This was a real slow burn for me. I love Jane Harper’s books when they’re set in the parched red earth of the Australian outback. You can taste the dirt and discomfort in the back of your throat. This one (maybe due to the setting) didn’t quite reach that level of atmosphere, and there wasn’t the constant level of tension that I’ve experienced in some of her other novels. It was, however, a really enjoyable read, and pretty much kept me guessing up to the last 20%. I really enjoyed the way the reveal played out, and the ending is exactly what you want from a great little mystery/thriller: satisfying. The slow burn romance matched the pace of the overall story, but I did read the last 25% in the space of a couple of hours, where the pace definitely picked up.
A good, five-star read for me, with thanks to NetGalley and Panmacmillan for the opportunity to read an ARC.

A beautifully crafted thriller populated by real, believable characters and full of twists and turns. I loved The Dry and this book revisits some characters and events but can easily be read as a standalone.

This novel is the third in the Aaron Falk series and could easily be read as a standalone. It does pass comment on the previous novels and reading them first would give you a better understanding of Falk but I wouldn't say its essential.

Kim Gillespie vanished during a busy night at the festival, there were plenty of people around and none of them saw anything and nobody knows if it was foul play, accident or she just walked away, one year on and nothings changed.

This isn't a fast moving, action thriller its more a slow burner that takes you into the surroundings, the families and a smalltown community. I wanted to love it, a) Its Jane Harper, b) its Aaron Falk and c) I've been waiting a long time - but it didn't capture my attention the way previous ones did. The writing was there, the scene setting was there and the characters were well written but it was a good read, not an amazing one.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the advance copy, I was under no obligation and all opinions expressed are my own.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of Exiles, the third novel to feature Sergeant Aaron Falk of the Australian Federal Police.

Aaron Falk was in the small South Australian town of Marralee for a christening when Kim Gillespie, a former native to the town, disappears from the local festival leaving her six week old baby unattended. A year later he is back for the rescheduled christening and Kim is still missing. As he picks up on the undercurrents Falk begins to realise that there might be more to Kim’s disappearance than the current explanation.

I thoroughly enjoyed Exiles, which is an engrossing read with several twists and turns and, more unexpectedly, a hint of romance. It is told mostly from Falk’s point of view, which is gently curious with a sharp nose for anomalies.

I’m not sure why I found the novel so engrossing, when, basically, nothing happens, but I did. In a natural way it slips between his recollections of the previous year and his present day musings on what he knows. As the novel progresses he spends time with his friend, Greg Raco, trying to work out how Kim got to the dam where she is presumed to have died and uncovering long held secrets. It’s fascinating and the solution when it comes was quite gobsmacking, but I’m not going to say how.

I think much of the charm of the novel lies in the characters and their very ordinariness. They are mostly, Falk excluded, a group of friends who grew up together and have stayed close. None are perfect but they are all decent people and the way their lives intertwine and the secrets they keep, from each other and the outside world, are engrossing.

Exiles is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I always enjoy reading books by Jane Harper and I was delighted to receive an advance copy of her new book Exiles.
Aaron Falk has traveled to South Australia to be the godfather at the christening of his friends baby son.
While he is there he becomes involved in the investigation of a disappearance of a young mother the year before and is now trying to find out what happened to her.
Another enjoyable read from this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Really happy to get stuck into another book in the Aaron Falk series. I hadn’t enjoyed Jane Harper’s previous two books as much as The Dry and Force of Nature, but this one marks a return to form for her. I loved the love stories weaving through the narrative; some parts made me chuckle out loud :) roll on the next one!

Jane Harper you are good!!
I don't know how but the twists and the secrets just flow from that great imagination of yours.
The setting, the characters and the story line just captivate you until you are so drawn in that you cannot put the book down.
As the secrets unfold the more you see the cracks within the group, not quite as close as it first seems. someone knows the truth but what are they afraid of?

Only one way to find out.....

