Exiles by Jane Harper

Exiles is the fourth (and currently final) Aaron Falk novel by Jane Harper, which was published in February. Jane Harper is a brilliant author, writing atmospheric detective stories set in Australia, and Falk is a brilliant detective.

Falk has travelled to the small town of Marralee for the christening of his policing partner, Raco’s, son. He was also there exactly a year ago, when Raco’s former sister-in-law, Kim, vanished without trace, leaving her six week old baby abandoned in her pram.

Kim disappeared from a local festival and everyone thinks she committed suicide or had an accident due to her postnatal depression. But her 17-year-old daughter, Zara, believes her mother would never have left her baby. Exactly a year on from the disappearance, Zara and the local police put out an appeal for more information at the festival.

In the days leading up to the christening, Falk is in the midst of a tight-knit family and group of friends, still grieving for one of their own. Raco has compiled his own file of information and, looking at the case with fresh eyes, Falk wonders what everyone has missed. Does the clue lie many years ago to when they were all teenagers?

Meanwhile, Falk finds himself supporting two teenagers united in grief and has the glimmer of a new romance. In the space of just a few days, can he work out what happened to Kim and give his new friends the answers they desperately need?

This is another brilliant read from Jane Harper and it’s nice to se Falk make a return (her previous book The Survivors didn’t feature Falk and I didn’t enjoy it quite as much). Set in a small town, with much of the action taking place in a vineyard business and the local festival, the setting makes a change from the drought, heat and sparse population of The Dry and The Lost Man.

If you enjoy detective novels, I can highly recommend all of the Aaron Falk novels. There is very little crossover or backstory between them, so it is possible to enjoy Exiles as a standalone novel, but if you just read this one, you are missing out!