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It was a spring night and the South Australian sky was clear and starry with no rain forecast, but the weatherproof hood had been pulled over to full stretch. A linen square normally used as a sunshield was draped over the opening between the hood and the pram. A casual glance would not now see the sleeping girl at all. No spoilers here but I will tell you that there is more than one mystery to solve and also a budding romance, or two!! Aaron may have some important lifestyle decisions to make as he spends time in this beautiful wine country and meets a very special woman. The pace here is certainly much slower than Melbourne!! As it happens, Kim's vanishing isn't the only mystery in Marralee Valley. Six years ago a man called Dean Tozer was killed in a hit-and-run incident, but the perpetrator cleaned up the scene and was never identified. Aaron Falk is asked to come to the South Australian wine country for his godson's baptism. The last time he was in this area, a mother disappears at a festival and leaves her daughter alone in a baby carriage. And here’s another fact for you. It took nearly six months to find my dad in that water, but in the end they still found him. Take a guess how many people in the past fifty years have drowned in the reservoir and never been seen again?’
This is a slow burn crime story. While I am quite comfortable with slow pace, it feels quite different from the earlier two as the pace for nearly 60% of the book is far slower than in the other two books. What I did not much like though is the introduction of some character behaviours in the later part of the book, which is now usual in psychological thrillers and is becoming a silly & painful pattern. The plot elements are however, very strong and I liked how the last sections closed on the two mysteries in the book. The descriptions of the locales, as in the previous books is excellent. Aaron Falk’s character, as in the previous books is very well developed, nuanced and a treat to read. Meanwhile, Zara's uncle Greg Raco, who's a police officer, plans to continue investigating Kim's disappearance.... and he asks Aaron Falk to help.An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man and The Survivors. As Falk soaks up life in the lush valley, he is welcomed into the tight-knit circle of Kim’s friends and loved ones. But the group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk’s closest friend, the missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge. What would make a mother abandon her child? What happened to Kim Gillespie?
Aaron Falk - who met Gemma previously, when she was visiting Melbourne - decides to look into the tragedy, in part because he'd like to have a relationship with Gemma. Jane Harper gifts us with the presence of Aaron Falk, once again, in her third installment of this series. Not to worry. Exiles reads perfectly as a standalone. But when you come front and center with the caliber of Jane Harper, you should read The Dry #1 and Force of Nature #2. They are that good.
Author
Dean's wife Gemma and his son Joel still hope the driver will be found, but this seems less and less likely as time passes. Harper skillfully ratchets up the tension in this powerful, slow-burning portrait of small-town life... high quality, atmospheric crime fiction' – Mail on Sunday to visit his friends Greg and Rita Raco in the southern Australian town of Marralee Valley. Aaron will attend the christening of the Racos toddler son Henry, for whom Aaron is godfather. In Exiles, Investigator Aaron Falk finds himself drawn into a complex web of tightly held secrets in South Australia's wine country.
Exiles is Harper’s fifth book. With a large and voracious readership waiting, there’s sure to be more to come; her publishers ask, when buying each book: “Where’s the next one?” Thus Zara plans to pass out fliers and stage an appeal at this year's festival, asking for information about her mother. Kim's husband Rohan, who's been raising little Zoe alone, will also be present to aid with the appeal. This is very much a character driven mystery, my very favourite kind, and I relished the seemingly slow pace, the introduction of another, older, unsolved crime, and a welcome diversion in Falk's private life. In the small town of Marralee in South Australia's vineyard region, not far from Adelaide, the annual festival was about to get underway once again. But this year was to be a little different, as a young woman and her family searched for answers to a woman who went missing the previous year from this same festival. Kim Gillespie's tiny baby, Zoe, was found snuggly covered in her pram, safe and secure, but alone. And her mother was nowhere to be found. Kim's teenage daughter Zara was leading the quest for information, hoping that something would come to light that hadn't the year before. Aaron Falk, federal investigator, is joining the celebrations. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. As hidden truths slowly emerge, Falk faces the darkest of questions.
The Sydney Morning Herald
While Aaron's in town, he'll also attend Marralee Valley's annual Food and Wine Festival, where a tragedy occurred a year ago. I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of Exiles, the third novel to feature Sergeant Aaron Falk of the Australian Federal Police. The novel’s subplot is frankly more compelling than the mystery of the main plot. Falk has a romantic interlude with the festival organizer Gemma Tozer, while simultaneously solving the mystery of her late husband’s death six years prior. This narrative is more compelling than the mystery of Kim’s disappearance since its resolution actually makes sense. The love plot is utterly predictable but altogether sweet, especially the scenes where Falk bonded with Gemma’s son and helped him through his grief. The pram was parked alongside a few dozen others in the Marralee Valley Annual Food and Wine Festival's designated pram bay, fighting for space in the shadow of the ferris wheel with a tangle of bikes and scooters and a lone tricycle. It had been left in the far corner, the foot brake firmly on.
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