I have loved everything Jane Harper has written since discovering The Dry, and this, another Aaron Fall novel, does not disappoint. As with all Jane’s books this is very much a character driven crime novel which, while deftly plotted (and so well done!) has you caring deeply about the characters too. This novel in particular takes Aaron’s own story - very satisfyingly - to the next level. I thought it was a little slow at the start, but overall this was a great read.

Jane Harper writes a smart and intricately plotted addition to her Aaron Falks, Federal Financial Investigator series, this time set in Aussie wine country, in the beautiful green and lush Marralee Valley, making the time to come to his good friends, Greg and Rita Raco's small son, Henry's christening at their family home and winery run by Greg's brother, Charlie. It had been postponed from the previous year when 39 year old mother, Kim Gillespie,went missing, leaving behind her baby daughter, Zoe, in the pram park at the Annual Marralee Food and Wine Festival. Kim had returned to see her older daughter from her previous relationship with Charlie, Zara, with her engineer husband, Rohan, her shoe was found in the reservoir, and she was assumed to have committed suicide, after suffering from depression for some time.

However, not everyone is satisfied with this explanation, particularly the guilt and grief stricken Zara, who is convinced that Kim would never have abandoned her baby, it was so out of character, and a appeal for any further information on Kim is being made, both by the police and family, at this year's festival. Falk is at the heart of this gripping narrative, finding himself at a personal crossroads with his strong feelings for Gemma Tozer, devoted to her stepson, Joel, and who lost her husband, Dean, in a hit and run accident 6 years ago whilst he was out running, the driver had never been identified. Falk finds himself drawn into the family and friends dramas and the small town community and becomes central in solving the mystery of what happened to Kim and his dogged determination even wins out eventually as he chips away at who could possibly have run over Dean Tozer.

This is a slow burn of a crime read, but once I became immersed into the multilayered storylines, I could not stop reading until I had finished. I believe this is the last in the series, which is a real shame, because Falk is a terrific character that still has plenty of mileage left in him, I will miss him, although it was good to see him break through his personal blocks and establish himself in a new life that he would have never envisaged previously. This is a wonderfully engaging and dark crime read, with a fabulous sense of location, that I wholeheartedly recommend both to fans of Jane Harper and to other crime and mystery readers. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

A woman goes missing in small town Australia, leaving her baby parked up in a pram park at a local festival. Various sightings of her around the festival but none of them conclusive as to where she went after the Ferris wheel.

Twelve months later the mystery is still unsolved, but very much at the forefront of her daughter’s mind and she will not let it rest.

This is a good story with a great plot. I enjoyed reading and really got into it. But it’s so drawn out and unnecessarily long. If it hadn’t have been for the repetition and slowness it would definitely have been a 5* read.

Enjoyable but not gripping.

3.5*

Thank you NetGalley.

Exiles is the third in the series featuring Aaron Falk, a federal investigator. Visiting friends for their babies christening, he is drawn into a mystery concerning a woman who went missing a year before. Atmospheric and awell written, absorbing story.

The third in the Falk series finds him visiting friends in a small Australian community a year after the disappearance of wife and mother Kim Gillespie. She had left her young baby in a pram at a festival and disappeared into thin air. Falk’s unofficial investigation into her disappearance is slow and involves many conversations with her friends and family so the pace of the novel is not as gripping as Harper’s previous ones but shows realistically how difficult it is to discover the truth. A lot of the novel feels more like a romance as a relationship develops between Falk and a woman he met in the past.
The denouement is rather contrived but adds a welcome dimension and the threads of past events are neatly tied up.

Thank you to the publishers for the ARC.

Aaron Falk returns in Exiles, a twisty tale that at times skews more family drama than crime thriller (and, like The Lost Man, is all the better for it).

It is tricky to give too much of a plot outline or overview of themes without spoilers, and for me one of the real pleasures of this book was the slow reveal of what was really going on in the family. Exiles is a slow burner, but one that rewards the reader's patience. A real return to form for Harper: highly recommended.

ne of those great mysteries that pull you in immediately! A sense of place as you might expect from Jane Harper, and characters and a situation you simply step into each time you open the pages. Layers of historical mystery abound and the good hearted cops are shown as stumbling through the evidence, rather than kick ass clever dicks who see through everyone. Loved it.

