Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

I really did not like this book. The audio had an australian man reading it ( it was difficult for me). The premise of the book sounded amazing. But I couldn't get into it and when it got "better" it was still dull. There was no suspense. Just very flat. Im sorry.

Jane Harper leaves Aaron Falk for this stand alone story about a murder that bring up a 12 year old mystery. I felt like I knew who the murderer was quite early in the book, and while that sometimes is a bother, it absolutely did nothing to prevent my enjoyment of this novel. Some misdirection kept me wondering if I was correct, and while I did figure it out, I enjoyed the ride. The narrator was great. I don't like when narrators give characters strange voices, and this narrator just read us the story in an exciting, but straightforward way.

The Survivors by Jane Harper is an excellent read. Listen to the audiobook narrated by Stephen Shanahan and you will fall in love with his voice! His narration brings so much warmth and color to this story.

Jane Harper has a way of luring us into the lives of others. As she paints their portraits we fall deeper until we come to know these people as our family, friends and neighbors. So happens in The Survivors. You feel the love, the caring, the suspicions and the fear.

A suspenseful story that pulls at the heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan for providing a free audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. First time reading Jane Harper, about whom I'd heard good things. This is definitely a better than average thriller; it reads more like a novel where someone happens to get murdered.

Kieran and his girlfriend Mia, and their new baby are visiting their hometown from Melbourne. 12 years before, the town suffered a compound tragedy: a terrible storm came up quickly on the shore, leading to an accident in which Kieran's brother Finn and his best friend both died, and it's (sort of) Kieran's fault. Separately, a young teenage girl, Gabby, disappeared that same day and was presumed to have drowned. In the current day, Kieran and Mia meet up with his old friends to catch up, only to become immediately embroiled in the murder of one of their roommates, drowned in the surf overnight.

Harper keeps ratcheting up the tension deftly, introducing more and more history and backstory of the large cast of characters: Kieran's dad, now suffering from early onset Alzheimer's, was the last to see Gabby before she apparently drowned. Finn's best friend left behind a son, Liam, who despises Kieran for his role in his father's death. Kieran's friend Ash sure seems upset that the famous author who bought his grandma's house is so intent on digging up the garden he so carefully planted, and that same author taught Gabby and Mia in a creative writing course earlier in the summer of the storm ...

Through it all, the steadfast statues of the Survivors stand in the bay, indicating the water's level and watching over Evelyn Bay and its secrets.

The book is nicely paced and plotted, and Stephen Shanahan does a great job narrating in a crisp and easy-to-understand Australian accent.

Talk about deep secrets coming to light, what is done in the dark will always come into the light eventually!
Kieran came home to help his mother with his father, although he has not returned as much as he would have liked but back home was full of memories and guilt. When Kieran was younger he was checking out the caves when the storm and the tide happened sooner than what he thought, and thus he almost drowned but when this happened his brother came to help but his brother died in this incident so Kieran has carried this guilt of the accident with him. When Kieran and his girlfriend come home to help shortly afterwards a woman is found dead and with this as they are searching for her killer, secrets are being brought to light. Secrets of what happened to a young girl that had disappeared the same day that Kieran's brother's accident happened.
I did get the audiobook for this story, I think the narrator was great but at times he was very monotone. But, I was able to enjoy the audiobook and the story!
I enjoyed this story, the mystery was a slow burn. I didn't see the ending coming because there really weren't any clues dropped but when the story came to a conclusion it was illuminating! I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves the slow burn of the mystery! Thank you Netgally and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity!

This has all the elements of a successful mystery: well-drawn, complex characters, the unlayering of plot twists and dark harbored, small town secrets. When a woman is murdered, the years earlier deaths that have haunted the small Australian community are resurrected. I loved the writing, the setting and the relatability of the characters. The narrator’s voice held my attention perfectly. This will be popular with library patrons.

12 years ago a giant storm ruined Kieran's and many other people's lives at Evelyn Bay, Tasmania. When he comes back home to help his mother move, he has to reconcile with what happened on that day 12 years ago. Especially when a body is found strangled at the location a girl went missing during the storm.

