The Dry
I loved Jane Harper’s 2019 novel The Lost Man, so I knew I wanted to try out some of her previous books that others had also raved about. In a small town in Australia, Aaron Falk has returned for the funeral of his best friend, Luke, and Luke’s wife and son. It appears that it was a murder-suicide, but Aaron has a hard time believing that’s true. As he investigates, secrets both past and present come to light.
This was a gripping mystery, and Harper uses the Australian landscape and culture of the farms and small towns to full advantage. My only complaint was a little trouble keeping the various characters straight on audio, but the narrator was excellent if you’re able to listen carefully.
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Publisher’s Description
A small town hides big secrets in this atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.
In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.
But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Falk thought was long buried. A secret Luke’s death now threatens to bring to the surface in this small Australian town, as old wounds bleed into new ones.
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