This is the third book I have read by this author and the third I have enjoyed. The story uses the same basic premise as her earlier book The Dry in that it centres on someone returning to the small town the grew up in and events conspire to raise things from the past. In this case, the town in question is a small seaside resort in Tasmania and the reader is soon drawn into the atmosphere of the town following a murder which brings back memories of a tumultuous day in the towns recent history. The plot weaves various threads before reaching its climax. I found myself immersed in this book and its characters and can recommend it.

This is a slow burner of a novel. I enjoyed the pace as it built slowly but not too slowly.
A good winter novel considering the setting and thoroughly enjoyed it.
It’s suspenseful and we’re aware that the past holds a tragedy which affects the present day.
Well worth reading.

Another great mystery from Jane Harper, this time making full use of the Tasmanian coast to set a different isolated community with the sea, rather than the bush, as both a barrier and focus of the town. Adding in a past tragedy that still haunts the town, returning locals, incomers and a fresh tragedy sets the tone for a pacy thriller. I’ve really enjoyed Harper’s previous books and this is no exception - i was drawn in and read later into the night than planned (and found it hard to set aside even then, plus my dreams were haunted by waves and a sense of threat!).

Read it, immerse yourself in the town - a January release is perfect for escaping to the Southern Hemisphere (albeit virtually) and this coming January even more so!

Jane Harper’s The Survivors is an engrossing, suspenseful novel, with strong characters and an intensely realised landscape. It takes place in the tiny, isolated Tasmanian town of Evelyn Bay, sparsely populated except during the tourist season, when holidaymakers outnumber the town’s inhabitants.

Kieran, who spent his boyhood in the town, returns home twelve years on, with his partner and baby daughter. Like his closest boyhood friends and members of his family, he continues to struggle with memories of a past catastrophe, when a violent storm led to the death of two young men, including his own brother, as well as to the disappearance of a fourteen-year old girl - still an unsolved mystery. Echoes of the past seem to be everywhere when, soon after Kieran’s return, another young woman is found dead on the beach.

As the novel develops, Harper constructs a double perspective. The earlier coming of age story that played itself out at the time of the storm is repeatedly juxtaposed with the often painful recall of the sufferings of these younger selves. Each half of the narrative contains unanswered questions and unsolved crimes, and Harper’s novel is a powerful examination of the ways in which identities take shape under pressure of events.

The isolation of this small outpost is vividly imagined throughout. As characters stand looking out to sea, they see the vast nothingness of the ocean: “They’d stood side by side in silence... Somewhere invisible to the north lay mainland Australia, to the far south, Antarctica. In front of them, nothing, all the way to the horizon.” When he dives down into the icily cold water, Kieran feels “the water roaring past his ears and nothing but hundreds of kilometres of rolling sea separating him from the next nearest landmass.”

The novel’s title refers to three huge iron statues partially submerged in the sea, commemorating the loss of life in a long-ago shipwreck. They are always partially visible from the whale lookout, except when a storm makes the surge of the sea so overwhelming that all is obliterated:

“He could see the waves lapping high against The Survivors and suddenly it was twelve years ago and he was lost all over again. He scrambled in the water, his head twisting from the caves to the cliff path, trying to find his way out. He couldn’t see the bottom of the trail. It was submerged, he realised, and his world lurched until he wasn’t sure what was sky and what was sea.”

The Survivors is a taut mystery story that keeps readers guessing until the end. But it is also, like Harper’s earlier novels, a subtle, often moving exploration of the torment of loss, grief and guilt. As in her debut novel, The Dry (2016), she endows an extreme terrain with mythic dimensions. Past tragedies, psychological traumas and the unknowable, treacherous paths of the human subconscious are all written into the landscape of Evelyn Bay.

