Force of Nature ★★★

JANE Harper has successfully tapped into the form of crime mystery that features a character who is forced to confront their own past during a current investigation.

You know the type of story – there are probably 20 versions in European television series on Netflix right now.

But the good thing about Harper is that she’s Australian and her stories resonate with local audiences due to familiarity with the scenarios, locations, character types and language.

Her first novel, 2016’s The Dry, introduced Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk who was played by Eric Bana in the 2020 film written and directed by Robert Connolly.

Bana and Connolly are back for 2024’s Force of Nature which again features the Falk character.

Force of Nature is promoted as The Dry 2 and a sequel to the first film, but that’s just marketing – Falk is the only returning story element.

We learn more about his character’s life while he investigates the disappearance of a woman during a corporate retreat in the Victorian mountain ranges, an area where Falk and his parents often visited when he was a young teenager.

The film follows very closely the narrative structure and story-telling style of the first film with many flashbacks to both events leading up to the current investigation as well as much further back to Falk and his parents.

The strongest aspect of the film is the cast which also includes Aaron Falk, alongside Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy Jacqueline McKenzie and Richard Roxburgh.

While it’s not as strong as The Dry in terms of the mystery elements and how the threads come together, fans of the first film should also enjoy this one.

Harper has written three subsequent novels, one of which, Exiles, again features Falk and is likely to wind up on the screen as well.