I liked this one but didn't find it as compelling and engrossing as previous books. I would have also liked for there to be more at the end. An epilogue that gave more to the story, the reactions, the outcome.

I hadn't read a Jane Harper book before this one, although I'd been wanting to. So I was happy to have the opportunity to listen to this one, and even more happy that I wasn't disappointed. I love a good story with some mystery and some family drama, and that's what this was. There's an old saying that tell us "You can't go home again". This is what happens when you do. Indeed - people have changed, and things are indeed different and difficult for Kieran when he goes back to the town where he grew up and memories and feelings from the past are dredged up for him and his wife. His relationship with his parents is rocky. His friends seem happy to see him - mostly - but the incident from his past that haunts him haunts them as well and colors their current relationships. And when a body is found on the shore, suspicions and memories from the past just come back stronger.
Excellent on audio, I thoroughly enjoyed the narration by Stephen Shanahan and the story.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

UNPOPULAR OPINION alert!! I am likely in the minority, but I really struggled getting through it. I thought it was painfully slow and there was so much unnecessary information that I think I just tuned out parts of this book. I was also NOT a fan of the narrator. I will say the ending was worth it and I did make it to the end. If you don't mind slow, burn mysteries then this one is for you!

Thank you to Macmillian Audio, NetGalley and libro.fm for the advanced copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

Jane Harper is a master at using the setting as a character that shapes and forms her books. In this case the setting is remote Tasmania in a small se town that has seen its fair share of tragedy. People live there forever, often never leaving, and those who do leave often return to find it unchanged after years. When Kieran returns home it is with trepidation caused by the declining health of his father and his own tainted reputation in the town. When tragedy strikes again old feelings and concerns rise again in the town as both new and old mysteries need to be solved. I love the way Jane Harper uses the beautiful, often brutal, backdrop of Tasmania as a crucial part of this story. You will feel the cold water, your hair will be wind whipped and your heartbeat will race from this book!

THE SURVIVORS is the first book I’ve read by Jane Harper but it definitely won’t be my last. From the setting of Tasmania to the character development, I truly enjoyed this story and how it slowly revealed the town’s biggest secrets. Secrets that the ever present ocean can’t sweep away. It’s a lot less suspenseful than I imagined it would be, much more an unraveling of information.
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Kieran has returned home to help his parents pack up their home before moving his father into assisted living for his dementia. His home coming is big news since he has avoid the town as much as possible since the storm. The storm happened over ten years ago but forever changed the town with its damage and the three deaths left in its wake, two of which the town blames Kieran and his recklessness. Kieran has returned with his partner Mia and their baby daughter, Audrey. Some are not happy to see him, others realize that after his parents move, he might never return. As a result, his friends want to catch up. After a night of drinks at the town bar/restaurant, one of the waitresses is found on the beach, drowned. Tension grows. Rumors spread on the community’s web page and alarm mounts about the possibility of a killer in their midst. Could this death be linked to the past? A series of photos that the waitress took seem to say yes. But what information would the police have kept hidden?

Kieran returns to his hometown on the coast of Australia with his wife and baby daughter. Going home brings up lots of memories for him including his guilt over the death of his older brother during a bad storm when Kieran as a teen. Several young people were lost that day, including a 14 year old girl who went missing. Kieran feels a gulf of emotion and blame between himself and his parents. Then the body of a waitress washes up on the beach and really causes the towns folks to reflect on those events from years ago. Kieran and his wife start trying to unearth what happened back then and now.

This was a nice escapist read to the coast. Kieran is a relatable character and as a reader we want him to find a way to cope with his guilt and mend the relationship with his parents. The author captured the small town feel and how often in small towns, some feel that secrets and old wounds are best left alone. This was my first book by Jane Harper and I definitely plan on checking out more by her.

This book was extremely well written with well rounded and developed characters. They were flawed but not in a way that made you hate them. I really liked the narrator and found her voice to be both soothing and haunting. All of that being said though the book was a bit too heavy for me. Which is a total mood reader thing for me. The 3 month old baby that they toted around everywhere also stressed me out and took me out of the story. So overall while this was a well done audiobook and story, it just wasn't for me.

