Five women reluctantly leave the city for a challenging hike across the rugged Giralang Ranges as part of a corporate retreat. Only four come out the other side. 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. In an investigation that takes Falk from corporate heartland to isolated bushland, he discovers that every person on that retreat had something to hide....

Listening Length

8 hours and 57 minutes
Author

Jane Harper
Narrator

Steve Shanahan
Audible release date

26 September 2017
Language

English
Publisher

Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd
ASIN

B075QLPSQN
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 57 minutes
Author	Jane Harper
Narrator	Steve Shanahan
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	26 September 2017
Publisher	Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B075QLPSQN
Best Sellers Rank	729 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 58 in Suspense 172 in Suspense Thrillers (Books) 222 in Literature & Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		47%
4 star		37%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Confronting but an incredible force...

Reviewed in Australia on 26 September 2017

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There is nothing harder than the follow up of an incredibly successful debut novel, so I read 'Force of Nature' with some trepidation.

Fortunately, Jane Harper doesn't disappoint. This is a great follow up, if not better than 'The Dry'. Both have her signature style and incredible sense of place and both books kept me on edge late into the early hours of the morning.

The premise of 'Force of Nature' was highly unusual but totally relatable - who hasn't been on a team building exercise with work colleagues only to wonder who you can trust? In this instance, five women walk into the bush on a similar team-building exercise yet only four emerge - everything goes awry when the team gets lost... what happened to Alice?

Once again, the Australian landscape was very much a character in the book however instead of 'The Dry' we have the wet, windy backdrop and the most miserable conditions for those who are lost, hungry, and distrusting of each other.
The switching of times and points-of-view between chapters helps keep the pace quick and plot moving along.

Definitely, a slower burn than its predecessor, but the complicated plot, the pace of the last half of the book and the vivid descriptions certainly make it addictive reading. It is a great examination of the wild nature of the human condition. It kept me breathless.

Another confronting 5 Stars.

15 people found this helpful

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EM. Lipski

I loved The Dry but this one just did not do ...

Reviewed in Australia on 28 November 2017

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I loved The Dry but this one just did not do it for me. The suspense of The Dry was not there. I kept putting it down and picking it up a few days later and by the time I was almost through reading it, I cared not on iota for any of the characters. Also, I was perplexed as to why, in basically a plot-driven book, the cop had to have a few pages devoted to his personal angsty history. I love really suspenseful books and if you are like me you can't go past Security by Gina Wohlsdorf.

4 people found this helpful

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Could not put it down

Reviewed in Australia on 14 August 2019

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I am old enough to remember the fear that permeated through Australia with the Ivan Milat case, so having a similar background to the story (all be it with a made up name) increased that sense of urgency and not knowing.
The twists and turns are all intertwined, and some go back decades. Towards the end of the book, the clever structure increased the panic/tempo. Just grand. I also loved the ending. I can't wait for the next Aaron Falk novel

One person found this helpful

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Jean Seifert

Lies & allibes

Reviewed in Australia on 23 January 2019

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Not really my cup of tea - showing increasing acrimony amongst a group of five female hikers. There was I thought a group of male hikers too, what happened to them?. The Federal Police characters [Falk & Carmen] appeared very subdued with their contribution to the investigation. The theme of the story though was a great idea but I would have like to read more about past missing persons in the bush to add interest to the story. This book is all about peer pressure, personalities & family issues none of which I wish to know about. Sorry!

One person found this helpful

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SMNZ

Better Than THE DRY!

Reviewed in Australia on 4 December 2017

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This is why I don't do corporate teambuilding retreats.
Mandatory fun never is.
Enforced trustbuilding exercises does not build trust.
Women will always be a little like the girls they were in high school.
Snakes may represent original sin, but in the Aussie bush it's ego & arrogance that will get you killed.

I love Harper as a writer. I can't wait to see her books hit the screen.

3 people found this helpful

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Angela Anderson

forceful or forced?

Reviewed in Australia on 22 November 2021

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Despite the wonderful and evocative setting of isolated, Australian bush this novel was somewhat disappointing. Characters appeared stereotypic , difficult to relate to and the interrelations too contrived. After the exquisite nuanced characters in The Dry these appear too overwrought to be viable. As for Aaron Falk, he appears a secondary character with a minor impact despite his heroic rescue of a distraught player at the very end of the novel.

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joseph

Disappointing

Reviewed in Australia on 26 April 2018

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First up – I adored The Dry, it was such a surprisingly outstanding novel on so many, many levels. I just devoured it. So it was with much eager anticipation I read this latest novel…….and after just now finishing it………ummmmmm Meh is the very best I can say.

I cannot believe it’s the same author to be honest. This novel lacks most things that made The Dry such a fantastic read. There is little sense of suspense or intrigue. The protagonists are simple stereotypical caricatures that fail to hold much interest. The plot is leaden, full of red herrings and a few flaws. I will admit the last 20% did pick up the pace as it raced to a conclusion but ultimately, I found the ending just such a letdown as it did not address any of the few interesting plot twists that exist.

