The small Australian farming town of Kiewarra is being slowly crushed by searing heat, relentless drought, and dark secrets. When Luke Hadler snaps and kills his wife, child, and himself, Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to the town he fled some twenty years earlier, summoned by a terse note from Luke's father. Falk plans to stay only long enough to pay his respects, but he soon finds himself drawn into an unofficial investigation into what actually happened to the Hadler family. This novel is an extremely well written slow-burn of a thriller, part police procedural, part character study, with plenty of twists and turns. Highly recommended!

I read this during an epic rain storm and subsequent flood and even with this interesting dichotomy, I could feel the heat and drought radiating off the pages of this book. Falk was infinitely likable from the beginning and I felt rather bad for him from the start. He's a closed off individual but I didn't have a hard time connecting with him. This isn't nearly as gruesome as I thought it would be or which even the first few pages suggest - it's a bit rambling and bumbling but interesting. I figured out one of the mysteries pretty quickly but it didn't stop me from being invested. I hope this author writes more set in Australia because that made me the most curious.

The Dry came out earlier this month on January 10, 2017 and you can purchase HERE. I definitely recommend this one if you like an atmospheric mystery -- this seems like a common formula these days. MC leaves childhood home after something devastating and returns decades later as a cop to solve the first mystery and a new one: sometimes they're intertwined. Bust still, this worked and I liked the setting a lot.

Pale from birth with close-cropped white-blond hair and invisible eyelashes, he'd often felt during his thirty-six years that the Australian sun was trying to tell him something.

This novel is an amazingly well written one to be a debut effort. The present day murder mystery and the death of a teen decades ago are deftly intertwined in the well crafted plot. I was amazed at how the two events played back and forth as layers of lies and deceit were peeled away.

The setting is a drought stricken town in rural Australia. The desperation of the farmers and the effects of the drought on the town in general were very well portrayed. The relationships among the people of the town revealed well the underlying feelings. I especially appreciated the turmoil Federal Agent Falk experienced as he returned to his home town for the funeral of the man who had been his friend in teen years. He had been implicated in the death of the teen girl those decades ago and his presence causes a great deal of unrest among the locals. And when Falk realizes the death of his friend may have been murder rather than suicide, the anger and animosity in the town escalates.

This novel is a great murder mystery. It is also a great study in human relations, showing how past hurts affect present day relationships. The characters are well drawn. The setting of the parched Australian land is well described. As the plot unfolds and the mystery becomes more complex, there are some twists that kept me turning pages. I'll be watching for the next novel from this author.

I recommend this novel to mystery fans. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

The Dry by Jane Harper is a very highly recommended tense, atmospheric mystery. An incredible debut novel set in Kiewarra, a small Australian town, during a devastating drought.

Melbourne-based Federal Agent Aaron Falk saw the headlines. Luke Hadler, his best childhood friend, was found dead, as were his wife, Karen, and their son, Billy. It appears that Luke killed his wife and son, leaving his baby daughter alive and crying in her crib. Then he drove off and found a place to kill himself. Falk, who left Kiewarra twenty years ago is summoned to attend the funeral by Gerry Hadler, Luke's father. After calling him about the arrangements, Gerry sent Falk a note saying: "Luke lied. You lied. Be at the funeral."

Twenty years ago Aaron Falk and his father left Kiewarra under a cloud of suspicion that Aaron had something to do with the death of his friend Ellie Deacon. When he was under the scrutiny of the police at the time, he and Luke gave each other bogus alibis for the afternoon, which saved him from any charges being filed. Now as Falk is back, the residents in the small town remember why he left before and many of them are determined to make sure he knows he is not welcome in the town.

In the meantime, even though Falk was planning to go back to Melbourne as soon as possible, he is asked by Gerry to help Sergeant Greg Raco to look into the case. As he and Raco begin to work together, it is clear that despite what seems obvious at first, this may not be a murder/suicide. As the two investigate, the bad blood between Malcolm Deacon, father of Ellie, and his nephew Grant Dow boils to the surface. But there are plenty of hidden secrets and suspicions in the small town.

The Dry is simply an excellent novel that meets all my criteria for a perfect mystery. The quality of Harper's writing is brilliant. It is an engaging, extremely well-written, and finely paced novel.

The setting is perfectly described and sets the tone and atmosphere. It's a small, mean town beaten down by drought and poverty and alcoholism. Many citizens in the town are cliquish, petty, and hold grudges, as well as secrets, from decades past.

