Jane Harper Exiles
This is my fifth book by Jane Harper an outback noir featuring for the last time (l understand) FI Aaron Falk - set in the heart of South Australian wine country, a summer festival, baby abandoned, missing Mum, what possible new clues could be found a year later and can a hit and run accident years before have any connection- the last piece of the puzzle only fell into place for me quite near the end - l think this is one of her best - thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy - put it on your wish list worth waiting for

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!

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.

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.....

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.

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.

Oh I loved this book. Like all of her books it reads well, the story is really good and twisty and this time a bit of romance. I devour each of her books as soon as they come out and this one is equal to all the others.

A real return to form for Jane Harper, I absolutely LOVED this! Brilliant characters and the small town, claustrophobic atmosphere that she does so well.

A mother disappears from a festival supposedly leaving her daughter's pram unattended, never to return. But what exactly happens to Kim Gillespie. Her teen daughter Zara and former partner Charlie are keen to find out. Add to the fact that Charlie's brother is a police officer and believes that there is more to this than meets the eye. Of course, we have Aaron Falk, federal investigator who is in town on holiday, but he takes an interest in the case as well.
What can I say, another great story from Jane Harper. Well worth reading.

I pick Jane Harper’s books up because they are crime fiction but I stay because they are more than that. I think her writing actually takes you past the crime fiction element into literary fiction. This story is very understated in its telling as you become immersed in the stories of a small group of close friends and their families in a small town community. You really get to know them and how they feel connected to the place. This book is so cleverly and brilliantly written because as you’re getting to know the characters you sometimes forget that this is also a crime story but it is most definitely there slowly given you reveals biding its time alongside the story of this small group of friends until it all comes perfectly together right at the end. This is a book to be savoured and enjoyed. Definitely a recommended read.