This is an exciting and beautifully-written book set in a small town in the Australian outback. The descriptions draw you into the novel so completely that I often thought I was there. It is another clever, original novel from Jane Harper with memorable characters. Falk is an appealing protagonist and we are with him every step of the way as he goes to join close friends to be godfather at their son’s christening, which was postponed after Kim, a member of the family, went missing during a festival the year before. Why would she leave her baby? Her family can’t understand it and Falk begins to unravel the mystery.

It’s an absorbing premise and I was immersed in the story - the mystery, the setting, Falk’s new relationship and the unexpected ending. Jane Harper is a brilliant storyteller and this is my favourite of her novels so far. Highly recommended!

Exiles by Jane Harper is the third book in the Aaron Falk series of mystery thrillers set in Australia.

This story focuses on a small town setting where a women abandoned her child at a community festival and was never seen again. At the time, Falk was in the town for a family christening which was cancelled due to close ties to the missing woman.

A year later family and friends gather at the opening night of the festival for an appeal for more information. A guest once more, Falk’s investigative skills sift through gathered data to solve the mystery.

Although I always enjoy the Australian settings of Harper’s books, I found the story very slow to get going after the initial chapters which set out the mystery. The circling back round to the missing person only revealed small details each time, and I was impatient for the pace to speed up. However, once Falk began to make some connections, I wanted to race to the end to find out what happened. The ending was worth it and I liked the relationship which Falk had with the local townsfolk and how they affected his future.

Deeply engrossing and perfectly written, this is another hit novel by Jane Harper.

Brooding and atmospheric, a must read for any devoted thriller readers.

Well written involved story of the mysterious circumstances of a woman, mother of 6 week old baby missing from a small community where family and friends shared their lives but not always their secrets. A potential link with a previous hit and run accident and missing jogger leave the reader with a tantalising mystery, three dimensional characters and two families unable to move on from the unexplained circumstances related to the assumed death following the disappearance of a much loved family member. A believable conclusion delivered in a sensitive manner worthy of a complex storyline. Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This book is the latest in the series with Aaron Falk as the main character. I expected to enjoy the book and wasn’t disappointed. The case is solved within the country community Falk is visiting and he is encouraged to feel that he belongs. It is almost a gentle story with local people living their lives while he has to investigate a missing person from some years ago. The outcome is a surprising twist although suspicion has been raised along the way. The development of his personal story runs alongside the investigation enhancing interest as the story progresses.
Recommended

Six year ago Jane Harper burst onto the crime scene with a remarkable debut, The Dry, which hauled readers into parched farming landscapes in rural Australia, introduced federal investigator Aaron Falk, and won many awards while selling millions of copies worldwide ... After a couple of terrific standalones, Harper’s excellent fifth novel also sees the highly anticipated return of federal investigator Aaron Falk (portrayed by Eric Bana in the recent film adaptation of The Dry, and the upcoming Force of Nature).

Falk is at the Marralee festival the day Kim Gillespie vanishes, and returns a year later for the christening of his friends Greg and Rita Raco’s son, long postponed due to the tragedy. Kim’s husband Rohan is also there. Her teenage daughter Zara, from a previous relationship with Greg’s brother Charlie, is determined to find answers, despite most townsfolk and family accepting that Kim, suffering from post-partum depression, flung herself into the reservoir.

Over the course of several days, Falk and Raco, along with local police sergeant Rob Dwyer, try to shake loose the memories of those returning to the annual festival, hoping for new information, hoping for some answers. Harper spins a delicious tale that sneaks up on readers. For much of the novel it’s a rich family and small-town drama; she doesn’t rely on constant twists and turns and ongoing murderous events to power the mystery narrative, instead drawing us in exquisitely, making later revelations even more powerful. Terrific.

[This is an extract from a longer review written for the New Zealand Listener]