A complex, nail biting thriller from a writer who knows her stuff and consistently delivers first class stories based on a unique premise with well drawn believable characters. and situations. A young couple return home to Tasmania after a decade spent in Sydney Australia. Their arrival sets off a chain of events related to a fatal accident which have been buried and simmering under the surface of this tranquil coastal resort for many years,. Their arrival coincides with the murder of a student,, a summer resident working as a waitress, forcing a community to face the secrets and lies long hidden, and unearthing a potential link between a past tragedy and current murder. Family loyalties are threatened, friendships strained to breaking point and long held beliefs and memories no longer trusted as fact. Excellent descriptiveness of the local scenery enhances the storyline, drawing the reader in to become part of a wild and dangerous coastline, in tandem with a pervading presence of danger and evil as waves crash and currents rage. in harmony with fury of residents and local events. A nail biting conclusion delivers a worthy ending to a cracking mystery that delivers on every level. Many thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

An atmospheric mystery set in small town Tasmania where the body of a woman found on the beach brings back memories of a terrible tragedy from 10 years before.
Keiran returns to his home town to help his parents downsize and is able to confront and come to terms with events of the past which seem to be inextricably linked to the present.

I was blown away by Jane Harper’s The Dry and the continuing series with detective Aaron Falk. So was looking forward to reading The Survivors a stand-alone novel based in a small Tasmanian coastal community. Jane Harper is a genius at unpicking the threads that loosely fasten a town and it's multi-generational residents together. And The Survivors is no different because no one is spared in this double ‘who done it.’

Our protagonist is likeable Kieran, his partner Mia and their baby daughter Aubrey who return home to visit from what's hinted at as being an upwardly mobile lifestyle on mainland Australia. They've made it and left small town living behind. Yet on their first day they meet Bronte, a young seasonal worker, who is a room mate with one of their friends. She's a keen photographer and takes some snaps of them. By the following morning her body has been found, apparently drowned, and washed up on the beach. Her camera and phone are missing at her beachfront home.

The killing and the search for answers reminds everyone of another tragedy that also tainted the town over a decade ago. It was the day of the great storm when Mia’s best friend Abby, then 14 went missing never to be found again. It was a day of one tragedy after another because Kieran’s brother Finn and friend/co-worker Toby were killed while out on in their boat. Apparently on their way to rescue Kieran who was stranded in some caves after secretly visiting them with someone he'd been quietly enjoying secret encounters with. While Kieran’s parents have never outrightly blamed their son for the loss of their eldest child -Toby’s son Liam has. He is now a young man in his late teens, he is also the number one suspect for the murder of Bronte.

But is it Liam or is it one of Kieran's friends? Kieran's father who has dementia was also the last person to spot Gabby back in the day, yet again the former school teacher was also reported strolling on the beach on the night of Bronte's demise.

But actually, and this is the sheer talent of Harper's writing, everyone has a subtlety signposted motive for what happened before and what happened today.

I did get a little confused with all of the characters in the first couple of chapters and had to sketch out who was who in my mind. But it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment, especially as the plot really took off when the detective from the mainland arrived alongside a famous moneyed writer who was curiously in town the day of the storm too.

The descriptions of a coastal town, with their old fashioned and secret ways are superbly painted in this magical read. Harper triumphantly succeeds in weaving just what happened when Toby and Finn died, against the current day murder of Bronte.

The Survivors is an eloquent yet sharply crafted read and it's another one of Harper's offerings I'll be gifting to family and friends!

Loved this book. I've read every book Jane has written and they just get better and better. I love her style of descriptive writing and the fact her stories have lots of twists and turns to keep up the suspense levels and keep you guessing.

Even 2020 can't dampen Jane Harper's fire! Yet another atmospheric thriller from a recently-acquired fave of mine.

And I'm not just throwing "atmospheric" around because I think it sounds good. This is what makes Jane Harper's books so good for me, and it was the same with The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man. Her settings are almost alive; almost characters in their own right. Here, the author takes us to the little coastal town of Evelyn Bay in Tasmania, and I swear I could feel the salt spray coming off the pages.