There are inextricable connections between human experience and the surrounding landscape, not only in the ever-present, destructive force of the sea but in the labyrinthine tunnels of the sea caves, in which we glimpse the inner struggles of characters who try to navigate the hazardous paths, sometimes getting hopelessly lost as their route spirals down into darkness, at other times glimpsing a tunnel “winding clear and dry ahead”: as Kieran reflects, “he had already spent too long mentally navigating the dark of those caves, wandering exhausted over the same old ground. Battling to change something that couldn’t be changed, instead of trying to find his way out to the light.” Harper’s skill as a novelist ensures that her embodiment of this obsessive inner battle stays in our minds long after reading The Survivors.

The Survivors by Jane Harper, was a thought provoking, emotional thriller set in Tasmania.

I felt this one had a lot to offer and was extremely well written, but it just was a bit depressing for me. The main theme of this book was that Kieron comes home to a place that he had thought he'd left behind for good, to help his mother deal with plans for his dementia suffering father to go into care. This is heart breaking to read about and I think you have to be in the right place in your head to get through it. (Maybe this year wasn't the best to read it!)

The past was pretty brutal for Kieron and when a body turns up while he is in town, it all comes rushing back to him. Can he get over the traumatic events that happened when he was young? Will he ever be forgiven? Was it all as it seemed?

Written well, and the characters were superbly fleshed out here. As always Jane Harper uses the setting as another character in her books. In The Dry we had the desolately dry Australian surroundings, and this one we have a beautiful but claustrophobic coastal town as one of our main characters.

I would read this again, and I would recommend it to any fiction fans, thriller fans, readers who want a good mystery to solve.

Jane Harper is a brilliant crime writer, a CWA Golden Dagger award winner and I am always excited about anything new she writes. Along with Garry Disher, she superbly portraits what is called the Australian Outback noir. Both authors’ books I devour as I did with Jane Harpers upcoming book “The Survivors”, out in January 2021, which I had the privilege to read as a proof (thank you Little Brown UK!) , set in Tasmania for a change.

Her subtle description of the dark psychological undercurrents running through families and small towns is always intriguing and slowly builds up to an unexpected.

Kieran Elliott has spent most of his adult life feeling guilty about his part in the drowning death of his older brother Finn and his boat partner during a terrible storm after making a thoughtless mistake. When he and his girlfriend Mia and their baby daughter return from Sydney to visit his parents who still live in the coastal town he once called home, the strong feeling of guilt haunts him even more particularly after the body of a young art student called Bronte who has been working as a waitress for the summer is found murdered by the beach. Bronte’s death stirs up memories of yet another unresolved death of his friend Olivia’s younger sister Gabby, who also disappeared during the great storm but whose body was never found.

I love it how seemingly benign Jane Harper starts her narration and how cleverly she peels away layers of secrets unearthing new truths until the bitter end. Not an outback setting this time but I thought all characters, like those of detectives Sue Pendlebury and Constable Chris Renn or Kieran’s family and friends, where well drawn out leaving various options open until the very end, four stars from me.

Jane Harper's knows how to weave a story, build suspense and hold reader's in the palm of her hands. Having read a couple of Harper's other books, I was delighted to have been approved to read this ahead of publication. What a tale and what a history, all bound up, as Harper's books tend to be, in the rhythms of nature and its destructive force. I loved the characters and the complicated relationships that came to life in these pages, and the ending was utterly perfect. Faultless.

I haven't read Jane Harper's other books but was drawn to this one by the Tasmanian setting. It is a somewhat confusing book, especially as past events are interspersed with current events with no notice or indication. I went back and reread many a previous paragraph or sentence to make sure I wasn't losing the plot. The ending was ok but didn't really resolve everything I wanted resolved. And I was surprised to offered this title with a publication date of January 2021 when it already has over 3000 reviews on Amazon and 5400 odd ratings on Goodreads. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this title.

4.5 stars

The Survivors is a cultural mystery set in the small coastal town of Evelyn Bay in Tasmania. Kieran and his partner Mia have returned with their baby; they are here for a visit and to help Kieran’s parents pack-up the family home.

Coming back is hard for Kieran as it raises his supressed survivor’s guilt; twelve years ago Kieran survived the night of a terrible storm when two others died trying to rescue him.

On their first night back, a waitress from the local bar drowns under suspicious circumstances. It send shockwaves of fear through the community, and the police investigation soon opens up some long buried secrets.