This is an amazing book. Now, this doesn't feel like a normal murder mystery but more like a family drama. The murder is there for the conflict. However, much of the book is spent on people dealing with the aftermath of that storm from so long ago. Three people died and that affected three different families. So if you want more of a suspense/thriller this is not the book for you.

The setting is well created. There is a dangerous beauty to Evelyn Bay. The nice cave area can become deadly at the wrong time of day. The wreckage diving can only be done at certain times of the year.

I loved the character Kieran. There is large weight on his shoulders but he deals with it by being thoughtful and is a loving father and partner. He's not investigating the murder but he talks to people in a neighborly way. He has a wonderful and open relationship with his girlfriend Mia.

I only wish that there was an epilogue because I wonder what happened to the other characters once the murderer is discovered.

The reader is perfect. He has the right feel for the book. For books that take place in Australia, I always prefer listening to them so I can have the right accent in my head for the book.

This review is based on an advanced reading copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

This is my introduction to the writing of Harper and I must say I am a fan.
The story had all the elements of a great mystery---family secrets, family dynamics, sympathetic and pathetic characters, and quite a lot of suspense.
The words were enhanced by the wonderful narrator who knew just when to accelerate and decelerate the tension. I especially enjoyed it taking place in Tasmania, further creating a visual from the audio.
Harper was so gifted in bringing her characters to life as if they were your own neighbors. Her deft description of Kieran's father, who was suffering from dementia, along with the depth of anguish exhibited by parents whose only child was murdered, seemed right on target.
I can't wait to read all of the author's previous and future books!

Not a mystery in the traditional sense since it's much slower, but I still really enjoyed this audiobook. I did not predict the end which to me is always sign of a good mystery.

The Survivors, by Jane Harper, is a book that will resonate long after the last page. This is my first read/listen by this author and I will be trolling her backlist to catch up. Harper's prose transports the reader to the Tasmanian coast, amid the salty air and sea spray, as surely as if she were a time machine. I was invested in the darkish atmosphere of a stormy night, the disappearing statues, and the terrible fates of those who perished, as well as those who survived that awful storm. Lives forever changed. When a principal player returns 12 years later, another girl goes missing. The author's pathway to the solution is littered with guilt, angst, self-doubt, anger, denial, betrayal, and the unique ability of some to move forward--even as others are mired in the past. The suspense is a slow build as we are introduced to ,and become acquainted with, the players. I loved that aspect of the story! It has taken me a bit to write my review because I needed to sort through my own emotions after the 'reveal'-- that is the truest mark of a good read. Narrated by Stephen Shanahan, whose voice inflections made the story even more interesting--- and his accent fit perfectly! Thank you to #NetGalley and #Macmillian Audio.#The Survivors for the opportunity to read/listen to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The book will be on sale February 2, 2021. I review books I enjoy so that my friends and others can share in the excitement.

I really didn’t like the narrator voice for this. It’s a me problem though, I struggle with accents and the accent for the narrator was a little too thick for me to follow along with. It made it hard to listen to.
However the story line is great, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it and not listened to it.

This novel is very much a who-done-it that definitely made me look forward to listening! Lots of red herrings, scattered throughout, kept me guessing. Would have been five stars but at the end, I felt like all those red herrings... well, they didn't ever have any reason to be there, nothing was tidied up and none of the people who it looked like it COULD have been had their storylines resolved in any really meaningful way. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone else, but I felt like a lot of those red herrings needed to have answers. Why was _____ at ______? What was the connection between _______ and _______? If not for being guilty of this crime, what was ________ doing there? That kind of thing just left me with a feeling of a lot of threads left dangling. But if the blurbs for this say something like "compulsive reading", they won't be wrong!

Having read Jane Harpers book the Dry and loving it I was very excited to see what the Survivors would bring me. Unfortunately this one was a flop for me. I don't know if it was the slow burn story or the narration but nothing worked for me. I came back to it a couple times hoping I could get far enough in that I would be interested but no such luck. I do think Jane Harper is a good writer and I will keep my eye out for more from the Aaron Falk series.