It's a stormy book on multiple levels. At the centre of the plot is the actual storm that happened twelve years ago; one which changed the characters' lives forever, left some wracked with grief, and others carrying the burden of guilt. Then another storm comes in the form of a murdered woman on the beach. Who could have done such a thing? And why? And is it somehow linked to the events that unfolded so many years ago?

Harper draws us into her characters' lives; into the tight-knit and complex relationships, governed by love, shared experiences, and, sometimes, blame. Kieran serves as the centre, but there's so much going on around him-- old friends with new lovers, old enemies still grinding that axe, parents who understandably never got over the loss of their child... the fictional town of Evelyn Bay is its own rich world.

And the author proves once again that she is capable of writing a mystery/thriller from the perspective of a civilian. As I said in my review of The Lost Man, so many mysteries are ridiculous when the MC is some kind of amateur sleuth, but Harper makes Kieran's discovery of hidden secrets seem natural and believable.

I look forward to what she writes next.

A great read. This book is well written with descriptions that bring the book to life. The characters are believable and the story line was engaging.
The story was based in the present with flashbacks to the past and never flagged. A writer that really knows her craft, when you read books of this standard you realise just what some other books are lacking.

I really enjoyed this latest book from Jane Harper. I have read and loved all of her other books and thought this one was just as good.
The Survivors is set in a small coastal town in Tasmania. I found Harper's description of the scenery to be really vivid and atmospheric. I found the townsfolk to be all very suspicious, and yet I could recognise elements of their traits in what its like to actually live in a small close-knit community.
The story line had me guessing right until the end- I couldn't put the book down!
Another excellent read from Jane Harper!

I will be leaving a review on Amazon, Waterstones, and on my twitter just before the book is published in the UK.

After reading Jane Harper's previous books I was delighted to be given a chance to read The Survivors. Set in an entirely different environment, going from the dry Australian Outback, in her other books, to the stormy hot island of Tasmania. Kieran and his family have returned home to help his mum and dad move home. Kierans guilt from an accident that happened years earlier resurfaces when a young womans body is found on the beach.
The Survivors is a slow moving story with a heart breaking finish. I love the way Jane Harper writes. I feel like I'm just listening in on a friend or neighbours conversation, her dialogue is spot on.
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

A really great story full of mysterious happenings and nothing making sense then a fabulous twist which I didn't see coming!

A great read-I’ve read all of Jane Harper’s books and this one is just as good as the others.It’s set in Tasmania and the location is an important part of the story ,beautifully described throughout.
It’s essentially a murder mystery- the body of a young woman is found on the beach , which links back to an event 12 years previously when another young girl disappeared during a storm in which 2 local men ,Finn and Toby, drowned trying to save Finn’s younger brother,Kieran after he was stranded in a network of caves.
Kieran has returned to his home town with his partner Mia and their baby to help his mother and father pack up their home .His father has dementia and his mother still grieves for Finn, and has never really forgiven Kieran for causing his death. Returning to his home reunites him with his friends from his youth and brings back the events of the storm.
The plot is not fast paced but it’s very cleverly constructed, with small details skilfully placed throughout which become important as the story progresses ,as well as a few red herrings.It’s not only the plot that’s skilful though- it’s the descriptions of the effects of grief and guilt which stuck with me, and provoked great sympathy for Kieran.The effects of dementia on Kieran’s father Brian and his mother Verity are also movingly depicted.
I would highly recommend this book, and thank the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

I don’t know where to start with this review other than to say this book is brilliant. You pick this book up thinking you’re getting get a mystery thriller but you get so much more. It is about small town communities, family, friendships and grief. This story is so compelling. I found myself thinking about it even when I should have been busy doing something else. All the characters are so real, and raw but the location also plays a significant part in the telling of the story, the way it is described in all its beauty and bleakness. But even more importantly at the same time as being a really compelling story it also manages to be a brilliantly plotted mystery story.

A really good read about tragedy, secrets and lies in a small town. This is a brilliant page turner which kept me guessing the whole way through. Everything seemed so real and emotional. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I’ve read all of Jane Harper’s previous novels so was delighted to receive this via Netgalley ahead of its UK publication.