Small town community settings are one of Harper’s strengths; she peels away layers of history and distrust during her stories in a way which makes the settings feel very real. I also enjoy the characters and how they make up the puzzle pieces of a small town community.

The survivor theme is threaded throughout the book; a set of statues sits on the rocks of Evelyn Bay, a tribute to a shipwreck, which is a focal point for local diving enthusiasts. As the story unfolds, almost every character could be labelled a survivor, and I thought that this theme strengthened the book.

I would describe the story as medium paced, certainly not a high octane speed. The ending was my least favourite part; I found it a little disappointing, but this is more to do with my reading preferences than the book itself; it may well work for others.

Having read two of Jane Harper's other books, I was keen to read "The Survivors". This time, set in Tasmania, it has small echoes of The Dry, when the main characters return to the small town where they grew up, having left 12 years before after the storm which is a critical event in the book.

Not entirely sure if I understand what happened to the two girls who died but it was a good read.

The Survivors is another atmospheric standalone thriller from Jane Harper, this time the round the location isn’t the arid plains of Australia, but a small coastal town called Evelyn Bay in Tasmania. The author has once again perfected the setting for this story, Evelyn Bay is a thriving tourist spot during the summer, but come winter it becomes a ghost town, bleak, rugged, and stormy.  Evelyn Bay feels claustrophobic thanks to the small-minded mentality of the people there, it’s the kind of town where it’s a forgone conclusion that “your business is everyone’s business”. 

Kieran has spent the last 12 years running from the past, but now his dad is unwell and he returns to his childhood home of Evelyn Bay. He left the area after the death of his brother Finn, who died during a storm twelve years previously.  The storm and the events surrounding Finn’s death changed the life’s of the town’s characters forever. Some are wracked with grief, and others are haunted by their guilt. When the body of a young girl is found on the beach soon after Kierans arrival, long-held secrets threaten to emerge in the murder investigation that follows. 

I must admit I found the first half of the book really slow, but on reflection Jane Harper uses this time to introduce the characters and there are a lot of them! She also sets the tone, and there’s the undercurrent of tension building throughout, it’s like the sea the author describes, at first there are gentle ripples, but then the big waves come crashing in along with it a plethora of jealousy, resentment, and lies, revealing a riveting murder mystery full of intrigue and suspense.

This was brilliant, absolutely as great as The Dry which I also loved. I wasn't sure where it was going at the start and there were quite a few names to get straight but once I was in I was hooked.

I commenced The Survivors by Jane Harper with interest. Having never read any of her previous books, I was looking forward to the storyline, which was intriguing. The writing was good and I connected with the main character, Kieran Elliott. especially his relationship with his mother and father, Verity & Brian. Brian has dementia. This is a story about love, loss, grief, anger, guilt and family. I enjoyed the book and the descriptions, which I could clearly visualise, especially the sea and the caves. I would recommend this novel.

I give a 4 star rating.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK

The Survivors is a change of setting for Harper, away from dry arid Australian bush to the Tasmanian coast, but the weather and nature still play a key role through the events of the storm that hit the community 12 years previously and impacted all the main characters lives.
There is a large cast of tangled characters which helps flesh out the community and the impact of the storm, the deaths of the 2young men, the missing teenage girl and the murder 12years later. It is a slower read due to building the characters, but it still skilfully sucks the reader in. The life of the small town is very well described and even some of the minor characters are very vividly portrayed with the everyday struggles of real life.

My only criticism was that the novel seemed to stop very abruptly, just after revealing a twist which I had definitely not seen coming, but which made sense! I felt like another chapter was needed to just finish the novel, however this may have been heightened by reading on kindle and not realising I was so near the end... sometimes the paperback copies allow you to know you are nearing the finale and subconsciously be prepared for an ending in the way that % does not!

I think Harper is a fantastic author of gripping mysteries abs certainly an author that I look forward to reading. Highly recommended, and read any others which you haven’t already read!

The Survivors. Jane Harper.