Thank you Netgalley for an opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review, Even though I wouldn't say that Jane Harper is my favorite author I truly enjoyed this book. This book is a very slow burn and when I say slow I mean very slow, but when you get to the reveals it makes it that much sweeter because the characters she builds are very reliable and realistic. I would definitely recommend this mystery/suspense book. Happy reading!

I received a copy of this audio book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, the narrator of this novel has a fantastic voice and is very soothing. That being said I had a hard time staying invested in this story. It wasn’t because the characters weren’t written with depth and heart, more that the story was slow and dragged on in bits. When the back story starts it picked up a lot, the mystery really sucking you in...but then back to the same mundane story that it began with.

All in all I am sure there is an audience for this, and I might be one of the only people who really couldn’t get into this novel, I’d still recommend it to friends and family that I feel will really love it, it just wasn’t for me.

Australia is a character of its own in Jane Harper's mysteries. This time the focus is on coastal Tasmania, where a tragic accident and a teen's disappearance 12 years ago are connected to the recent death of a young woman. Stephen Shanahan's narration is spot-on.

A body is discovered on the beach in Tasmania, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never been answered.
Book has a slow beginning which builds with lots of twists and turns. Harper's writing is very intriguing with good character development. All the characters seem to be harboring secrets from the past. When Pandora's box opens, the shocking truths are revealed. The main themes are grief, regrets, sadness and an examination of guilt. I enjoyed this book and look forward to her next book. Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan and MacMillan for a free copy for an honest review. Recommended.

I wonder if enjoyment of this book is highly dependent on whether one has read Jane Harper’s other work.

As someone who has also read her three previous novels and greatly enjoyed them all, this book felt like a significant letdown. But it’s also not a “bad” book per se, so I wonder if this book suffers because we will always judge authors against their own previous work.

Perhaps that’s unfair in a way, but such comparisons are unavoidable, and that’s what left me feeling underwhelmed by The Survivors.

Harper’s work always feels claustrophobic, and for the most part I mean that in a good way. The bleakness of the Australian wilderness, the harsh conditions, and the oppressive atmosphere all contributed to the eerie cocktail of menace that made setting such an exceptional part of Harper’s prior novels.

This time we find ourselves in a seaside town, where the oppressive atmosphere still exists, but it just feels depressing rather than creepy and riveting.

The basic plot prompts no complaints. But the disappointment brought about by the setting and the characters makes the book slow-going and hard to engage with from the outset, and it never gets much better.

And while the solve does technically make sense, it’s probably the least interesting one that the plot could have produced and doesn’t allow the reader to really play along throughout, as it’s not really possible to reach the same conclusion as the characters ultimately do until a frustrating info dump turns up near the end.

In all, it’s not a terrible read, but falls well short of what we’ve come to expect from the generally brilliant Jane Harper.

For audiobook readers: This book seemed to translate fairly well to the format, though the slow pacing always feels more evident as an audio read than it does in print.

The narrator is fine, though I struggled to get used to the Australian accent. I don’t usually find this to be a problem with British, French, or Latinx narrators, but this may be because I am less used to the Australian accent than I would be to the others and is perhaps not the fault of the narrator.

When Kieran Elliott and his partner return home to the coastal Tasmanian resort town where they both grew up to help his mother and demented father move out of their family home, old memories are dredged up. And then an acquaintance is murdered and more details of the day that changed his life forever emerge. Harper has set all all of her fiction in isolated places, often exploring the interrelationships of folks living in small communities. Kieran's home town is pretty small off season, and many of the people he grew up with are still there. While the book gets off to a slowish start, the plot develops relentlessly and Harper uses the setting to great effect. It's well narrated by Stephen Shanahan, who has performed Harper's previous novels. His accent pulls the listener right into Australia with a relatively low key read that lets the story shine. A powerful listening experience

As close as I’ve ever come to a DNF, I had to skip about 30+% of this audiobook. The story was boring, the voice actor was boring, everything was BORING! I think it was more than 3 hours in before the “death” occurred, and it was a minor character who I could have cared less about. The back story was SUCH an overwhelming part of the narrative that the actual “mystery” got lost amidst the redundant memories. I have NEVER had a DNF audiobook and this was pretty darn close. When I finally gave up and skipped ahead to the ending, it was expected and boring and unimportant. I kept falling asleep while listening.