2.5 stars. I was really excited to get an arc copy of the audiobook for The Survivors by Jane Harper. I heard so many amazing things about the author so I was looking forward to diving into this book. I wanted to enjoy the story but it just did nothing for me. This crime mystery is very slow burn to the point where I would get bored and have to switch to another book in between listening sessions. If it would have been a little more fast paced and had a bit more mystery/thrills it could have been really great. The narrator was horrible. I had to keep rewinding because I couldn’t tell who was speaking in the dialogue. The narrator stayed fairly monotone which did not help the enjoyment factor. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher/author for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was slow and got confusing at times. I often thought about DNFing it, but stuck it out. The ending was completely unexpected. Though I felt like I suffered through most of it, I did enjoy some parts, for that I am rating it three stars. The narrator did a good job as well.

This review has been posted to goodreads as well as Amazon.

First off the narrator was amazing in this story, even with the female voices. He really made you feel like you were in Australia, which helped the story.

The story however was really hard for me. The first half was a slow burn, and usually I don’t mind it but this was almost too slow to keep my interest. The only character I really cared for was Kieran and Lyn, who is not even a main character and even after the body was found I was like meh. I keep reading and I was glad that I did because the second half of the book was much faster and flowed a lot better. I was surprised at the ending, did not figure it out but thinking back it made sense.

Listening to The Survivors by Jane Harper truly made me feel transported to another country. Taking place in Evelyn Bay, a small coastal town on the coast of Tasmania, I felt like a tourist getting a peek into a way of life I am completely unfamiliar with as a life long New Yorker.

The townsfolk here are true natives to the land but mostly the sea. In fact there is a statue of three life size figures erected on the rocks further out on the sea dedicated to those who drowned over a hundred years ago on the SS Mary Minerva. It is named The Survivors.

No one ever really leaves here but Kiernan left 12 years ago, after his brother's drowning in the worst storm in over 80 years, under a cloud of suspicion. He is back now to help his parents move. Hoping for a united family he has brought his girlfriend and baby with him.
However in less than 24 hours his arrival coincides with a suspicious dead body on the beach.

As the investigation invades the townspeople's lives old resentments, guilt, rumors and fear manifest for everyone especially Kiernan and his family.

This was my first Jane Harper book and has made me a fan. Her words created a real world for me and I could feel the angst and heartbreak of Kiernan and his parents. The writer created characters that were very real and not caricatures of ones we have met in other books. The beautifully accented narrator #stephenshanahan kept me entertained and intrigued throughout the story. It took me about 25 percent into the mystery to be completely immersed but once I got there I could not and did not want to leave Evelyn Bay and its survivors of the land, sea and the circumstances of life.

I received a free audiobook from @macmillan.audio and ebook from #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Survivors was my first Jane Harper book and I can see why people scramble for her newest reads the minute they release. She's a thoughtful, yet intense storyteller and creates an atmosphere that is enveloping and addictive.

It did however, take me a while to get into this one. Not because it was boring, per se, but I felt captured in the back story - the set up. I thought it went on just a little bit too long and I felt it was just "padded" a bit too much. This is definitely an atmospheric novel and she creates a feeling and a mood like nothing I've ever seen. But for me, I'm definitely more of a go-getter for plot and I just need a bit more to get the ball rolling.

The ending was definitely a fun twisty fast-paced culmination of storylines, but I think I just needed a bit more excitement in the beginning for this to really work for me.

Looking forward to reading some of her other cult favorites soon!

After an absence of twelve years Kieran, along with his partner Mia and baby daughter, return to Evelyn Bay to help his parents prepare for a move. The visit brings back memories of the tragic death of Kieran's older brother in a drowning accident; an accident Kieran, his parents and many community residents feel he was responsible for. While in Evelyn Bay the body of a young woman is found on the beach. The investigation into her death brings memories of another girl's disappearance years ago and exposes secrets long buried.
The book starts slowly and as an audio book seemed to drag. The action picks up in the second half. As always, Harper conveys a realistic sense of setting. I wish I could say the same for the characters. Verity, Kieran's mother is the only one whose emotions and reactions resonated with me.
There is a bothersome discrepancy regarding a character who is rumored to have been the last person to see both the dead girl and the girl who disappeared alive on the beach. The ending of the story doesn't support that.
There's way too much "jiggling" of the baby - it becomes annoying.
I've enjoyed reading most of Harper's titles. I listened to this one and acknowledge that reading and listening are totally different methods of engaging with a story. While I appreciated the attempt to be authentic, I did struggle with the narrator's Aussie accent.

Definitely a slow burn. Maybe it was the audio version that made it difficult for me to follow (although I loved the voice of the narrator). Not the worst book but just not what I was hoping for.

For the first time, I DNF'ed a Jane Harper book! It's not a bad book, and has some of the elements that I have come to know as classic Jane Harper, but in this one I found there were too many characters and not enough of a compelling storyline to pull me in.