The main characters are well-developed. There are plenty of suspects at the start and even more surface as the investigation continues. Harper keeps the tension increasing at a steady pace as she divulges the backstory alongside the current investigation.

Falk is an enigma, but appealing main character. He is closed off emotionally, but you know he is intelligent. When he agrees to stay for a short time and assist in the investigation, it is clear how much he would rather go back to Melbourne and shake the dust of Kiewarra off his shoes forever, but he understands his obligation to help Gerry and Barb Hadler find closure.
There are suspects-a-plenty, but Harper surprised me at the end.

No question about it: if you like mysteries read The Dry.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of Flatiron Books.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/01/the-dry.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1883507823
https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Novel-Jane-Harper/product-reviews/1250105609/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=recent#R21DXRBZLCFRS3
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dry-jane-harper/1123133028?ean=9781250105608

Aaron Falk grew up in the tiny of town of Kiewarra, Australia. After a young girl drowns, the town turns on him, and he and his father are forced to flee. Aaron, a federal officer in Melbourne, thought he would never return to Kiewarra. Then tragedy strikes his old hometown. Aaron's childhood friend, Luke Hadler, was found dead, after apparently murdering his wife and son. Luke's father makes a desperate plea to Aaron, asking him to look into Luke's financials to see if anything there would have driven him to such a desperate act. Aaron's return to town rips open old wounds, and rubs salt into the fresh ones left by the murder-suicide.

The Dry parallels these two mysteries beautifully. The writing is breathtaking, the plot is tight, and the resolutions of both stories are satisfying. Best of all, Aaron Falk is a character I can get behind. He reminds me a bit of Nelson DeMille's John Corey--tough, but layered, emotional, and able to show growth and change. I'm not normally a big fan of series, but I would definitely be happy to see Aaron again.

The Dry is completely engrossing, yet still has that "literary" feel. I won't be forgetting this one any time soon.

Jane Harper knows how to weave a story and keep a reader turning pages!

Harper writes with the assurance atypical for a debut novelist. She paints pictures of the dry stark world of Kiewarra with the same talent she brings to the multidimensional characters who inhabit the book. There are several plots and stories interwoven with skill: a current horrific crime, a death twenty years in the past, the life and potential death of a small community, the role of outsiders and what it takes to drive them to this remote town, why they stay, and how they learn - or not - to fit into a community that is alien to all outsiders and some native-born on whom past judgment was drawn too hastily. Seasoned mystery aficionados probably will figure out the real criminal(s) before they're revealed - including who committed and who contributed to the crimes - but that hardly matters. Ms. Harper has a bright future in writing.

This book had some slow spots in it. However, I do think it is worth the read as when the real culprit comes out, it is a jaw dropper. Everyone thinks that a man would kill his wife, his small boy and himself leaving his infant daughter to fend for herself. Or was she left alive because she couldn't talk? There are a lot of suspects and a of secrets. Some secrets people would rather keep hidden then to come forward and absolve themselves of guilt. Those are some pretty deep secrets.

This story with its plot twists and turns definitely kept me going for the most part and when it did slow down, I'm glad I kept up with it and saw it through. It was definitely worth it.

Thanks to Flatiron Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Aaron Falk returns to the town he grew up in after his childhood friend and his family are killed. Was it murder-suicide or is there someone else responsible? The town hasn't changed much and it doesn't take long for old lies and hatreds to surface threatening to engulf the dry, arid landscape and its people. This book was very well written and although it takes place in Australia, the descriptions of small town life with its secrets and gossip could have been anywhere. I hope this is the beginning of a long career for the talented Jane Harper!

Incredible book that will stay with me for a long time

The Dry
Jane Harper
Flatiron Books
2017


This book worked for me. I like stories where the past affects the present, and that’s definitely the case in The Dry. The main character has a long history with the town of Kiewarra, Australia, the place where he grew up, and the place he was forced to leave at age sixteen when evidence suggested he’d murdered a close friend, Ellie Deacon. Aaron has returned for the funeral of Luke Hadler. Luke is the reason Aaron didn’t end up in prison, he lied to alibi his best friend, and one of the central mysteries of the novel is whether or not Luke murdered his family before killing himself

One last plot point and then I’ll move on to my thoughts and impressions. Aaron returns because Luke’s father sent a letter informing him that he knows Luke lied for him. Luke’s father believes that if Luke could murder once, he could murder again. He and his wife are searching for closure. They can’t believe that their son would murder his family, but they can’t reconcile the lack of other suspects, or the evidence that points to Luke’s being the murderer. This sets up the second central mystery. Who killed Ellie Deacon?

