A tremendous thank you to Goodreads and Flatiron Books for my copy of The Survivors! Jane Harper’s next novel publishes on February 2, 2021. I have not read anything by this author. The description (below) sounded amazing, so I am so pleased I won the giveaway!

The Story

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…

My Thoughts

The Survivors honestly intrigued me. It moved quickly and kept me engaged. In the end, I gave it three stars because the ending let me down. If I’m let down, it’s almost a guarantee drop by a full star.

This book takes place in Australia, which is one of the first that I’ve read that clearly takes place in that country. At times, I tried to read the dialogue in an Australian accent, but then I just felt ridiculous because I can’t mimic accents very well.

The Survivors had a lot of characters. Seriously, a lot. I didn’t get them confused, but there were some I wasn’t sure actually contributed to the movement of the story. You have one group of male friends, plus their parents, plus their significant others, plus random other people in the small town.

The ending really did let me down. I was missing the resolve that should have happened. It felt like a cop out. After all of the drama and everything that built up, it just fell flat.

Also, Jane Harper, if you’re reading this: Who did Finn get pregnant?! (No, that’s not a spoiler. It was just such a random nugget of something that was dropped and then COMPLETELY forgotten about.)

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