The Dry – Jane Harper

I have known about this book for awhile, but I thought it might be a bit overhyped so I kept putting off reading it. That was a mistake! I really enjoyed this police procedural/mystery set in the Australian outback. The setting is very real and atmospheric and the crime is portrayed in a very detailed almost true crime-like way. I was able to work out who the killer was, but that didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the novel at all.

I absolutely loathe trigger warnings but I do feel the need to comment about some gritty ‘background’ scenes involving animals (and also the death of the boy). I’m someone who stops reading a book if a dog is killed and I hate hunting scenes and so on. I’m making an exception here because the scenes aren’t too detailed, they’re mostly in the background, and they do serve the Australian outback setting. I’m going to try out book 2 in the series now…

The Dry – Jane Harper

A small town hides big secrets

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

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