We’re getting two mysteries for the price of one here. Who killed Ellie Deacon? And did Luke Hadler kill his family? We get no shortage of suspects for the first crime. At various points in the novel Harper presents Luke, his old girlfriend Gretchen, Ellie’s cousin, and Ellie’s father as suspects. She sets up each introduction well and unveils details in ways that make each suspect seem plausible. This isn’t a Jim Thompson novel, so Aaron is never presented as a real suspect. There are fewer suspects presented for the Hadler murders, but we find out early on that the case against Luke Hadler is far from airtight.

Aaron also struggles in a town that doesn’t want him around and shows it in numerous ways, all of them aggressive. As the story unfolds we also learn how being accused of murder and run out of town strained his relationship with his father. That information gives some good context for why Aaron’s life turned out the way it did. He wasn’t just haunted by the traumatic murder of a friend, a girl he had feelings for, but by the resentment of his father.

There is an antagonist in this story, but their identity isn’t revealed until late in the novel and I won’t reveal it here, so it’s hard to discuss. I bought the antagonist’s reasoning and methodology, which is good enough for me.

All in all I liked this novel a lot. I definitely recommend it!

John Warburton

I really enjoyed The Dry. This one is a slow burn that takes place in a town where there is no water to put out the fire. The characters in The Dry are all well written and most are three dimensional. You can really see the small town dynamic playing out and the history that is created between friends beginning at a young age. The secrets that they keep for and from each other have stayed with them throughout their teenage years and resurface when Aaron Falk returns for the funeral of his one time best mate Luke and his family. They were all killed by Luke in a murder suicide and everyone assumes it is because he finally had it with the massive drought causing financial problems for his farm and family. But Aaron along with Luke's parents really believe that this isn't the case. They believe that Luke and his family were murdered. But why would someone kill this seemingly wonderful couple and their beautiful young son? Aaron wanted to come in to town for the funeral and leave right away because of his past there. He was always looked at as a suspect in the death of his good friend Ellie when he was a teenager. His Dad moved them far away from where they grew up because of the harassment they endured at the hands of the townsfolk and especially from Ellie's father and cousin. Now that Aaron has returned and is staying a bit longer in order to investigate his friends death, he needs to watch his back. He is met with the same harassment he faced as a teenager only this time, it seems deadly. Did Luke's death have anything to do with the sudden death of their friend Ellie all those years back? Was Luke involved in something he could no longer run from? Or was he just a man at the end of his rope looking for an easy yet horrible way out?
I really enjoyed this book. It was a good mystery and it kept me guessing the whole way through. I enjoyed being led down different paths and meeting different characters who may or may have been involved. This book was really great at marrying the past mystery of Ellie's death with the current deaths of Luke and his family. This was a very good read and I highly recommend it!

This beautifully written mystery transported me to Kiewarra, Australia, a small farming community that is suffering from a drought, and also from being mired in the past.

Aaron Falk, a federal financial police officer, reluctantly returns to Kiewarra to attend the funeral of his former best friend, Luke Hadler. It appears that Luke committed a murder suicide, killing his wife, Karen, and their six-year-old son, Billy, before taking his own life. The community is in shock and speculation abounds. Why would Luke Hadler kill his wife and son? Furthering the mystery is why he left his baby daughter, Charlotte, alive.

Falk plans to spend 24 hours in Kiewarra, but Luke’s parents ask him to investigate the family’s financials, hoping that he can uncover something that can add some insight into Luke’s actions. Falk teams up with the local Sergeant and the two slowly begin to uncover secrets and lies that dredge up the past, including the death of Ellie Deacon, a girl with whom Falk shared a past.

Falk’s relationship with Ellie comes under scrutiny and tensions arise. Not only is Falk’s life put in danger, but also the entire community Kiewarra is put at risk.

I can’t say enough good things about The Dry. The plot is intricately woven, the characters are developed, the writing is engaging, and the mystery is satisfying! I highly recommend!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you have time to read no more than a handful of books this year, make sure this one of them. Yes, it's that good.

And to think I almost didn't read it. To get it, in fact, I broke one of my cardinal rules: Never trust gushing praise about a book when it comes from other authors. But in this instance, as a subscriber of email from David Baldacci, I got a message saying he'd read, and highly recommends, this one.

Just delete the message, the law-abiding side of my mind advised. Ah, countered my more adventurous side, but it sounds good, and besides, Baldacci is one of my top five all-time favorite writers. What the heck, I finally decided - I'll go to NetGalley and see if an advance copy is available for review. If it is, I'll request it; if I'm approved, I'll take it as a sign from God.

