Falk came to a stop and switched off the engine. He sat for a moment, staring ahead to where the heavy bushland parted. The sky was a bright dome, glowing with the vibrant blue of spring. Nestled below was an intricate patchwork of greens that made up the Marralee Valley. Falk had felt last year that the view had been all the more beautiful for being so unexpected. But now, lit up by the late-afternoon sun, it was even better than he’d remembered, if anything. With this book, Harper may well have given her legions of readers exactly what they have been waiting for: a beautifully observed crime novel about regional life featuring the reticent and endearing federal policeman, Aaron Falk...Quietly and inevitably, the secrets and deceptions are unraveled as Falk finds himself deftly woven into the weft of this small community. In Exiles, Falk may at last have come home.” Falk was surprised the man remembered him after a year, but only a little. Falk had been a visitor in town, one of hundreds, but still worth following up. Rohan had probably flagged Falk’s presence to officers himself— There was another bloke there, tall, fortysomething, short hair, gray-blond maybe. Friend of the Racos but on his own, kind of hanging around—dredging up whatever information he could hours after the fact.

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. The mysteries are engaging and compelling. My suspicions were all over the place. The clues were there, but caught up in the atmosphere of Harper's writing and seeing the situation from the perspective of her friends, I missed them. Well, not exactly missed them, but didn't attach to them the importance they deserved. The answer to Kim's disappearance is chilling; to who caused the death of Dean Tozer, sad.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. I was eagerly loving forward to reading the third book featuring Aaron Falk, and it did not disappoint. I did not find it as impactful as ‘The Dry’ was though. Harper skillfully ratchets up the tension in this powerful, slow-burning portrait of small-town life... high quality, atmospheric crime fiction' – Mail on Sunday Overall, while I did like Jane Harper’s Exiles, I wasn’t completely bowled over by it as other readers have been. The setting of the novel is one of the only places where “Exiles” really shines. The deep bushland, lush vineyard, and reservoir lake serve as significant locations in the plot, and the writing excels at immersing the reader in the surroundings of Maralee Valley and elevating the novel above the rest of its mediocre elements.

This is the last in Falk’s series, and Harper has congregated the old and new characters around him smoothly. They have helped him mellow, loosen up, and live a little. 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.While the mystery of Kim’s disappearance might be the narrative hook on which this crime novel hangs, what renders it so engaging is Harper’s keen observation of people and place captured in swift glimpses. Meeting his godson after a year, the toddler fixes Falk with a “glassy accusing gaze”, while his little sister Eva shyly slides a glittery hairclip into Falk’s hand. This is what small children do. Falk is clearly touched by this young family and their kindness as he contemplates an alternative country lifestyle on Charlie’s vineyard miles away from his workaholic existence in Melbourne.