Review of "Exiles: An Aaron Falk Mystery" by Jane Harper

In this third book in the 'Aaron Falk' series, the Australian detective helps investigate a woman's disappearance. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

Aaron Falk takes a break from his job as a Federal Police Investigator in Melbourne......



.....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.



While Aaron's in town, he'll also attend Marralee Valley's annual Food and Wine Festival, where a tragedy occurred a year ago.





During last year's Food and Wine Festival, a woman named Kim Gillespie disappeared, leaving her baby daughter Zoe alone in her stroller.



The police found Kim's shoe in a reservoir near the fairgrounds, and concluded the missing woman committed suicide. However Kim's body was never found, and Kim's teenage daughter Zara - from a previous relationship with Charlie Raco (Greg's brother) - refuses to believe Kim killed herself.



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.



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.

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.



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.



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.

Most of the story, which is told largely from Aaron's point of view, focuses on Kim's disappearance, but we also get evocative sketches of picturesque, wine-producing Marralee Valley;



meet some of the town's colorful residents (such as a beautiful flirtatious woman and a former footy star);



learn about the seemingly dangerous reservoir; get depictions of the annual teen drinking party, where the kids get blotto; and more.



Aaron is an intuitive detective who susses out clues that other people miss, and he eventually solves all the mysteries. I won't say more because of spoilers. I enjoyed the novel, and recommend it to fans of suspense stories.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Stephen Shanahan, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jane Harper, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars