# Read the first page of Force of Nature by Jane Harper Read the opening of Force of Nature by Jane Harper free, no signup. Five women go on a corporate hike, and only four come back. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/force-of-nature-jane-harper - Genre: Mysteries - Year: 2018 - ISBN: 9781250105646 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781250105646&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781250105646 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781250105646 ## The opening Later, the four remaining women could fully agree on only two things. One: No one saw the bushland swallow up Alice Russell. And two: Alice had a mean streak so sharp it could cut you. The women were late to the rendezvous point. The men’s group—clocking in at the beacon a respectable thirty-five minutes ahead of the midday target—slapped each other on the shoulders as they emerged from the tree line. A job well done. The retreat leader was waiting for the five of them, looking warm and welcoming in his official red fleece. The men threw their high-tech sleeping bags into the back of the minivan, breathing with relief as they climbed in. The van was stocked with trail mix and Thermos coffee. The men leaned past the food, reaching instead for the bag containing their surrendered mobile phones. Reunited. It was cold outside. No change there. The pale winter sun had fully emerged only once in the past four days. At least the van was dry. The men sat back. One of them cracked a joke about women’s map-reading skills, and all of them laughed. They drank coffee and waited for their colleagues to appear. It had been three days since they’d seen them; they could wait a few more minutes. It was an hour before smugness gave way to irritation. One by one the five men prized themselves from the soft seats and trudged up and down the dirt road. They thrust their phones toward the sky as though the extra arm’s length would capture the elusive signal. They tapped out impatient text messages that wouldn’t send to their better halves in the city. Running late. We’ve been held up. It had been a long few days, and hot showers and cold beers were waiting. And work, tomorrow. The retreat leader stared at the trees. Finally, he unclipped his radio. A handful of reinforcements arrived. The park rangers’ voices light as they pulled on high-vis vests. We’ll pluck ’em out of there in no time. They knew where people went wrong, and there were hours of daylight left. A few, anyway. Enough. It wouldn’t take long. They plunged into the bush at a professional pace. The men’s group bundled themselves back into the van. The trail mix was gone, and the coffee dregs were cold and bitter by the time the searchers reemerged. The shapes of the gum trees were silhouetted against the darkening sky. Faces were set. The banter had disappeared with the light. Inside the van, the men sat silent. If this were a boardroom crisis, they’d know what to do. A drop in the dollar, an unwanted clause in a contract, no worries at all. Out here, the bushland seemed to blur the answers. They cradled their lifeless phones like broken toys in their laps. More words were muttered into radios. Vehicle headlights bored into the dense wall of trees, and breath formed clouds in the frigid night air. The searchers were called back in for a briefing. The men in the van couldn’t hear the details of the discussion, but they didn’t need to. The tone said it all. There were limits to what could be done after dark. At last, the search group broke apart. A high-vis vest clambered into the front of the minivan. He’d drive the men to the park lodge. They’d have to stay the night; no one could be spared to make the three-hour trip back to Melbourne now. The men were still letting the words sink in when they heard the first cry. High-pitched and birdlike, it was an unusual sound in the night, and every head turned as four figures crested the hill. ## Books with a similar feel - [When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson](https://uncovered.ink/read/when-will-there-be-good-news-kate-atkinson.md) - [The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-seven-deaths-of-evelyn-hardcastle-stuart-turton.md) - [The Witch Elm by Tana French](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-witch-elm-tana-french.md) - [Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett](https://uncovered.ink/read/missing-white-woman-kellye-garrett.md) - [Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz](https://uncovered.ink/read/point-blank-anthony-horowitz.md) - [The Lying Game by Ruth Ware](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-lying-game-ruth-ware.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.