Force of Nature

Force of Nature (2017) is a thriller by Australian author Jane Harper. Following The Dry (2016) and preceding Exiles (2022), it is the second in a three-book series of novels featuring federal investigator Aaron Falk. In this installment, Falk joins the state police in their investigation of a missing woman who has been a key point of contact for his investigation into possible embezzlement and fraud at a prominent accounting firm. While the woman’s fate remains unclear for much of the novel, Harper’s narrative explores The Impact of Corporate Greed, The Instability of Group Dynamics, and The Extremity of Parents’ Protective Instincts. 

Harper is known for writing crime novels that explore the complex interplay between civilization and nature, crafting survival-themed stories that take place in the wilds of the Australian bush country. Her novels feature both natural disasters and the dangers posed by the various shadowy figures and criminal organizations that operate in some of Australia’s most remote locations.

This guide refers to the 2017 hardcover edition by Flatiron Books. 

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of bullying, disordered eating, addiction, mental illness, violence, suicidal ideation, and death. 

Plot Summary

Set in the fictional Giralang Ranges, a mountainous area near Melbourne, the novel begins with a hiking trip gone wrong. Two teams of hikers from Bailey Tennant, a boutique accounting firm, have set off into the woods as part of a multi-day team-building exercise. The men’s group returns on time, but the women’s group does not. When the women finally arrive hours late, only four of the original five women are present. The fifth, Alice Russell, is missing. The women are bruised and bloody and claim not to know what happened to Alice, saying that she wanted to get back early and walked off into the bush alone. 

Although the state police are in charge of Alice’s missing person case, Alice was already involved in a complex investigation into possible financial crimes at Bailey Tennant, so federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head out to consult with the state police. Everyone is gathered at a lodge that the adventure company hired by Bailey Tennant uses as their base of operations. Although the dominant theory is that harsh terrain and a severe storm are preventing Alice from returning, investigators know that the area was once the site of a notorious series of serial killings by a man named Martin Kovac. Although Kovac is long dead, his son Sam is known to frequent the area, and he too has a penchant for violence and a long rap sheet. 

The detectives interview Daniel Bailey, the firm’s CEO, along with the four other women in Alice’s hiking group—Jill, Lauren, Bree, and Beth. Because Daniel is the real target of Aaron and Carmen’s investigation, they are especially suspicious of his version of events and wonder if he might be responsible for Alice’s disappearance. Because Alice had been engaged in a months-long search for company documents that would prove the company’s financial misconduct, Aaron and Carmen worry that Daniel discovered her role in their investigation and has taken his revenge against her. 

However, it soon becomes clear that dynamics within the women’s group were fraught to begin with and began to deteriorate almost immediately during the hike. Jill is Daniel’s sister and a high-ranking member of Bailey Tennant. Lauren is another executive whose work performance has been shaky as of late. Bree is Alice’s assistant, although she is intent on climbing the corporate ladder and is up for a key promotion. Bethany is Bree’s troubled sister and the group’s scapegoat when anything goes wrong.

In chapters that alternate between the women’s group’s ill-fated hike and Aaron Falk’s investigation, the narrative gradually reveals that Alice was not well-liked within the hiking group or the company as a whole. Investigators also learn that although she and Lauren were high school classmates, their friendship is not as solid as it seems on the surface. In addition to the workplace drama that impacts these women’s relationships, they are also parents. Daniel, Jill, Lauren, and Alice all have children who know one another; Lauren’s daughter, Rebecca, has disordered eating patterns while Daniel’s son, Joel, has just circulated explicit images of Alice’s daughter on the internet. 

In the present, Beth and Bree reveal that the women got lost on the second day of their hike and took shelter in an abandoned cabin. Everyone involved in the investigation fears that the cabin was known to both Martin and Sam Kovac, and that detail adds new urgency to their search as they surmise that Alice may have wandered off on her own and run afoul of someone who knows about the cabin and regularly uses it for drug trafficking or other illicit activity. 

The narrative shifts to the past. The women eventually come to blows over a disagreement about how best to find their way back to the lodge. Later, Alice and Lauren continue to argue in a more secluded location. Although they have been outwardly friendly up until this point, Lauren berates Alice for her history of bullying and blames her for the lifelong strife in their friendship. She also blames Alice’s daughter for bullying Rebecca in a devastating incident that compelled the girl to stop attending school. Their verbal argument boils over, and in the ensuing physical altercation, Lauren accidentally kills Alice. Bree later discovers Alice's body the next morning. She assumes that her sister Beth, at whom most of Alice’s bullying has been directed, was the one to deal the fatal blow. In a misguided effort to protect Beth from a crime that she did not actually commit, Bree makes an effort to hide Alice’s body. 

In the narrative present, the detectives figure out Lauren’s role in Alice’s death almost too late. Consumed by guilt, Lauren stands on the top of a waterfall near the lodge and attempts to take her own life, but Aaron rescues her. Although Lauren and Bree will face charges for their roles in Alice’s death and the subsequent cover-up, Aaron hopes that the sentencing will be light because Lauren did not mean to kill Alice, and Bree was only trying to protect her sister. Aaron, although solitary, has struck up a real friendship with Carmen during their investigation. As the novel ends, he attends her wedding in Sydney.