Book Review: The Dry by Jane Harper

 The Dry

by

Jane Harper

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Publication date: 31st May 2016

Series: Aaron Falk #1

Genre: Crime

Pages: 339

Source: Own book

 

Review: the Dry

My enjoyment of this book was probably ruined by seeing the movie before reading the book. And with almost 222,000 rating on Goodreads I think I may be the only person, in Australia, who hasn't read the book.

Aaron Falk arrives back in his hometown of Kiewarra to attend the funeral of his friend Luke, Luke's wife and son. It has been deemed by all as a murder-suicide. It's been hard times for farmers and many have reached breaking point.

The Dry is set during a lengthy drought and Harper never lets her readers forget how stifling hot it is and how dangerously dry the land is.

As Falk spends more time in his hometown and delves further into Luke's life he is also forced to confront his past and the reason he left town 20 years ago.

Harper shows us the darker side of a close-knit community, with lies and secrets being held for decades, victimisation and bullying by police.

With flashbacks in italics the story moves smoothly between now and then.

I would have liked there to be more people to suspect as I couldn't see anyone had a motive to murder the family. Some strategically placed red herrings would have made the story more immersive.

My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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About the author

Jane Harper is the internationally bestselling author of the The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man and The Survivors. Her books are published in forty territories worldwide, and The Dry has been adapted into a major motion picture starring Eric Bana. Jane has won numerous top awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year, the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year, the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, and the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year. Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK, and now lives in Melbourne with her husband and two children.