A new series to love while Tana French is writing her next book

3.5 stars. So glad to be able to say that I enjoyed this one almost as much as the first. It’s always a scary thing to read an author’s second book when the first was so beloved. Luckily, Harper knows what she’s doing and makes quality mystery writing look easy.

We’re back with Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk for this book. He’s gone back to the city in his regular job with the feds, sniffing out money laundering, etc. When one of his informants goes missing, he and his new partner rush to see if they can locate her, or at the very least, locate the sensitive company papers she was going to get for them. She disappeared on a work retreat with four other women. They all started the hike together and when they reached the end, starving and traumatized, she wasn’t with them. Faulk and his partner are put in the tricky position of investigating the disappearance while also trying not to tip off the other women that their company is being investigated.

I feel like I don’t read many mysteries about people who work together, so this was a nice change of pace. Work relationships can be so complicated. There are definitely people I work with that I would refuse to go camping/hiking with, so it’s easy to see how these women become quickly divided once they get lost. Harper’s writing was just as good here as in The Dry. She’s a little more plot heavy, but if you like the Tana French mysteries, I would highly recommend this series. I feel like their careful consideration of characters and slow build-up is similar. Absolutely worth a read.

Trigger warning for eating disorders.