What is this about?
Kieran and Mia return home to help his parents pack up their house and move, but instead, they find themselves part of an investigation into the death of a young waitress. What they don’t expect is that it ties back to the death of another young girl a decade before.
What else is this about?
It’s less of a mystery and more focused on the effects of grief on Kieran and his family, and their town.
Blurb
Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets…
Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.
The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.
Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.
When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away..
I think I have to resign myself to Jane Harper being a hit-and-miss author for me. I know, it’s sacrilege given how much everyone loves her, but honestly, God, The Survivors bored me.
Kieran and his partner Mia return to a sleepy seaside town where he grew up, and whose name I can’t remember because I didn’t care enough to recall it. He is there to help his mother, Verity, pack up his childhood home and move to an apartment close to the home they’ve picked for his father, Brian. Brian has dementia. Or Alzheimer’s and again, I didn’t care enough to recall what exactly.
Essentially, while Kieran and Mia and their daughter Audrey settle in, they reconnect with old friends, and are consistently reminded of Kieran’s part in the death of two beloved town sons: Finn, Kieran’s older brother and his best friend (again, a name I can’t remember).
Kieran’s lived with that guilt for years, and its affected his relationship with his mother, especially. This, coupled with the slice-of-life feel to the town (Evelyn Bay, I finally remembered the name) scarred by the loss of two favoured sons, and the loss of a young girl, Gabby, the same day the guys died — bored me.
Why? Because the pacing affected the mystery aspect of the novel, and everything associated with that was just weighted down with bad pacing and everything I described above.
The death of a young waitress kicks off an investigation that brings all old feelings back to the surface in the town, especially that of a young boy, Liam, who is accused of murdering Bronte, the waitress.
What I can say about this, is that it all ties together in the last 3 chapters or so of the book when Kieran puts everything together, and to be honest, the ending was pretty lacklustre for me. It emphasised to me that this book can’t decide if it’s a contemporary novel about the effects of grief that got a mystery shoehorned into it, or a mystery that decided it needed to be more than just a mystery — which to be honest, had it just been a mystery, it would have been fine for me.
Here’s what i think you’re asking yourself right now: why did you bother reading if you disliked it so much? Because I was hopeful, because I thought this would magically turn into another The Lost Man, and so that’s on me.
I count The Lost Man as an utterly superb read, and one that led me to pick this up. It melded atmosphere, characterisation and emotion into a gripping book that I could not put down — and the pacing worked.
The Survivors does none of the above.
Ii think I might just stick with her Aaron Falk series from now on. Or maybe just wait for a lot of reviews before I jump into another books of hers.
Uh oh. I still want to read this one, so I skimmed your review quickly. I have a few authors that are hit or miss with me, the hits keep me trying.
The lost man was brilliant enough to keep me trying, I admit!
Jane Harper isn’t an author I’ve read yet, but her books are high on my TBR list. I don’t think I’ll start with this one, though. Sorry this one didn’t work for you.
Definitely but this at the bottom of your list! The dry and The lost man should be the top!
Oh, that’s a bummer! My sister is a huge Jane Harper fan; her books aren’t things I normally gravitate towards, so while I have read a couple, I’m not usually running out to get to them.
This one was a bummer. Was on a high after The Lost Man had too great hopes for this one.😔
I enjoyed this one a little more than you did, but I agree that the pacing was slow and that overall it just wasn’t very memorable. I just read it a couple of weeks ago and until I read your review, couldn’t even recall the character’s names. I did take your advice though and picked up a copy of The Lost Man so I’m hoping I’ll enjoy that one more.
Ooh Suzanne I can’t wait for your take on The Lost Man! That book 🤯🤯💔💔💔💔
“whose name I can’t remember because I didn’t care enough to recall it.” That was funny but hey at least you remembered the town’s name eventually 😂
🙃🙃 can you tell I was disappointed in this one? 😉😉