Force of Nature by Jane Harper @janeharperautho @LittleBrownUK @GraceEVincent #ForceOfNature #Giveaway #Win

FIVE WENT OUT. FOUR CAME BACK...

Is Alice here? Did she make it? Is she safe? In the chaos, in the night, it was impossible to say which of the four had asked after Alice's welfare. Later, when everything got worse, each would insist it had been them.

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side.

The hike through the rugged landscape is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.

Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case - and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with.

Far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell Falk a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. And as he delves into the disappearance, it seems some dangers may run far deeper than anyone knew.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper is published in hardback by Little Brown on 8 February and is the author's second novel.  Her first, The Dry was published in 2017. My thanks to the publisher who sent a signed proof for review.

I have a hardback copy of Force of Nature to giveaway to one blog reader. Entry is simple; just fill out the competition widget at the end of the post. The competition is open for one week and is open to UK readers only.

Force of Nature opens with a prologue that grips and taunts the reader. Set in the Australian Bush, we learn that two groups, one female, one male, have set out on a team-building hike. Only the men have returned. When the females finally appear, they are one woman down. Alice Russell is missing and nobody has any answers.

Police Agent Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen Cooper work with the Melbourne Financial Investigation Unit and Alice Russell is an important witness in a very important case. Aaron receives a voicemail from Alice; he can hear nothing except two words .... 'hurt her'. Falk and Cooper travel out to the bush and become entwined in the mystery of the missing woman.

Jane Harper really can spin a great story. I was completely engrossed in this tense and atmospheric tale of relationship building and breaking, double-crossing, deceit and desperation. Cleverly narrated, and skipping between the action back at the search centre and what is actually happening during the hike, the reader is treated to characters who are savagely and cruelly realistic. As the hike descends further into the bush, and the women become more and more desperate, their personalities are exposed fully.  There's more than a hint of The Lord of Flies within this story, and the tension increases as the pages turn.

The development of the characters within Force of Nature is excellently done. As the plot progresses, more about each of the women on the hike is slowly revealed. First impressions will change, and opinions will alter as the story moves on.  This author cleverly combines the unfurling disaster within the heart of the bush with the ongoing police investigations, and the reader grows to love Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen.

With an outstanding sense of place and an atmosphere that is both stifling and confining, Force of Nature is a book that I just couldn't stop thinking about, it deals with relationships; both family and workplace, and is dark and intensely satisfying.

One Hardback Copy of Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Jane Harper is the author of The Dry, winner of various awards including the 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, the 2017 Indie Award Book of the Year and the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year Award.
Rights have been sold in 27 territories worldwide, and film rights optioned to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK, and lives in Melbourne.
Force of Nature is Jane's second novel.

Find out more at www.janeharper.com.au
Find her Author page on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @janeharperautho