Another atmospheric winner from Ms. Harper. Set in Tasmania in a small coastal resort, the book moves at a slow burn. Multi layered, it probes the lives and motivations of the characters as they try to solve the mystery of a dead girl and remember the night of the awful storm that took the lives of two men twelve years ago.

Kieran, the protagonist has always struggled with guilt over this believing the tragedy was his fault and knowing that many people in the community are convinced of it too. He has made a life for himself away from Evelyn Bay but has returned along with his partner, Mia and their baby daughter to help his mother pack and move his father to a dementia care home. It’s his bad luck that this new tragedy occurs just after he arrives.

The Survivors is a monument gazing out to sea at the far end of the bay where labyrinthine caves and treacherous tides awaits the unwary. They seem to encapsulate the secrets and guilt of the community, dark and brooding, a constant reminder of tragedy. They are a clever metaphor for the inhabitants of the Bay.

As we meet the townsfolk and the mystery starts to unravel it becomes apparent that there are many in Evelyn Bay with something to hide. Harper creates a superb sense of atmosphere and place with convincing, multi layered characters. There are many twists and turns as the book builds to a crescendo and we learn the devastating truth of the matter.

Two mysteries are solved in this book. This is a change from the dry, arid settings of Harper’s other books but she sets the tone and atmosphere perfectly, creating a menacing sense of place which draws the reader irrevocably in. Moody and dramatic without being over egged, this is a good read. Harper, as usual does not disappoint.

This is my first Jane Harper book so I didn't really have any expectations. It is a slow burn of a novel which I don't really mind as much as some reviewers. The setting is beautifully described and the plot is promising initially. Two mysteries, separated by 12 years, at the same location. Coincidence or is something else going on. There are quite a few red herrings as all the main characters are around on both occasions and if I'm honest I was a little surprised by the conclusion, my mind had gone a different way.

I found it hard to engage with the characters as I don't think you really get to know them, they all seem quite one-dimensional. I wanted to find out what had really happened more than a decade ago as it is pretty obvious that it isn't as straightforward as first appears, but I was a little disappointed by the final reveal and the way the book seems to just stop dead.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Words to describe this book, atmospheric, thrilling, thought provoking!

The Survivors tells us the story of the inhabitants of a small time as they recover from past and recent shocks on their path to the truth. It tells us about growth of people and characters, how the lessons we learn can change us, and how secrets can stay buried.

I loved this book. Loved sitting on a cloudy lockdown morning with images of the sea, caves and a storm in my mind. Mia and Kieran are likeable and relatable characters.

In short, an excellent read. Do pick up a copy if you have the chance.

I have really enjoyed reading Jane Harper's murder/mystery/thriller books and this one was no exception. The author has a way of drawing the reader into the story slowly until you are suddenly aware that you are totally immersed and have to keep reading until you get to the end so you can find out who did it and why..
Kieran returns to the place he grew up bringing his partner and baby daughter. They are here to help his parents pack up the house as they move due to his father's illness. We then find out about what happened just over ten years ago and begin to discover links to an incident that occurs on the evening they arrive. The twists and turns of the plot are great and I didn't guess who it was until it was revealed!
Looking forward to the next book by this author. Thanks to netgalley for this free read.

A Cosy Crime story with a lot of suspense. The story relies on the Venn Diagram of relationships in a small town
15 years after his brother and a close friend died in a storm, whilst they were trying to rescue home. Kieran returns to the town from his new life in the big city
But when a woman is found dead on a beach, yards from his parents house, and in almost the same spot a 14 year old girl was last seen during the storm of years ago, secrets start to become uncovered
Little white lies, to protect reputations, told years ago are starting to unravel.
This is a great story. Well worth reading. Why 4 stars not five, it was just a little to cosy, for me.

Kieran and his partner Mia return to their home town to help Kierans parents pack up their house. While there a young woman is murdered which sends the small town into a spin, memories of a past tragedy resurface. The gossip mill in the town goes into overdrive and secrets are dredged up.
Yet again Jane Harper tells a great story. The tension simmers all through the book and I could not wait to get to the end to find out what really happened. I read the book in two days!
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review