I've been struggling to get through the audiobook. Im afraid what has started out as a slow burn has stopped burning completely for me. Im giving up without knowing the ending.

I listened to the audio book narratores by Stephen Shanahan. Macmillan Audio and Net-Galley gave me an ARC.

12 years ago Evelyn Bay was struck by a huge storm that not only caused psychological issues to many of the town folk but took also took some lives. A young girl also vanished from the beach at this time.

Kieran almost lost his life and thought because of his not so smart choices the caused the death of his brother and another. He has carried the guilt with him for the last 12 years. Returning home with his small family to help his mom move his dad into a care facility the guilt is brought front and center. There was a point where I really struggled with somethings that were said to Keiran by a family member but it happens in life and we all have to move on. There were tender moments between his dad and his baby even though his dad was living in the past.
As we find out what happened to the young girl. I felt so many emotions. I wanted to scream, cry and I wanted Kieran to punch is friend from childhood.

Will the secrets from the past ease some of the guilt or will it make it worse. Will the truth fully come out or will it stay between old friends?

Another new to me author I look forward to reading for years.

Another wonderfully written mysterious and thrilling book. Spending the entire book trying to find out how Gaby ended up disappearing. There was so many different opportunities where someone could have been involved in the dissapearece.

This review is hard for me to write. I was drawn to the premise of this book and really enjoy thriller/mystery novels especially as audiobooks. However, I had a very hard time getting into this novel, and at its close, I still don't feel very connected to the characters. The two characters that I enjoyed the most, Bronte and her mother, were only present in the book very briefly. I have not read another book by Jane Harper, but I did feel she did a great job creating this ominous coastal town setting for the plot of The Survivors.

I do very much wish I had read the physical book instead of listening to the audio version though. I found the reader's voice was very deep and that coupled with the strong accent made it very difficult for me to hear/understand him. I am a listener who almost exclusively listens to books at 1.5 speed or higher, and had to drop it down to 1x speed and turn my volume completely up to understand the reader. This is probably the main reason I could not get very connected to the book or the plot.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for granting me a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I was drawn to this story because I really enjoyed the cinematic feel of Jane Harper's previous book, The Lost Man. It was gritty and mesmerizing.

The Survivors was definitely mysterious, but it was a bit drier and more repetitive than The Lost Man. I don't mind the slow-burn nature of it, but it felt like we just kept going back to the same handful of locations way too many times. The characters were well developed, and many had me thinking they might be responsible for the deaths that had taken place.

I definitely wasn't expecting the ending, and that had me devouring the last pages. So in the last 1/4 of the book, I would say that the pace and mood picked back up. I think it just took a bit too long to get there.

In regards to the audiobook, I enjoyed the narrator - I thought his accent was pretty representative of the Australian region where the book takes place. He spoke clearly and had a nice voice that carried the gravity of the story. I do wish he might have been better at doing different voices, as there was so much dialogue in this book. Sometimes, those audio distinctions really make a difference.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was not enjoyable at all. I felt like this audiobook just jumped around too much and I was very confused throughout the entire thing. I wouldn't recommend this and I feel bad saying that but it was honestly just not good. The plot was twisted all over and didn't make much sense at all.

As an author, Jane Harper has always been good. Not great, but consistently good. I know when I enter into a reading agreement with her I am going to be satisfied to a certain extent, no further. At most, I can expect a four-star quality piece of work. For me, The Survivors did not veer from this path.

Like many of her previous titles, The Survivors offered mystery, suspense, a twist, and suspense that builds slowly at first but then all at once. Many reviewers commented on feeling this book was less "gripping" than some of her previous titles. On this, I must agree. There was something about it that just did not grab me the same way The Dry or Force of Nature did. I struggled with this book as an audiobook - something I thoroughly did not expect. I find that I actually enjoy mysteries better when I feel they are tempered by the narrator. Sometimes I find myself ruining the tempo of a book because I am reading too fast or too slow (maybe taking too many bathroom breaks).

I cannot place my finger on the exact reasoning, maybe it was the timbre of the narrator's voice or the fact that for some reason it seemed like the accent was off, I can't be certain. What I do know is that for some reason it was just NOT working for me. Listening to the narrator gave me the feeling of waiting for paint to dry. I actually timed it at one point to see if maybe he was reading slower than I felt the tempo should have been. It was fine, I think there was just something about the combination of it all that made it seem so, well, boring.

Which shouldn't have been the case. When I read about a sunken wreck I should be exhilarated, maybe a bit nervous, or fearful. But I felt - blah. I think I would have given this a higher rating had I read it myself versus listening to it as an audiobook.

Unfortunately I have decided to DNF this one at about the 20% mark because I really struggled with the narrator of the audiobook. I am still interested in the plot so I will pick it back up in physical form when the book releases, but I didn't want to follow through with finishing and reviewing knowing that my enjoyment of the story itself would have been negatively impacted by my dislike of the narrator. I have chosen not to post a public review at this time because I don't want to dissuade others from picking this up pre-release when I know that the reasons I didn't enjoy this have nothing to do with the plot itself.

The Survivors was my first Jane Harper book. I was excited about listening to this audio book. Harper did not disappoint. The mystery and suspense keep me wanting more. Awesome book! .

This is the 2nd audiobook of Jane Harper's that I listened to. I enjoyed the Australian accent and clear male voice, but it was sometimes hard to distinguish between characters. I felt his voice for female characters just didn't hack it. Much of the book is in dialog form.
The Survivors is a slow-burn mystery, digging deep into characters and their relationships. The atmosphere of the ocean and the secondary stories are very appealing. The conclusion was a surprise and kept me listening until the last word.
I received a copy of the audiobook ARC from Netgalley and the publisher. Opinions are my own.

