Review: The Survivors

The Survivors by Jane Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have always been a sucker for 'returning home' novels and, in recent years, perhaps any year, Jane Harper's THE DRY was one of the best. THE SURVIVORS is a close second. Like her debut, this novel concerns a man returning home after a tragedy. Kieran returns to Tasmania, to a small coastal town where, several years ago his brother, Finn, died in circumstances for which Kieran has always felt guilt. Finn did not die alone and others blame Kieran too. Not long after Kieran, his girlfriend and their baby daughter arrive back in Evelyn Bay another suspicious death occurs...

Jane Harper has spun another tale of going home, to suspicion, to gossip, to retribution? THE SURVIVORS is tightly plotted and suspenseful, but it is the author's ability to draw realistic, fully-rounded and flawed characters, and her sense of place which makes the book stand out. You can feel the sand blowing against your shins, hear the waves crashing around the feet of the statues which stand in the surf and which give the novel its title. But, of course, the real survivors are those whose lives have been impacted by decisions made in the past. The book is a tour de force which builds to a climax as storms, both physical and metaphorical, rise and threaten to devastate everything in their path.

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