The Survivors focuses on a small community on the island of Tasmania, off the south coast of Australia. I recall travelling above it on our way to New Zealand in 2015 and it still remains a place I’d like to visit someday. That’s part of why I was so keen to read The Survivors (the other major factor being that I’ve loved all of Harper’s previous novels).

The mystery begins with a young woman (who came to work the summer season) being drowned by the beach of this small town. This flares up memories for the townspeople about a storm which hit twelve years prior and ultimately left them with two fatalities and one missing (presumed dead) young woman. Our narrator, Kieran, had a key role in the incidents on the day of the storm and has always carried blame for the fatalities, his brother Finn and a close family friend, who he believed ventured out to see to save him from a cave that was flooded in the storm.

I think if you like Jane Harper novels, you will like this one. It has all the markings of a Jane Harper novel: atmospheric weather and surroundings (which take on a life or character of their own), a plot that is, at its heart, pretty gritty, and characters who you feel conflicted about.

The Survivors has some good twists and turns and you will be kept guessing throughout: about who murdered the young girl and what the significance is of the events twelve years prior.

The ending was somewhat sharp - leaving it open to a sequel? I’m not sure. But I was interested in the story Harper had chosen to tell here, as I think it’s a story which could have gone in a lot of different directions.

I liked the remarks Harper had to make about gender, specifically (toxic) masculinity. This is a theme I appreciated in The Lost Man, and I thought it was similarly well executed here.

While there are many sections I could draw on to illustrate this, here is one I highlighted in The Survivors: “Kieran didn’t know what had happened to Bronte, but from thirty years of lived experiences he knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t coming for him.”

Ultimately, this was between a three and four star read for me, and I’ve rounded it up here.

My issues with it are minor, but niggled me the whole way through reading it, and so I couldn’t review it without mentioning them.

1. At the beginning of the novel, the reader is led to believe that Kieran is a murderer, specifically, that Kieran murdered his brother. This comes from some references made to Kieran seeing a counsellor who tells him that he needs to find coping mechanisms that stop him from coming back here, as so many young men do. This led me to believe Kieran was seeing this counsellor in prison. Kieran also overheard a conversation between two people where they talk about Kieran and expressly say he has murdered his brother. I don’t know why this was written into the book, as Kieran is not a murderer?? And what happened on the day of the storm, resulting in his brother’s death, would not in a court of law be considered murder, nor in the state’s interest to prosecute. So... I really don’t get why we are led to believe he is a convicted murderer when he literally couldn’t be?? This niggled at me the whole way through the book and was never resolved.

2. The characters of Ash and Sean were pretty indistinguishable, in my eyes. I’d often forget which was which and likely got their narratives mixed at certain points while reading. I read the novel over just a few days, so this confusion wasn’t caused by taking long breaks in reading, and so I assume they were written quite weakly. Either deliberately or otherwise.

3. The character of George, the novelist, was quite inconsistent in his dialogue and manner of interacting with others. Most often, he seems quite serious, detached and well-spoken, then at other times he is as friendly as can be and referring to people as “mate”. It just felt very inconsistent, which was strange as a reader because I kept thinking “Who is this guy? Wait, he’s THAT guy? He seems like a totally different person.”

All-in-all, these were pretty minor things and perhaps they will be picked up in the final editing process before UK publication. I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it, especially if you’ve enjoyed any of Harper’s previous titles.


CWs: drowning, murder, toxic masculinity, dementia, grief, loss of a child.

Jane Harpers greatest strength as an author is to make the setting as much of a character as the people in her novels. In The Dry it was the unrelenting heat and dust of the arid outback and in The Survivors it is the endless churning of the sea and the secrets it purports to keep. As we read the unfolding story of two tragedies many years apart it is with the background of the coastline and the waves that have formed it over years of weathering. Like the coastline the characters too have been shaped by their proximity to the sea and its secrets and it isn't until a city detective is sent in to investigate a recent murder that the secrets of the past come to light.
This was a great read, I could not put it down once I started, my only bugbear was the almost abrupt ending!!

