Jane Harper has a gift for developing intense, small town mysteries set in Australia, where the setting becomes an integral and often hostile part of the story. In The Survivors (Feb. 2021), set in a beach town in the state of Tasmania, Kieran Elliott returns home to Evelyn Bay to help his mother pack up the family home in anticipation of a move to the mainland for assistance with Kieran's father who is suffering from dementia. Being home is loaded with bad memories surrounding the death of Kieran's older brother Finn and Kieran's part in that accident, but it is tempered by his loving--and fairly new--relationship with Mia, also from Evelyn Bay, and their baby daughter Audrey.
The visit takes a sudden turn for the worse when the body of a young woman is found on the beach, and the death dredges up mysteries and ill feelings from the past. When the death is deemed suspicious, a whole host of characters with questionable motives makes the reader wonder who is involved. Stephen Shanahan's narration brings an emotional depth to the story in his wonderful Aussie accent.
If you haven't discovered the mysteries by this Australian author, you are in for a treat. The Dry, The Lost Man, and Force of Nature are excellent crime novels, and The Dry is being released as a movie starring Eric Bana in Australia and New Zealand on New Year's Day; hopefully, it will make its way here soon. These are all stand-alone novels, although federal police officer Aaron Falk appears in two of the books (The Dry and Force of Nature). The Survivors, which provides a terrific mystery, also introduces readers to life in a small vacation town on the other side of the world. It is highly recommended.
The book and audiobook will be released on February 2. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy.
