Force of Nature

 Return to List

Force of Nature 

 Force of Nature, based on the best-selling novel by Aussie novelist Jane Harper, is the follow up to her debut break-out book, The Dry. Her first novel was a classic case of lighting in a bottle. Having written some short stories, but mostly worked as a journalist, Harper submitted her story to an Unpublished Manuscript competition, and its potential was quickly noticed. It became a global best seller, and the movie arrived a few years later.

 

One year after The Dry was published, Harper returned and matched her first effort with the solid, “Force of Nature”. It’s a different journey we take into the Australian wilderness this time; swapping the barren, dusty country of regional Victoria, for the mossy, green world of never-ending trees and mountains.

 

Harpers main protagonist Aaron Falk returns when an informant goes missing on a company hike. As the survivors emerge from the bush, different accounts of their tale are told, and it appears that not all was well on this particular walk through the wilderness.

 

I love a good story. I like to read fiction when I have the time, and Australian author Jane Harper is a new voice to be reckoned with, taking a familiar genre (crime fiction) and meddling it with a unique setting – the Australian landscape. From drought stricken farmlands, to rain drenched forests, to Far North Queensland and the rocky coast of Tasmania, she takes readers into a world we’re familiar with, but also allows us to discover something new about it; in particular how the nature and terrain can test an individual’s resilience and resolve, and pose dangers that push vulnerable people to lie, cheat, steal or even kill.

 

Don’t’ compare this to The Dry. Although it focuses on Australian Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk (Eric Bana), the setting is different, the stakes are different, and Falk’s investment in the situation and personal journey are different. We see more of his jaded past in flashbacks, which seem to be clouding his judgment of the terrain and the circumstances of the corporate hike.

 

Overall, it’s a darker, deeper and more psychological story this time around, as there are a lot of unknowns; is Alice alive or dead? Did she leave the group, or did the group leave her? Who is telling the truth, and who is covering up a lie? In my defence, I only managed to read half the novel before seeing the movie, so I was surprised by its twist ending (or two). But I’m continuing to read the book, now with familiar faces to put to the characters names, helping this movie-favoured person stick to the novel format, which can be hard to compete with the silver screen. But Jane Harper makes it easy with books that are real page turners, leading you down one path to an expected outcome, then putting you somewhere completely different and spring a delightful surprise on you that you won’t see coming.