The Dry: A Novel

A person who was helping me with my resume noticed that I write genre fiction reviews and recommended Jane Harper’s The Dry: A Novel to me. I’m so glad he did! Aaron Falk is a Federal police officer in Australia, but not your typical fictional homicide cop–he’s the guy who follows the money trail. He has returned home to his childhood small town for the funeral of his old fried Luke, and Luke’s wife and toddler. Supposedly Luke killed his family (except for his baby girl) and then killed himself. Everyone blames the drought, which is ruining all of the farms, for driving him to despair. It doesn’t help that when Luke and Aaron were teenagers, their friend Ellie drowned, a lot of people thought it was Aaron’s doing, and Luke gave Aaron his alibi at the time. Luke’s father Gerry knows Luke lied about the alibi, and he uses this knowledge to force Aaron to come to town for the funeral. Gerry thinks there’s no way Luke could have killed his family, and wants Aaron to go through all of Luke’s financial records to look for evidence that someone else may have killed them due to debts owed. Unfortunately, Ellie’s father and cousin want to stir up the entire town against Aaron for (they believe) killing Ellie, and in this heat, tempers can flare very quickly. One of my favorite details about this is the relationship that develops between Aaron and Sergeant Raco, the local law enforcement. Raco has already noticed a couple of details that don’t really add up, so he’s open to having Aaron look at alternative explanations. We don’t get the stereotypical friction with disbelieving local police, and that’s nice for a change. There are plenty of possible suspects, and the most obvious are Grant Dow, Ellie’s cousin, and Jamie Sullivan, a guy who worked with Luke that afternoon and who seems to be lying about several details of that day. The town’s feelings about Aaron make for plenty of ongoing tension, especially when someone starts plastering posters with his picture on them around town. Aaron and his father were run out of town shortly after Ellie died, so there’s a lot of unresolved anger there. The town is very small and insular, so no one has forgotten what happened all those years ago. The only people who seem open to dealing with Aaron are those who didn’t live in town at the time all that happened, like the principal of the school Luke’s toddler went to, Sgt. Raco, and the barman who’s renting Aaron a room. There isn’t a lot of action to this story and yet it remains fascinating and engaging. I think I’ll read another Jane Harper book next! Content note for animal harm, domestic violence, murder, and a bit of racial bigotry and misogyny.

I was really torn between four and five stars for this. Certainly, it deserves five stars for pacing, plot and getting you to turn the page, whatever the word for that is. I enjoyed the act of reading the book. But when I wasn't reading it, when I was thinking about the novel, there were aspects of it that bothered me. The plot hooked me from the beginning. An Australian cop, Aaron Falk, based in Melbourne, is called, basically summoned, back to his home town, Kiewarra, because a childhood friend, along with his wife and son, have been murdered. Twenty years earlier Falk was a person of interest in the drowning death of another friend, Ellie Deacon and escaped prosecution when his buddy Luke provided an alibi. Falk is being asked to "look into" the Handler case by Luke's parents, who can't believe Luke killed his family. Falk must do so because Luke's father has told him he knows his alibi from twenty years ago was a lie. My big issue is that the more current crime, the family annihilation, should be very much center stage, and instead, plays second fiddle to the events of 20 years ago. Plus, the small town police chief, Raco, often takes direction from Falk, only because Falk is the lead character in the book. The author, Jane Harper, tries to make the small, desert town seem an active player in the deaths. The crimes are described with the gore of a horror novel. I think the book works better as a straight novel than as a murder mystery. I will say I recommend it. I enjoyed reading it and will likely buy later books in the series.

The book begins with the murders and then the funeral in a small ranch town in Australia. The loss has been shocking with the apparent murder suicide of a couple and their young son. Only the toddler was spared. Aaron Falk left the small-town years ago after the drowning death of a young woman. That death, too, had looked like suicide, but in that case, the surviving family members spewed hate and blame on Aaron and his father until they fled to Melbourne. Until almost the very end, we do not know if that old suspected suicide is related to the deaths of this family. Aaron is a federal law enforcement agent, specializing in financial fraud. The parents of the man accused of murdering his family and then killing himself, coerced Aaron to return and investigate the murders. This story has a very strong sense of place. The area is suffering from a crushing multi-year drought. Between the dust, the heat, the snakes, the spiders, the poverty, and the occasional hateful person, it is not a romantic view of life on the farm. Aaron is not alone in his investigation as he works with the new local policeman to try to sort out the inconsistencies and find the truth. That local policeman is a particularly good character. Jane Harper writes well. Her characters are multi-dimensional, the pacing is good, and the story is not obvious. One of the unusual aspects of her story structure is that when some key aspect is uncovered, a flashback interlude is inserted to reenact the event in question. It reminds me a bit of an episode of CSI. You may love the technique. I did not. Still, I will give the book 5 stars for its writing, plotting, characters, and richly drawn setting. It was good enough that I will buy her next book so that seems to be worthy of 5 stars.

The Dry is een heerlijke leeservaring. Twee verhalen door elkaar gevlochten in een desolaat Australisch stadje. Falk is een nieuwe ster. Een tweede boek komt eraan ! Hoera.

Ótima caracterização da personalidade dos diversos personagens. Detalhada e rica narrativa sobre vida em cidade pequena. Final nada óbvio e bastante surpreendente.

A gripping thriller in the Australian outback, brilliantly depicted in seemingly effortless fashion by the author. Thanks to her limpid prose and highly visual style, you can not only picture the vast dry expanses of the outback, but you can feel the heat and smell the very earth that lies at the heart of the novel. Highly recommended!

オーストラリア、メルボルンでFederal Agentとして働くAaron。謎の死を遂げた親友のLukeの葬儀に出席するために町に戻ってくる。その町は、Aaronが20年前に、ある事件で殺人の疑いをかけられ、事件は謎のまま、人々の冷たい視線に耐えられず、父親と逃げるように捨てた町だった。 日照りで川も乾き、暑いオーストラリアの空気が伝わってくるような田舎町で、過去の未解決事件とLuke一家の謎の死を絡めて、淡々とミステリーが解決していきます。 ミステリーに加えAaronとLukeの秘密、青春時代の男女の微妙な関係、甘酸っぱい思い出も切なく描かれています。 アッというような意外性のあるミステリーではありませんが、デビュー作でありながら、ベストセラーというのも納得です。

After several books that I put down after a few chapters, this drew me in immediately and I 'got lost' reading. Plot and characters are well developed, the story is not gory or horrific (as in horror). The ending seemed a bit quick and not as well thought out as the rest but it fit the story. Loved that it is set in Australia when we usually only get crime novels set in America, England or Scandinavia over here in Europe. Can fully recommend it.