I’ve loved Jane Harper’s previous books, and am so sad to have found this one a bit of a let down. It took me so long to get to grips with the characters; they just were not sticking in my head. I couldn’t build up pictures of any of them, and they all seemed to be of a similar age and have about 25 different links to one another, which made things somewhat confusing. Brian’s dementia was written about beautifully and empathetically, and the caves were described so vividly that I could imagine myself standing in them, looking at those names scratched into the rock. But the payoff wasn’t worth the journey this time, unfortunately.

I’m in two minds on whether to post this now or wait till January 2021. Because this title is already out now and not. Confused? Well, the eBook version and Audiobook is out now yet the hardback is out in January 2021. So, in theory, I should put this up in the New Year. And yet, when have I ever done the sensible thing? Plus, as soon as I was approved to read this, I dived head-first into it as I LOVED The Lost Man (Jane Harper’s third novel and my first) so I wanna talk about!

Kieran Elliott’s life changed one horrible day when a mistake lead to devastating consequences that affected his family and his small coastal town even now, years later. When Kieran returns with his girlfriend and their new born, Kieran sees his parents struggling. Struggling with his father’s dementia, his mother’s grief and the loss of Kieran’s older brother, Finn.

When a body of a tourist is found on the beach the following morning, a murder investigation begins and long held secrets being to come to the surface. Secrets that go back to that fateful day that has haunted Kieran…

Now, before I go any further with this review, I must stress that I jumped between audiobook and ebook, but I mostly audiobooked this, so bear with me as I explain my thoughts and feelings on this.

Now, I loved The Lost Man. That’s why I have (though not yet read) Jane’s previous novels, The Dry and Force of Nature (The Dry is actually going to be a movie starring Eric Bana and I want to read it before I watch it) and I was super excited to read this. And I enjoyed it, for the most part. But it didn’t exactly hit that sweet spot that The Lost Man did. Maybe it’s because I put pressure/hyped on this book up. Maybe it’s because I didn’t like the narrator of the audiobook (I will get this a paragraph or two). Or maybe there were aspects of this story that just didn’t click with me.

Let’s talk about the positives. Jane Harper’s writing is wonderful. Her slow burn of reveals and building tension are on point. If you are a fan of domestic thrillers, Jane needs to be on your radar. The same goes with making this feel Australian. There have been thrillers I’ve read in the past and you can go “Ok, if this was turned into the TV show or film, they could easily change the location of the story. (For example: The Girl on the Train is set in the UK, but the movie moved it to New York City). But here, you can’t. You have the film this in Australia as Australia is a character in the story. It would feel wrong to see this set anywhere else!

Plus, the issues of mental health. Like in The Lost Man, Jane tackles some big issues - young toxic mascuality, grief, guilt, dementia - and she tackles them with a gentle yet powerful hand. This is one of the things I loved with Lost Man, and am really glad this continued with Survivors.

And yet… Ok, let me get this out of the way. I didn’t like the audiobook. I never warmed to the narrator - Stephen Shanahan. I couldn’t tell the difference between the characters’s voices and, multiply times, I had to get my Kindle App on my iPhone open so I can double-check which character had spoken.

I think if I had read this and not mainly audiobooked this, I would have liked this a lot more.

There are a few things that didn’t work for me. I found the ending very abrupt. I get why, but I wished for one more chapter to see how the revelations effected everyone in the small town. I think this is the same with characters - there are a few characters I wanted a tad more from.

While this didn’t grab me like The Lost Man did (again, I’m blaming self for mainly audiobooking this rather than primarily reading), this is still a great read and I can’t wait to find time to read the rest of Jane’s back catalogue!

Great read. This one kept me guessing until the very end and the sense of lurking danger is very well portrayed. Everyone is a suspect and anyone could be the perpetrator. The reader's suspicion falls on different characters, almost up to the last minute. There's a wonderful twist as well, that I certainly didn't see coming.

All the characters are drawn with great sensitivity, their weaknesses and foibles shown with compassion. Excellent descriptions create a great sense of place. This is the first Jane Harper book I have read but it certainly won't be the last.

PS - I did worry about the baby at times!

