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Force of Nature (Aaron Falk, #2)

Jane Harper

Start date: September 19, 2018

Finish date: September 23, 2018

Discussion: 2018 Tracking for Challenge

Discussion leader: Jonetta

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2018 Tracking for Challenge

* 2018 Individual Tracking Lists
By Jennifer · 1 post · 36 views

last updated Dec 15, 2017 09:41AM

* 2018 Blog Challenge Details
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last updated Dec 15, 2018 10:58AM

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What Members Thought

Feb 08, 2018 Eadie Burke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2018, up-to-date-series-2018

This is the 2nd book in the Aaron Falk series. Aaron Falk is a Financial Crimes Federal Police Officer who is investigating the Bailey Family Corporation for fraud. Carmen Cooper is his cohort in this book as his partner, Greg Raco, is convalescing from Harper's last book, The Dry. The corporation is holding a weekend corporate retreat for team building which consists of a hike in the wilderness in Australia. Five men and five woman are in two separate teams. The story focuses mainly on the five ...more

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Jun 03, 2018 Bruce Perrin rated it really liked it

An Excellently Crafted Book with a Somewhat Diluted Ending

One of the things that first drew me into Force of Nature was the way Harper characterized the Australian bush country – so dense and tangled that even if you were walking in a straight line, it could feel like you were walking in circles. Every sound, every glimpse of motion is lost in the shadows from the vegetation just a few feet away. Then add a cold wind and rain, and uncomfortable becomes punishing. So, when five women on a corpora An Excellently Crafted Book with a Somewhat Diluted Ending

One of the things that first drew me into Force of Nature was the way Harper characterized the Australian bush country – so dense and tangled that even if you were walking in a straight line, it could feel like you were walking in circles. Every sound, every glimpse of motion is lost in the shadows from the vegetation just a few feet away. Then add a cold wind and rain, and uncomfortable becomes punishing. So, when five women on a corporate retreat to the area lose some gear and then get lost, a bad situation turns much worse. It would have been tense even if the women were the best of friends, a well-oiled machine in the working world. But they weren’t and when the story starts, only four of them have returned from their hike.

Harper uses parallel timelines, one chronicling the women’s hike, the other telling of Australian Federal Police Agents Falk and Cooper’s actions when they are called in four days later. The tension mounts with both storylines reaching their respective climaxes at the end of the book. It’s a great technique and Harper uses it well. I liked Falk and Cooper as the co-investigators. Neither were simple stereotypes, although Faulk was a bit flat. And Harper avoided the cliché of making their story too romantic. As for the women’s story, they ‘took turns’ relating the events as they saw them, and these shifting points of view give the reader considerable insight into their lives and personalities. Again, a nice touch by the author.

The paucity of the women’s training and the complete absence of safety equipment was not believable, but the rest of the story creates enough tension that this fact is easily forgotten. The pacing is acceptable, although it is more the ‘slow burn’ of rivals in a desperate situation for most of the book. The action does increase markedly at the end. But what should have been the pinnacle of tension becomes diluted, as the twist in the last third of the book introduces not only new thoughts about what happened to the missing hiker, but the reasons as well. Shifting themes so dramatically made it feel like two stories, the second one clearly significant but not nearly as developed as the suspense in the first.

Overall, Force of Nature is excellently crafted, with palpable tension for most of the book. But with a new theme competing for the reader’s attention, the finale fizzles a bit. ...more

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Dec 26, 2022 Anne - Books of My Heart rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: coyer, audio, library, 2022, library22

I loved continuing on to learn more about Aaron Falk. While he is working in federal financial crimes, he sure ends up involved in a lot of murders. It's nice to see him slowly grow on a personal level as well. ...more

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Jun 12, 2019 Denaiir rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-audiobooks

This one was not great, dragged a bit but it's mostly because I didn't like the premise and was not very interested in the plot. I also wish it had been more centered around Falk, I feel like it could have been anyone. I'll conitnue with the series, however I hope that the next one will have a more gripping plot. ...more

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