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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (3)
- Georgia (4)
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- Kentucky (2)
- Louisiana (1)
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- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (1)
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- New York (10)
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- Ohio (3)
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- Oregon (2)
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- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (6)
- Austria (1)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (4)
- China (2)
- England (27)
- France (2)
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- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


51 / 52 books. 98% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


5 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 19% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


51 / 100 books. 51% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


98 / 109 books. 90% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


139 / 165 books. 84% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


88 / 100 names. 88% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


40 / 80 skills. 50% done!
Friday, March 23, 2018

Force of Nature A Riveting Follow-Up in An Increasingly Intriguing New Series

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for Force of Nature, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from its predecessor, The Dry.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.

No one at BaileyTennants is excited about spending the weekend team-building in the backwoods of the Giralang Ranges.  Too bad they don't have a choice.  If they want to keep their jobs, they'll have to suck it up and suffer through it without complaint.  

Separated from the men's team, five female co-workers enter the forest with little guidance as to how to rough it out in the wild.  With provisions spaced between camping spots that are miles apart and no cell phone service, the women soon realize they're way out of their depth.  Already simmering with pent-up tension, the group's emotions boil over when they find themselves hopelessly lost in the woods.  When they finally find their way back, only four remain.  What has happened to 45-year-old Alice Russell?  Did she stumble off a path somewhere in the wilderness?  Or has something much more sinister happened?

Aaron Falk, an agent with the Federal Police in Melbourne, presumes the latter.  Not because he's cynical but because he received a garbled S.O.S. message from Alice just before she disappeared.  He can't be sure exactly what he heard, only that it's sinister enough for Falk to join the investigation.  Along with his new partner, 38-year-old Carmen Cooper, he travels to the Giralang Ranges to help search for Alice and question the women with whom she was hiking.  What he uncovers is a chilling web of secrets that gives every one of Alice's co-workers a motive for killing her.  Did one of them ensure she would never make it out of the woods alive?  In a case that's growing more complicated by the second, Falk may never know ...

I really enjoyed The DryJane Harper's atmospheric debut—so naturally I was excited to read the next book in the series, Force of Nature.  Like its predecessor, the novel offers a rich setting, complex characters, and a twisty mystery.  Falk continues to be an understated hero who's likable because of his compassion and commitment to his job.  His partner is also an intriguing character, who will no doubt blossom in forthcoming books.  While I appreciated Force of Nature's tautly-constructed plot, I—like other readers—found it a little implausible that a group of inexperienced hikers/campers would be sent off into a forbidding forest without any kind of emergency equipment.  Other than that, though, I found myself completely convinced and absorbed by this compelling novel about the secrets we keep even from the people we see every day.

(Readalikes:  The Dry by Jane Harper)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (no F-bombs), violence, mild sexual content, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-galley of Force of Nature from the generous folks at Macmillan via those at NetGalley.  Thank you! 
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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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