Jane Harper thoroughly developed the characters and their pain, hopes, guilt, and suspicion throughout this book. This is a story of murder, loss, family, friend, and hidden secrets of a small community. Throughout the story, I had many theories about the murders in the story, but the twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end.

Very well narrated thriller that would be an excellent book club pick. Many of my friends are talking about The Survivors as it was a Book of the Month Club pick.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC audiobook!

I live for thrillers with great family drama and tension and this did not disappoint.

I originally only downloaded this to do my part in the NetGalley Shelf Test, but I ended up really loving it. I enjoy Australian thrillers because of the settings and various cultures depicted in them. And the smooth narration of this audiobook was hypnotic.

This was a whodunit story of intensely slow burning proportions and being carried along for the unraveling was fluid and melodic. I am definitely eager to read more of Jane Harper’s work as this was my very first.

Kieran Elliott returns home to the coastal Tasmanian town of Evelyn Bay with his girlfriend Mia and their infant daughter Audrey to help his parents pack up their home. His father Brian is slipping away to dementia and his mother Verity is finally coming to terms with it.

Kieran and Mia meet up with old friends Ash, Sean, and Olivia at the Surf & Turf near the beachfront home. They share a painful history after a fateful event a decade ago though those memories are never discussed. When Olivia’s roommate Bronte is found dead on the beach near Kieran’s home, the friends have no choice but to face their past mistakes as long kept secrets emerge.

The Survivors is yet another satisfying mystery from Jane Harper! The characters are well-developed, the past and present mysteries have complex layers with perfectly timed reveals, and the rich and dark atmosphere is basically another compelling character! I don’t want to give away too much so I’ll hold back on explaining how these characters are all connected and just say that their relationships and emotions are all carefully crafted and convincing, making both timelines even more intriguing.
This story is a slow burn but with Harper’s expert writing it is worth every minute to the surprising reveal!
The narration by Stephen Shanahan is exceptional: I especially enjoyed the relaxed cadence and the accent; a perfect fit for this story.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC-audio in exchange for my honest review. The Survivors is scheduled for release on February 2, 2021.

Kieran returns home with his girlfriend and infant daughter to help his parents pack up their long time home. Returning home is hard for him, as it also includes returning to the town where his brother died in the storm all those years ago, with memories and secrets too painful to deal with. However, when a local waitress turns up dead at the beach house next door, Kieran's past somehow seems connected. Is this murder connected to the past?
The narrator's deep voice and pleasant accent kept me engaged, as the story slowly unfolded. Some parts of the story seemed a bit dragged out and longer than necessary, but overall it was entertaining and kept me guessing at the truth until the very end when it is finally revealed. 3.5 stars.

I am not finishing this title.

I think I am struggling with connecting to the story though audible. It’s a mix of the Australian accents and the slow plot development. Hate I didn’t like this but going to put it down.

The Survivors written by Jane Harper, narrated by Stephen Shanahan, and gifted to me by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio - thank you all for an intriguing and equally mysterious listen! 

This story takes place in Australia with beautifully described scenes and sounds of the coastal town, Evelyn Bay. This is a novel about the mysterious deaths or disappearance of two women in the same town but more than a decade apart. I enjoyed the web of relationships that crisscrossed time and place. The connections of different people to one another and to these untimely deaths is intriguing. Threaded with mystery and questions, it doesn't become clear until the very end what actually happened. The pace is slow and meticulous; some of the characters are secondary or even tertiary and not developed well but only play a part of moving the plot forward. At times, the sheer number of characters did make it confusing but it also added to the mystery of trying to figure out if they were a murderer or a victim of the same tragedy. This audiobook was excellently narrated and I enjoyed it.

Narration is everything! I've said this before and I'll say it again...... I wanted so bad to read this! I've heard amazing things about The Survivors but the narrator didn't do it for me!
Thanks to NetGalley Publishers and author I received the audio book
This was a fabulous story but I couldn't do the narrator and that stunk big time.
Other than that this was a slow building read. The characters were great in this story.

DNF. Im currently listening to this studio book right now & I can’t focus for the life of me. I’ve tried listening in the car, at work, before bed, even when I’m literally just sitting there doing nothing, I get distracted and can’t focus on the book. I know what the general storyline of the book is & it’s possible that I just missed a lot, but what I can catch, just isn’t all that interesting so that might play a role as well.

Awesome book, a great premise, and good characters. I honestly read a lot of female centered books so I was glad to get out of my comfort zone and read a book that was more male character based.

Kieran Elliot returns to his hometown to assist his parents in moving to get his father who is struggling with dementia support. Where going home to see your parents is typically a happy visit, the town has been haunted from an awful storm 12 years ago that left several young fatalities including his brother. While on the trip, Kieran and his girlfriend are shocked with the whole town when young Bronte (a traveling art student) is found murdered on the beach. What seems to be two isolated tragedies in the town, makes everyone question what really happened during that awful storm over a decade before?

This book has a great flow to it and really does give you all the answers that you're looking for. I just didn't get the nervous excitement I do with most mysteries. I really enjoyed the writing style and will definitely tell people I know to read this.

I listened to the audiobook version of this, I loved that local accents were used to make you feel immersed in the story. The production was absolutely amazing! Thank you to Jane Harper, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.