Well, apparently, somebody up there loves me; it was on my Kindle the same day as my request. I'm joking about the love from on high, of course, but I'm not kidding when I say I absolutely loved the book. In fact, I breezed through it almost nonstop over a couple of days - eager to find out how it ends yet not wanting it to end. The story drew me in from the start, and the well-developed characters are so real it's hard to avoid loving (or in some instances, despising) every single one. The only thing that's hard to believe, in fact, is that this is a debut novel.

The setting is the small Australian town of Kiewarra, a couple of hours from Melbourne, where Federal Agent Aaron Falk plies his trade of solving financial cries. Aaron, who grew up in Kiewarra, has returned after 20 or so years to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Back then, a young female friend drowned under suspicious circumstances, and when Aaron became the prime suspect, Luke provided an ironclad alibi. But many local folks weren't willing to believe Luke's story, much less let Aaron off the hook; life turned so uncomfortable that Aaron's father insisted that he and his son pack up and leave, vowing never to return.

Now Aaron's back and Luke's dead, but it seems local folks have clung to their old, unpleasant beliefs. Worse, Luke now is on a hook of a different sort; by all accounts, he killed himself after taking the lives of his wife and son - leaving only their infant daughter alive. But Aaron isn't so sure that's what really happened; and when he gets his head together with a local detective, he learns the detective has doubts as well. Aaron's intent was to stay just a couple of days, wanting to make a relatively hasty retreat from the drought-destroyed land and bad memories. Urged on by Luke's distraught parents, who have taken in their surviving granddaughter, Aaron agrees to give it a week - after all, he's got some vacation time coming - just to help with what's being deemed an unofficial investigation.

The more he and the detective poke around, though, the more the suicide/murder theory unravels - and suddenly, the loose ends begin to reach back all those years ago to when Luke's faithful buddy stood up for him. In retrospect, did Aaron and Luke's friend kill herself, or was her death a result of something more sinister? Could the events of the past really be tied to the here-and-now murders of Luke's wife and son? If so, how? And who?

The story moves along quickly, with chapters interspersed with Aaron's "recollections" of what happened back then. Little by little, everything comes together, building up to an exciting, and for the most part surprising, ending. I was left wishing there was more to read, but also with the thought that Aaron would be a great character for a series (what say you, Ms. Harper)?

The moral to my own story? Some rules, it seems, are meant to be broken. Get this one - you won't be sorry.

Sometimes a book comes along (not too often) and I just know from the first sentences that I'm going to like it! This was the case with The Dry, Jane Harper's debut novel. Try this for yourself and see if you're not eager to keep reading....

It wasn't as though the farm hadn't seen death before, and the blowflies didn't discriminate. To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse.

The words are pitch perfect, the writing evocative and the tone just menacing enough that I had to read on to find out about that corpse. Read on I did and I was rewarded with one of the best prologues I've read in recent memory! Don't you love when that happens?

The deaths of the Hadler family were tragic, heartbreaking, and once law enforcement delved deeper past the initial scene, they became suspicious. There were aspects of the crime scene that just didn't make sense to local police sergeant Greg Raco. Federal investigator Aaron Falk, who was childhood friends with Luke Hadler was also left questioning aspects of the crime scene and at the request of Luke's parents decides to stay in town a little longer to delve into the deaths with Raco. I really enjoyed these two characters. I thought they were intelligent, insightful and well-written. I especially found Aaron's backstory compelling as we discover very early on that he has a long history with the town and with Luke Hadler.

Of the many things I loved about this book, the main mystery surrounding the deaths of the Hadlers was just one part. There was a second mystery which I won't spoil for you but I will say the author did a fantastic job of incorporating both mysteries into the narrative without flipping perspectives or jumping back and forth between time periods. This was such a refreshing surprise to read a linear narrative structure that allowed you to stay present with the mysteries but still provided just the right amount of backstory at the perfect times in the story. In fact, about halfway through the book, I was enjoying it so much I headed to Goodreads to find out what else Jane Harper had written so I could see check with my library and request the books. Imagine my shock when I discovered this is her DEBUT! All I can say is WOW! I wish every debut was as strong and well-written as this one. That being said, the only critique I have and it's a small one, is that I felt a slight disconnect with the ending and the resolution of the Hadler's deaths. I won't say more but when others read this I'd love to discuss! Hats off to Jane Harper for writing such a wonderful story to kick off 2017! One thing is for sure, I'll be auto- buying whatever she writes next.