Book Review: The Survivors by Jane Harper
Harper’s previous books have all been huge hits so I was super excited to pick up a copy of her new novel, The Survivors (thanks Netgalley and Pan Macmillan Australia).
Kieran has avoided returning to his hometown due to his involvement in the death of his brother and his brother’s friend during a storm when he was younger. During this same storm a young girl, Gabby, went missing. Now though, he returns to help his parents who are in the process of packing up their house and moving because of Kieran’s father’s declining health due to dementia. And also now, just after Kieran arrives in town, another body washes up on the local beach, obviously murdered.
Harper has created an interesting cast of locals for Kiernan’s hometown. I liked how they were all very realistic and she avoided the ‘crazy log lady’ type of quirky characters. (I’ve also got to mention how realistic the police acted and communicated with the other characters in this book. I’ve read a couple of books of late where the police and the public’s interactions have been kind of ridiculous. Well, ridiculous for Australia anyway.)
Harper also did a great job of casting suspicion over every single character in the book. I’m sure I had my doubts about all of them at one time or another, including the local policeman, Kieran’s parents, and even his partner and mother of his child. And not only does Harper keep you guessing about the current murder, she makes you wonder about just how it, Gabby’s disappearance, and Kieran’s incident during the storm are connected.
I find Harper’s style of writing extremely easy to read and I flew through the book in a couple of nights. She makes the story flow with a real ‘show not tell’ way that is really quite rare. She uses a lot of dialogue and yet the book feels very descriptive and it’s always easy to differentiate between the characters and get a sense of mood.
This is the third book I’ve read recently which has been set in Tasmania and, in my mind, Harper basically made this place setting another character. The fictional town of Evelyn Bay is a typical coastal small town of Australia where everyone knows everyone’s business, and yet everyone still manages to have secrets. The locals spend their evenings at the local pub/restaurant, sharing gossip and stirring up a general mistrust of visitors to the town.
Harper takes full advantage of the natural beauty and danger of the locale. Upon his return, Kieran is constantly drawn to the water, the beach, and the caves at the base of the cliff top walking track. To add a bit more drama, the ‘survivors’ is not only a valid description of the characters in the book but also a set of three statues/sculptures placed at the site of a local shipwreck. These sculptures are a focal point for the characters to establish how far the tide has come in when traversing the caves and their inclusion somehow gives the book a haunting gothic feel.
It’s a joy to read such a well written Aussie novel. Strongly recommend. One of my top 5 reads for the year. 5 out of 5
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