Review | Crime author Jane Harper’s second novel is a masterful thriller
Plus, a surreal, darkly comic and powerful take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Iraqi novelist Ahmed Saadawi
by Jane Harper
Abacus
4/5 stars
Australian crime novelist Jane Harper’s debut, The Dry (2015), earned fantastic reviews and sold massively, which is probably why Reece Witherspoon, allegedly, snapped up the film rights. If The Dry exploited a noble crime tradition (big-city cop returns to small-town roots only to run into a crime from their past), the follow-up, Force of Nature, draws on a popular notion beloved of horror stories.
Five characters head into the wilderness and only four come back. All of them work for the same company and have been sent to the countryside to bond. Harper announces her tragedy and intrigue from the top: “Later, the four remaining women could fully agree on only two things. One: No-one saw the bushland swallow up Alice Russell. And two: Alice had a mean streak so sharp it could bite you.”
The search team, led by Federal Agent Aaron Falk, suspects foul play when they hear a garbled message from the quintet containing the words “hurt her”. The hunt for Alice’s body is jacked up by other revelations: “Alice brought this on herself,” one of her colleagues says. Does this refer to Alice’s intention to blow the whistle on their company? Or could it relate to a rumoured serial killer who seems to be abducting women brave or foolish enough to enter the barren wasteland? Harper’s talent for plotting is propelled by fluent prose. A superior thriller.
by Ahmed Saadawi
OneWorld