The Survivors by Jane Harper

 

Jane Harper’s latest novel is set in Evelyn Bay, a fictional small beachside community in Tasmania. As usual, the descriptive writing is brilliant. As a native of a Sydney northern beach town I felt cold every time someone went into the water down there to swim or dive!

There are a lot of characters in this story and at first I found it hard to keep up with the relationships each had with the others. I wouldn’t have minded a cast of characters at the front of the book but that being said  by the time I eventually had them sorted I was good to go and I could picture them all.

Evelyn Bay had suffered a triple tragedy some twelve years before the story begins but now the shocking discovery of a dead girl on the beach at the same spot where another girl had disappeared all those years ago has stunned the residents and sent their local on-line news page into overdrive. Kieran, the lead character, has returned to Evelyn Bay from Sydney with his partner, Mia, and baby, Audrey, to help his mother move herself and her husband who is suffering from dementia out of their house. They were all closely connected to the events of twelve years ago, as were their friends who are still residents of the town.

As I have found previously with Jane Harper’s books, I could not guess the ending and that was a huge bonus for me!

Jane Harper deserves all the accolades that have been bestowed on her. She is one of the best! 5 out of 5.

Published by Macmillan