There’s a slow-burning mystery regarding what happened a decade ago during a storm on the Tasmanian shore that has present day consequences. But this book is really about the impact on an individual who carries heavy guilt, his family, and his community. The psychological suspense gives way to incredible environmental writing about the fictional off-season shore town of Evelyn Bay, including gripping storm sequences, but the sense of psychological distress never fully disappears. This is a beautifully written book and, having read it, I feel almost as if I’ve had a trip to Australia and met some complex and interesting people.

The audio-book version, with a combination of an Australian narrator and that fabulous writing, transported me from almost the first words. There is no sound track beyond the reader’s voice; however, that writer/reader combination often placed the sounds of the ocean, the weather, the sea birds, and more directly into my brain. I could swear I actually heard them.

The mystery, which is a gripping and twisty plot, is brought to conclusion at the end, but Harper also gives us much to imagine. And honestly, the fate of young man who returned to Evelyn Bay, his family, and his community is as compelling as the mystery. This was masterful writing made even stronger by the audio presentation.

I attempted this audio and simply couldn’t get into it. This will unfortunately be a DNF for me. I had a hard time following the story and found it to be a very slow build.

jane harper continues to be one of my favorite authors. her way of writing hauntingly beautiful settings combined with eerie characters and an engaging mystery is unparalleled in my opinion.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2021/02/05/%f0%9f%8e%a7the-survivors-by-jane-harper/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

It took me a little to get started but that isn't unusual these days.  There is a bit of past / present here with Kieran and his wife, Mia, coming back to their hometown after years away.  Kieran's father is deteriorating in health so he will need to go into care, and the house sold, and his mother to a smaller place.   <strong>The Survivors</strong> is set in a small beach community.  It would be hard to leave a long-time home, right on the ocean.

There are a lot of pieces to the world with the families who lost children in a devastating storm ten years ago. There are the survivors, parents and siblings, some have guilt that they lived or feel responsible.  The primary characters are newer adults, who were teens at the time of the storm, like Kieran and Mia.

There is a new death, the drowning of a girl who is summer help at the local bar & grill.  She was an artist who came to sketch and sculpt art in this environment before going back to school in the fall.  Her death brings up the old deaths and guilt.   But her death is clearly murder.

Suspects are many and evidence is thin.  The murder triggers those still unsettled by the old deaths.  I didn't figure out the killer; I just went along for the ride.  It was a tumultuous time for Kieran, facing his parents' aging, the old death of his loved brother, and the new murder.  He is happy these days, loving his wife, Mia and their baby, Audrey.  I was fairly impressed with how well he handled his feelings about it all.  The ending was satisfying with things settled, past and present.

<h4><strong>Narration:</strong></h4>
I haven't heard this narrator before.  The voices sounded well for the region, both male and female voices were comfortable.  With the regional accent, I listened at 1.25x speed which is just a bit slower than normal.

<strong>Listen to a clip:</strong>
https://soundcloud.com/macaudio-2/the-survivors-by-jane-harper-audio-excerpt

Kieran is back in his hometown after years of staying away. There are painful memories after a big coastal storm ended with a tragic accident that took the life of his brother and another local man. Kieran feels responsible and the guilt has weighed him down, but he must come back to help pack up the family home as his father’s dementia has been worsening. When a local woman turns up dead on the beach murdered the past is again stirred up, and you’re left to wonder if the past has collided with the present as they try and find the killer.

There are a cast of characters in play, Kieran and several of the locals who used to run around together enjoying the seaside and town with a bit of rivalry and a secret or two between them. They drifted apart after the brutal storm that marked more than one tragedy, but it’s like hardly any time’s gone by once they get together again. As the search for the murderer proceeds, I was questioning what really happened in the past, and how it related to the recent murder. The past is revealed bit by bit I kept wondering if there was a killer in the midst of these old friends.

The Survivors was an atmospheric mystery with a steady increase of tension as the suspicions mount, and I upped the speed on my audio so I could get my answers as quickly as possible! I was taken by surprise as the actual events of the past were revealed.

Once again Jane Harper creates a story that immediately captured and held my attention! I was sucked into the mystery and felt for Kieran as he faces ghosts from his past. I was pleased that he had his girlfriend Mia and their new baby for support.

This is the second time I’ve enjoyed Stephen Shanahan’s narration. His accent was perfect for the role of Kieran the primary POV for the story. Mr. Shanahan did an excellent job with all the voices and he made The Survivors a riveting experience. I listened at my usual of 1.5x or even faster the normal speed.