Note - I might have mentioned, my fourth book group, that was off for summer, is not resuming this fall. It is run by a library branch manager who is short on time. She thinks she will restart it after the first of the year/2026. I missed this group over the summer, but I am now sort of over it. I do not like unreliable things. People from this group are now turning up at some of my other groups, which is a good thing. The way my remaining three book groups fall on the calendar, somehow means I now have much more time to read. So far books are presenting themselves. I did my summer of Steinbeck. I am working on Jane Harper and James M Cain. I have Hemingway and the Bronte sisters waiting in the wings.
Today’s post.
The Dry, Force of Nature, and Exiles by Jane Harper are a series.
The first one, The Dry, was assigned by one of my book groups. This is the group middle attends with me.
I checked to see if this book is listed on my SuperSummary app. Yes, it is listed. This means I can read this book well in advance if my meeting, listen other SuperSummary in audio mode and then discuss it at the meeting.
With this game plan in place, I listened to all three books on Libby at 1.2 speed, one right after the other, my preferred method for reading a series.
I liked these books. Good characters, good plots, well written.
If you are looking for a quick series, this is a good mystery set.
I am not reading Jane Harper’s standalone novels at this time, I have a lot of books waiting for me on my Libby shelf. But I plan to circle back to them very soon (list at bottom of this post).
I had 4 very minor issues with this 3 book series:
One - I had to get used to the Australian accent of Stephen Shanahan, who narrated/read all three the audio books. I don’t even notice English accents, but I had to pay attention to the Australian one in the beginning. I got used to it very quickly.
Two - book one and book three, I started them in audio format, got twenty minutes in, realized I was confused, restarted the book from the beginning, and then was fine. This happens to me sometimes.
Three - There are time shifts, which are not overly indicated in audio format, in the first book, The Dry. Maybe in the print form the time shifts are in italics or inset. In the audio form, there is no marker/warning. The second and third books have time shifts also, but were all obvious.
Four - These books have one main character, but are written in the third person. This bugged me in the beginning of the first book. I got used to it quickly.
I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized.
StoryGraph -
In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/
This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.
