"Force of Nature"

A book review of 'Force of Nature' by Jane Harper.

"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 cut you."

As someone who doesn't usually read mystery thrillers, no one was more surprised than me when I read the blurb of Force of Nature and found that I just had to read it right away, no questions asked. Especially since the book is set in Melbourne - the same city I was waiting to catch a flight to.

Force of Nature is an extremely captivating novel with a story line that was beautifully and deftly assembled, and characters that were skillfully drawn and developed. Packed full with red-herrings and misdirection, the book reels you in from the very beginning, with the intrigue only continuing to grow page by page.

The story line can easily be summarised in two simple lines: "Five woman go on a hike. Only four return." Force of Nature follows the difficult journey of five colleagues who, as part of a company retreat, have to navigate through unchartered, woodland territory isolated deep within the bushlands of Australia alone, with no means of communication with the outside world. As more and more things start to go wrong and the harsh setting takes its toll, the hidden resentments, betrayals, and stories between the woman begin to surface.

For lovers of Big Little Lies and Gone Girl, Force of Nature will not leave you disappointed.

*The following section contain spoilers*

What I liked most about the book was the way in which Harper cleverly incorporated the whole money-laundering story line, which had Alice as the whistleblower. It was very difficult to tell, as more and more was revealed, whether Alice's disappearance had anything to do with the information she was feeding the police, or with the unpleasant history she had with her colleagues. The intrigue was ramped-up even more with Bailey's little 'social visit' and chat with Alice at the lady's camp on their first night there, especially since this went against the retreat rules. The fact that Bailey was also held up at the start of the journey for 'private family matters' only added fuel to the fire, as it made us wonder if he had found out about Alice's involvement with the police. Could this have been the topic of their conversation that first night, and is this why she went missing? Did she even go missing, or was there something more sinister involved?

Of course, we do later find out in a shocking plot-twist that, while his private family matter did have something to do with Alice, it had nothing to do with the money-laundering investigation. Very cleverly done, Harper.

Also, can we talk about Lauren's flashback scene for a moment. Throughout the book, Harper led us to believe that the scene ends with Alice taking Lauren's hand and saving her. That Alice was the one who stood by Lauren as she got bullied. It isn't until the very end, however, that we find out that the reality was the complete opposite - that it was Alice who bullied Lauren. That it was Alice who rallied up the other girls to do to Lauren what they did. Honestly, who would have thought! All this time, I thought Lauren was the least likely suspect - that she would never harm the woman who, as a teenager, was her saving grace. It was really a fantastic and perfectly timed twist that really got my heart pumping.

Overall, Force of Nature was stunningly written, with clever and shocking twists that left me reeling. I would 100% recommend this book to not only lovers of mystery thrillers, but to anyone and everyone! This book will not disappoint.