I was so excited to read Jane Harper’s new book after loving her first three. The previous books were set in the outback, which is a setting that is totally beyond my knowledge. I have never set foot in the outback, but that wasn’t a problem as Jane Harper writes setting so well. It didn’t take long for me to feel hot, sweaty and needing to drink lots of water. Jane brought the setting to life and it quickly became a character in the story.

However, with this book, it was set on the coast of Tasmania. Now I live in a coastal town and have grown up by the beaches. I am fully aware of how quickly the tide can turn and how dangerous the water can be. It needs to be respected at all times. Maybe that was a reason why the setting didn’t work for me this time.

The Survivors has a dual meaning of the sculpture in the sea featuring three iron life sized figures looking out to sea, and those people in the community that survived the great storm, twelve years ago. Everyone in the town was somehow detrimentally affected by the storm. Three people lost their lives, and that has devastated their families. They all still live with what happened and all feel their lives to be less than they would have been had the storm not happened.

The characters in the town are all three dimensional and some are more relevant to the story than others. For a small town, there are a lot of characters to remember. The cast are not all likeable, but I don’t see that as a problem. A lot of the story is told by Kieran who is a depressed character following blaming himself for his brother’s death in the storm. This gives the book a rather downbeat tempo.

The first half of the book is very slow, however it is full of atmosphere and the scene is set brilliantly. There is a quiet sense of dread that isn’t helped by being told from Kieran’s point of view. When a body is found on the beach, the townspeople are shocked that this can have happened again in their community. People take to social media to make accusations that would never see the light of day if people had to make them face-to-face.

The police are assisted by a detective from another area. I would have liked her story to feature more as the story progressed. The second half of the book sees a welcome rise in tempo, leading to a brilliant conclusion that I didn’t predict, despite many clues and one or two red herrings.

This is a true crime mystery. It doesn’t have the pace of a thriller, but with Jane Harper’s writing style you don’t expect it to. I expect a lot of readers will finish the book knowing they have read a well plotted and superbly written atmospheric tale. I didn’t enjoy it as much as her previous three books, but that might be because the setting was more familiar to me than her previous books. I will wait patiently for her next book with a sense of great anticipation.

Jane Harper has done it again with another well written mystery novel that keeps your interest and keeps you reading. It's a slow burner of a book set in Evelyn Bay on the coastline of Tasmania. 12 years ago during a storm a tragic boat accident claims the lives of two young men and a young girl goes missing. In present time Kieran returns to Evelyn Bay with his partner Mia and their baby daughter. Once again the small town is rocked by tragedy when the body of a young girl is found on the beach.
What follows is a story of small town relationships, guilt and mystery.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the area, the atmosphere, the weather and the cast of characters. I liked the then and now narratives. It's not a fast paced novel but it moves at a pace that allows you to get to know and care for the characters, follow the clues ( including some red herrings ) and arrive at a satisfactory ending. I'd recommend this book for reading on cosy, tucked up inside winter nights.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

The Survivors by Jane Harper
Little, Brown
Publication date - 21 Jan 2021
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Thanks to @netgalley and @littlebrown for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased view.
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I am a big fan of Jane Harper and have read all of her other books and when I got approved for this I think I did a wee squeal! Once again she has not disappointed as this book was just a small town mystery mastered. There was tension, all the local intrigue that goes with this genre but all done to a level above the norm.
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Kieran has returned home with his girlfriend and new baby in order to help pack up his parents lives, as his father is moving into a home for dementia and his mother is leaving the family home to live in a flat nearby. Coming home though is always tinged with sadness and regret as Kieran’s brother died when they were teenagers and Kieran feels as if he was responsible.
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This is all brought back to the forefront of his mind when a young tourist who was staying in the town for the summer is found dead on the beach. All of Kieran’s social circle is involved or associated in some way both in this tragedy and also on the day Kieran’s brother died. Harper leads us through all these relationships with aplomb, especially when showing how people change and evolve and also how our self-perceptions change over time.
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There are a lot of scenes which were highly evocative, especially those in that are set in the local caves. They showed us innocence basically, as well as claustrophobia to scale where I was feeling mentally threatened. Always the sign of a good writer (in a good way)!
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I really enjoyed this book. It’s themes have resonated with me and I’m still thinking of it a couple of weeks later. Jane has another hit on her hands!