The Survivors by Jane Harper

The locals have never forgotten the tragedy that most people believe was Kiernan’s fault because he shouldn't have been in the caves when the storm surged.

Kiernan had been with his girlfriend in the caves, and Kiernan was blamed for the the death of his brother and the father of seven-year-old Liam for risking their lives to save him. A local teenager also disappeared during the storm.

Just what was the intrigue of those caves?

Twelve years later Kiernan has come back to Evelyn Bay to help his parents pack up their house because his father has dementia and needs to be in a home.

A few days after Kiernan and his family arrive, tragedy strikes again on the same beach. 
 
Will this current investigation be more thorough than the one many years ago that never did solve the disappearance of the local teenager? 
 
Will it bring up things that were kept hidden?
 
Will this new tragedy bring the guilt and regret back to the surface and have everyone reliving the first tragedy?

THE SURVIVORS took a bit to connect with, but once you figured out who was who, what the town and the people who lived there were going through, and the magnitude of the first tragedy, the tension ramped up.

There were a lot of characters and quite a few that could have been the person who was responsible for the second death on the beach.  Ms. Harper kept that a well-hidden secret.

I had a few people in mind, but was kept guessing until the end.

This was my first book by Ms. Harper, and she definitely keeps your interest with the subtle hints about the characters and who the responsible person could be as well as where the story line is going.

Her descriptive writing pulled you right into every place the characters were and into every situation.

I enjoyed trying to figure out the undertone of the town as well as the mystery.

THE SURVIVORS is a haunting mystery with revelations you won't see coming. 4/5

This book was given to me by BookBrowse and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.