What readers think of Force of Nature, plus links to write your own review.

In her debut novel, The Dry, Jane Harper introduced us to Aaron Falk, a federal police officer who deals with financial white collar crime. He was called back to his hot, dry hometown to help solve a murder. In the sequel, the weather remains a large force in the novel, and she again tells a great story. Five women, who all work for the same company in many different roles, are sent out into dense, cold, wet woods as a teambuilding experience. Only four return. Agent Falk and his partner have been investigating this company and the missing women was their contact person, passing documents and making their case. I kept reading until late in the night to reach the end and its satisfying conclusion. I am so glad Jane Harper has found a US publisher and I am waiting eagerly for number 3!!

In Force of Nature, Jane Harper writes a compelling mystery with an intriguing cast of characters and a dramatic Australian setting. As a reader, I was drawn in immediately to the corporate retreat gone awry! A very enjoyable, fast-paced read with some twists and turns!

Too much petty fighting among the women.

I was very excited to receive a copy of Jane Harper's new book because I so enjoyed her first, The Dry. Unfortunately this book didn't measure up. I wish she had focused more on Falk, a returning character; instead Harper spent a lot of time on the back stories of the other characters in the novel, and while this may have been to add to the plot mystery, the back stories seemed somewhat contrived and didn't hold my interest. I was much more interested in the parts of the novel about the detectives and I found myself skimming through the other parts. Hopefully future books will spend more time on Falk.

This book, like The Dry, takes place in Australia with Federal agent Aaron Falk in charge. During a corporate retreat in the Giralang Ranges, four women have gone missing. Agent Faulkner and his partner Carmen Cooper have been called in because one of the missing women, Alice Russell was the subject of their case. They have been assigned to get to the bottom of irregular financial practices of Alice's company Bailey Tenants. Eventually three of the women come out of bush with scratches and a snake bite. Alice is missing and the women have no idea where she is. Alice they say, left with her phone in the middle of the night.
The story is told in two strands one being the investigation by Falk and Carmen and the other follows the women as they argue and at times physically fight over food, the way to get out of the bush and old disagreements they brought with them on the trip. If the company thought this was going to be a bonding experience for employees, it was a failure.

At first I was intrigued by the story. The description of the weather, difficult terrain were vivid. The petty arguing and the dredging up of old grievances from years before became annoying. The women not only argued about grievances among them, but also their children. I felt relieved when the story turned from the lost women to Falk and Carmen solving the crime.

Harper does a good job with building suspence at the end of each chapter, but I feel there was too much of it.

I had a little trouble getting started with this book. It didn't engage me right off. When I tried again I stayed with it. There were a lot of characters of which we can all relate. The plot was well written but got a little tiring. I wasn't sure how it would end as the writer had you thinking one way and then you'd read further and think no that's not who or how it will end. I'm glad I read this book but it just wasn't one that I didn't want to put down.

Falk and his partner, Carmen, have been assigned to obtain contracts from a company they are investigating. The one problem they are dealing with is that Alice, the woman helping them, has disappeared in the woods during her business team building weekend getaway. Do any of her coworkers know what happened, or did she do this on her own? This is the 2nd Falk book in the series and can be read on its own. Not very riveting, yet a good mystery story. A book I enjoyed, and one that would work well for those who like clean mysteries. There are a good number of characters mentioned with two storylines being told and the chapters are easily identified in keeping track of the two character groups. I will read the first book, The Dry, to get the back story for Aaron Falk.