Force of Nature

A fine start to the year. I listened to the first installment (The Dry), and read this one in print, and I wondered if I would have noticed some of the things that bothered me if I had done this one on audio as well.

No doubt that Harper excels at writing gripping, atmospheric mysteries, and I debated whether I should stay awake last night to finish the last 60 pages, because it suckered me in; there were so many red herrings, all of which were fun to explore. I kept trying to guess the conclusion, but didn't figure it out.

But I didn't love this one as much as I remembered loving The Dry. There is less characterization among the detectives, and a throwaway romance-leaning few seconds between them that was garbage, and a lot of time describing the irritation and frustration of the women who don't want to be on this corporate retreat (and are absolutely not equipped or experienced enough to be on this retreat; I mean, a half day crash course on how to use a compass for ONE of the attendees, one person has first aid experience, now have fun on your merry way in the dense bushland for four days with no contingencies?? There's some belief that has to be suspended). It was still an engaging and fun read, and I can't put my finger on why I didn't love it more.

And now my TWO IRRITATIONS. ONE: Why are all the men called by their last names, but all the women are called by their first names? I mean, it made sense to me why the main detective was called Falk, but his partner was called Carmen. And then a brother-sister corporate management partnership, brother Daniel was called Bailey, but the sister was always called Jill. RAWR to weirdly sexist naming conventions. TWO: I know Harper was trying to show that Beth had had a hard life - a prison stint, currently probation, she's been mostly estranged from her twin - and she is described as out of shape and a nicotine addict, but like, she wasn't the only one who wasn't fit for this trip, and there was so much focus and description of Beth's body, used as a characterization for why she couldn't be trusted (and wasn't trusted by the other members of the party), and that really bothered me.

I've spent this whole review complaining but I really did enjoy reading it a lot, even if I didn't love everything that happened. 3.5 stars.

TW: abortion, early miscarriage, alcohol addiction, eating disorder, suicide attempt