Force of Nature (Aaron Falk, #2) in Pick-a-Shelf

Mar 06, 2018 Kathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, series, favorite-covers, mystery, crime-thriller, highly-recommend

I read Jane Harper's debut novel, The Dry, at the end of last year and wondered why I hadn't read it as soon as it was published. The Dry introduced the character of Federal Agent Aaron Falk, and it was easily one of my favorite reads last year. That it was a debut novel was simply gobsmacking impressive. Now, in Force of Nature, Harper returns readers to Australia and Agent Falk, an honorable man whose baggage from his youth was explored in the first novel. We are still learning about this soli I read Jane Harper's debut novel, The Dry, at the end of last year and wondered why I hadn't read it as soon as it was published. The Dry introduced the character of Federal Agent Aaron Falk, and it was easily one of my favorite reads last year. That it was a debut novel was simply gobsmacking impressive. Now, in Force of Nature, Harper returns readers to Australia and Agent Falk, an honorable man whose baggage from his youth was explored in the first novel. We are still learning about this solitary figure in book two, with the focus on his relationship with his late father. But, those are the side notes that keep giving insight to the character and explain why he is where he is in life. There is an overwhelming problem with which to deal while we grow closer to the character, and that problem in Force of Nature is one of finding a needle in a haystack.

Five women and five men from the accounting firm of BaileyTennants go on a three-day team building trek in Australia's Giralang Mountains, routes and supplies provided by a professional excursion company for just such activities. But, at the end of the three days, as the men's team waits for the women's team to return to the base lodge, only four of the five women return. Aaron Falk gets involved in the disappearance because the missing team member, Alice Russell, was working with him to blow the whistle on the corrupt BaileyTennants accounting firm, a firm run by a brother and sister. The sister and brother were on the exercise, too, and Falk is concerned that Alice Russell may have been outed as a traitor before the trip. One thing is certain. The five women on the team have issues with one another, and Alice could be quite cutting with the others. Resentment would only grow with the time the women spent together. Falk and his partner, Carmen Cooper, can sense that the returning women are filtering their stories and holding back information, and at least one of them is holding back the key information to finding Alice. Sergeant King of the State Police is in charge of the search for Alice in the mountain ranges and keeps Falk and Carmen apprised of what is being done there. It's up to the two federal agents though to determine just what went on with Alice and the other women, as their investigation of the accounting firm depends on documents Alice was about to provide.

As Falk begins the investigation at the mountain range itself, he is confronted with ghosts, that of his father who hiked this wilderness and whose map of the area is in the backpack of his father's that Falk brings along to his lodgings, and there is the ghost of a serial killer who once used these mountains as a hiding place. The investigation when Falk is in Melbourne is fraught with complications of past and present relationships and trying to move forward with the surprise bringing down of a corrupt company. Falk's partner, Carmen, is an interesting new character who works well with the loner Falk and seems to have a well-balanced control of her life, although her upcoming nuptials give a bit of pause for thought. With hours becoming days, Falk and Carmen are losing hope for a happy ending with either Alice's survival or the success of their financial investigation into BaileyTennants.

There should be no doubt after reading Jane Harper's second Aaron Falk novel that Harper is an author of great skill and delivery. Her writing is as polished as any seasoned writer I read. Her grasp of creating a suspenseful story results in a thrilling read, with her on-target descriptions of an immense forest in the dark and trails that lead nowhere. The gas attendant at the only station close to the park entrance states, "It’s the panic that gets you. Makes it hard to trust what you’re seeing.”
Harper brings this panic into our minds with a masterful deftness. Force of Nature cements this series and this author as storytelling at its finest. ...more

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Mar 09, 2021 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-author, own, australia, crime, mm-21

I loved the first book but I just couldn't really get into this one. I think it has to do with the alternate chapters between Falk and the run down of events. I didn't like those chapters because it was like psychological thriller and I don't like that particular type of reads. But if you like psychological thriller, I think you may enjoy this one more than I do. ...more

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Mar 17, 2019 Sunflower rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, fiction-read-2019

This second Aaron Falk novel didn't sit with me as well as the first one. A corporate trip into the Giralang Ranges, the site of several previous murders, ups the ante on the creepy factor when things start to spiral out of control in the women's group. A series of mishaps leads then to an almost "Lord of the Flies" scenario, and much of the novel is spent alternating between the present investigation and the events which lead to the loss of one of the members of the party. What an ill-prepared ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Rachel N. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, series, suspense, australia, read-in-2019

Five women and five men are sent on a corporate retreat in the wilderness for four days on separate teams. One of the women doesn't make it out. Aaron Falk and his new partner become involved because the woman who disappeared was helping them with a fraud case against the company she worked for. I appreciated the wilderness descriptions and the creepiness that increased after the womans team became lost. I wish there was more about Falk in the book and more information about the five woman on th ...more

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Jul 15, 2018 Leslie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Well written..

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Jul 14, 2022 Cora rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, thriller, mystery, australia, crime, family-relationships, survival, wilderness, australian-author, woman-author

This was a decent mystery, but I did not enjoy it as much as the first book in the series. I found very few of the characters enjoyable to read about and I did not care about any of them. The actual outcome of the mystery made sense, but wasn't too obvious from the beginning. I liked being immersed into a different Australian environment (compared the first book). Overall, it was interesting mystery but I did not find any characters to care about. ...more

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May 06, 2020 emily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-and-crime, detectives-and-private-eyes, 2020, cw-copaganda

Not quite as gripping as The Dry, but still a very solid mystery, and Falk remains a great lens through which to observe people's interactions. ...more

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