When I spotted ‘The Survivors’ on the bookstagram grid, I was not sure how I had missed it – as I really enjoy Jane Harper’s books. So, when I spotted it in my favourite charity bookshop, I knew I had to pick it up, especially as I am still in a bit of a thriller mood with my reading. And another title that has multiple meanings which I think is great: survivors means so much in so many different ways in this book.
I was not disappointed by this novel at all. Jane Harper is the queen of creating an atmosphere, and she did it again with ‘The Survivors’. Although, this time, it was not about the Australian outback but about a coastal community, so this almost felt like a darker threat in some ways – this was not about the heat and the remoteness, but about the stormy nature of the sea and how that is reflected in the community after the murder of a young lady shakes the tight-knit community. And this also raises questions about the disappearence of a young girl over a decade before.
What keeps you reading is what always keeps you reading: the skeletons in the closets of all the characters you meet as the story unfolds. As you think that you have worked it all out, there is something else that leaves you suspicious of the people you are meeting.
Yet again, this book did not disappoint. I had a little bit of an idea who was probably to blame by the end, but only an inkling, and only just before the reveal. If you are a fan of a slow-burn, atmospheric thriller, then you need to read this – or any of Jane Harper’s books, really.