While the Dry was a delightful surprise Force of Nature is sadly disappointing

2 people found this helpful

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Susan Armstrong

Force of Nature

Reviewed in Australia on 25 March 2022

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After reading The Dry and realising that Jane Harper had written another book about Aaron Falk l read Force of Nature. I wasn't disappointed, a great read and l particularly like books set in Victoria.

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Top reviews from other countries

Orna G

Scary!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 March 2018

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This is a gripping, edge of the chair sort of read. Having thoroughly enjoyed The Dry, her previous book, I was greatly anticipating this. It did not disappoint. The hero, Falk, is the same policeman as in The Dry and I felt that anyone who had not read it first might have been at a slight disadvantage. However, Force of Nature is a terrific stand-alone story. Basically, five women enter an impenetrable forest as part of a team building exercise. Only four return. Personally, I would not have wished for any of these five neurotic women to be my friends, as it was difficult to sympathise with any of them and I wouldn't have been upset if they had all disappeared. But this is a five star book in my opinion and well worth reading if you like to be scared.

27 people found this helpful

Female Reader

Atmospheric tale of missing hiker in Australian mountains

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2017

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This is a follow up to The Dry. Aaron Falk, the sympathetic fraud cop is involved in the search for a missing hiker who was taking part in a company team building exercise. Well written, twists, human interest. Calling this a detective story or a thriller is to underestimate it. Looking forward to her next book.

36 people found this helpful

Bluecashmere.

Stunning story.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2019

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I read Jane Harper’s trilogy in a strange order, starting with The Dry, jumping to The Lost Man and then returning to Force of Nature. Probably this resulted from slightly less enthusiastic reviews on the whole for the middle novel. In any event, I am now even more convinced that Jane Harper is a particularly fine writer and much as I was bowled over by The Lost man, I think I have to acknowledge that I enjoyed this novel most of all. The narrative structure is handled with masterful control, the identities of individual characters seem to me to be more fully fleshed out and the detectives, Falk and Carmen and their relationship is at its most convincing.
The story evolves from five women, led by Jill Bailey, senior executive of Bailey and Tennants company, who ventures into the Australian outback on an endurance and bonding exercise. The four other members of the party, all mature women, some with children at home, are the twins Beth and Breanna, Lauren and Alice, in whom Falk has an interest concerning other matters altogether. One of the girls goes missing, the launchpad for almost all that follows. We shift back and forth between the search party and the events that reveal the women and the events that lie behind the disappearance of one of them. These shifts in location and time are handled most skilfully, ratcheting up the suspense until the dramatic climax. The novel is part psychological thriller, part whodunnit, but much more than either. The personalities and backgrounds of the key figures give depth to the novel, and the unself-conscious evocation of the natural world in which the women have to survive and negotiate their path provides a powerful background to the narrative.
I found this to be an exceptionally fine novel, as indeed are the other books in the trilogy. Thoroughly recommended.

13 people found this helpful

Kee Lady

Ok but not as good as The Dry

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 December 2018

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Five female work colleagues set off on a team building exercise in the Australian Bush. Only four return. The missing woman is Alice Russell, the whistle blower in Aaron Falk’s latest case. Could this be the reason behind her disappearance? Alice was not popular with her colleagues and as the investigation develops, Falk uncovers how suspicion and mistrust plagued the group.

I really enjoyed Jane Harper’s debut novel The Dry and I was keen to see if Force of Nature would match its quality and success. It appears to have matched its success but not quite its quality. The beginning is promising and Harper builds some nice anticipation, teasing the reader with numerous possibilities for Alice’s disappearance. I was therefore expecting some thrilling revelations but sadly, this is never realised, as a number of threads are revealed as nothing more than red herrings with no conclusion. The real reason behind Alice’s disappearance was painfully underwhelming although the final scenes add some much-needed drama into an otherwise pedestrian plot. Perhaps it is a case of second book syndrome but I am hoping it is third time lucky for Jane Harper with The Lost Man.

15 people found this helpful

M. Sumner

Another Stunner from Jane Harper

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 April 2018

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From the author of The Dry another exhilerating read featuring Federal Agent Aaron Falk. Falk and his associate Carmen are investigating serious money laundering by the Bailey family in Melbourne. He has coerced a whistleblower, Alice Russell, to obtain evidence. Alice works for the family.

Alice and four other women who work for Bailey are sent on a team building exercise in the outback, a hike in the bush intended to teach resilience. Five women set out on the muddy track. Only four come out the other side. Alice is missing.

Harper builds tension as the plot moves between the last days of the hike and Falk's endeavours with other searchers to find the missing woman. Four women tell Falk about their relationship with Alice, a tale of suspicion and disintegrating trust. Who is telling the truth?

A brilliantly paced plot wrong-footing the reader at every turn. It's another stunner from Jane Harper.

13 people found this helpful

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Force of Nature: Aaron Falk Series, Book 2 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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