries true to life.

Summary

A good read for lovers of cosy mysteries, the exotic location being a bit part of the draw.

Enjoying the reviews, but wondering who the heck are those Felix and Jack fellows? Glad you asked! Felix is the protagonist of the Togas, Daggers, and Magic series, an historical-fantasy blend of a paranormal detective on the background of ancient Rome, and Jack is the police detective running the Unusual Crimes Squad, dealing in occult crimes in modern-day Australia.

Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.

joce_reads_books's review against another edition

3.0

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This one dragged about for me and was. It as compelling as Harper’s other works.

A great premise and the two story lines interweaving- past and present crimes but just not where near as complex and tense as others. Maybe it needed a detective type character like Falk?

lucyseward's review against another edition

3.0

The Survivors certainly held my attention: the interlocking (or not) deaths/homicides, the strong sense of place (next vacay: Tasmania!), the bleak familial dynamics. Good stuff. I did, however, at times, find the characterization a little thin. For example, I never got a sense of what attracted and sustained the two marquee couples (Kiernan and Mia, Ash and Olivia), and I was surprised at how easily Kiernan and Verity (man, do I dislike that name), seemed to make up after their fight where some pretty scaring "truths" were flung. (Despite Verity's apology, I do think that she held Kiernan responsible for their family tragedy.) On the other hand, Kiernan's evolution from a superficial bro to a empathetic human was subtle and appreciated, even though most of the evolution stemmed from other characters (including his wife) reminding him of what a douche he once was (which was actually kind of fun to read). Having said that, I enjoyed the second read and am now ready for the Netflix series, which is all that really matters, right?

hulttio's review against another edition

3.0

Jane Harper is an author new to me, but The Survivors was a decent read to get me through a few rough days. The book revolves around Kieran, a new father coming back to his hometown with his girlfriend and their infant daughter. There is a great trauma and tragedy that haunts this town from Kieran’s past. Though the writing style could have used some finer editing and sharpening, the characters and narrative piqued my interest through the end of the novel. The mystery and suspense is gradually built up over the course of the book and while it isn’t a particularly twisty novel, it is one that kept me reading to find out the end.

The narrative is fairly simple, and not much happens other than the main mystery, which is inevitably tied to events that happened in the town’s and protagonist’s past. We get snippets from the past interweaved with the modern timeline, which was confusing and jerky at times. Harper’s style also tends to be a bit too… descriptive? I’m not sure how to describe it, but it is way too wordy and tends to meander on occasion. Something interesting might happen, and then there will be a few pages of something unrelated or a random thought Kieran has, which may or may not be related. Maybe that was a way to foreshadow, but I didn’t find it effective.

The characters manage to be interesting, even though they could have been developed a bit further. I don’t really get why there is a baby in the story—every now and then, we get the characters interacting with her and remembering that she exists, but I don’t really get ‘parent’ vibes from the main couple. Many of the locals also were one-dimensional, though they played important roles in the plot. I didn’t really get a sense of who Mia was, for example, aside from her being a sidelined careerist. Kieran is perhaps the most interesting since we got to see his inner thoughts and perspective the most. One aspect I enjoyed was the way that certain characters can be grey, and how the characters’ perceptions of each other might be colored by time or their closeness.

What I really enjoyed in this novel, and what made it so compelling, was its themes of trauma and how a community heals as well as keeps secrets. What may seem harmless on the surface might not be in reality, and a town might go to some crazy lengths to keep its reputation. Kieran repeatedly has to struggle with his conception of his deceased older brother, whom he and his family idolized. The book jacket calls this book ‘atmospheric’, and I think it is, at least in part. I have never been to Australia or stayed longterm in a tiny seaside town (with all those secrets), but I got a hint of what it must be like in this novel. The backbiting, neighborly concern, the newcomer disrupting the status quo… it’s all there.

The mystery is a slow buildup for sure. Try the first 50 pages or so, because it isn’t that gripping in the beginning—and the writing style makes it seem even more clunky than it needs to be. The ending isn’t a shocking twist, but it’s not really the surprise (or lack thereof) that made it enjoyable for me—rather, it was the satisfaction of seeing the various pieces of the puzzle come together and seeing the overall picture. For a quick mystery book, it fits the bill—but based on the writing style, I’m not sure I’ll give Harper another chance unless the blurb is especially intriguing.

danysreadingcorner's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

gsarahthelibrarian's review against another edition

4.0

I started this in audio and wasn't a fan so I had to interlibrary loan the print version. Much better! Australian setting in a beach town where the tourists are mostly home this time of year so when a young woman's body is found on the beach, it's harder to blame it on an outsider. Harper is excellent at creating a sense of setting--and the beach, rocks, and cliffs are visible in my mind after reading this book. The characters were less so developed to me, but there were a lot of them. I'll keep reading everything I see by her though--the mystery is always satisfying!