REVIEW: The Dry

The Dry
Author: Jane Harper

Federal Agent Aaron Falk returns to his childhood home to attend the funeral of his friend Luke Hadler. He and Luke were quite close as children, but grew apart over the years. The situation is emotional and tense because it appears that Luke may have committed suicide after killing his wife and their  young son. Aaron has a hard time believing that Luke would do something like that, so he agrees to stay in town to help a local detective do some investigation. The locals really don't want Aaron staying in Kiewarra. He and Luke were suspects in the drowning death of one of their friends, Ellie Deacon, 20 years ago. Aaron has no clue what happened to Ellie. It's still just as much a mystery as it was all those years ago. Could it be that Luke killed Ellie and that he also killed his entire family? Out of love for Luke's parents,  Aaron braves threats from locals, his own past demons and public suspicion to find out what happened that day on the Hadler Farm.

The suspense builds slowly, but convincingly in this thriller set in Australia. There are a lot of flashbacks to Aaron's childhood, and to the day of the killings. Small town gossip and politics make the investigation tense and exciting. At times, the plot moved along a little slowly but it made it seem a bit more realistic to me. They were investigating the deaths of 3 people with possible ties to a 20 year old murder....that isn't solved in a day. And a person doesn't work through 20 years of conscience, guilt and emotion without going through the wringer first. The story is well-crafted, realistic and develops at just the right speed to have full effect on the reader. I didn't see the end coming until it whacked me upside the head.....very well done! Subtle build up culminating in an exciting ending. Just the way I like it!

I listened to the unabridged audiobook version of The Dry. Stephen Shanahan narrates at a steady even pace with good tone. I have partial hearing loss and had no problem understanding Shanahan, even with his lovely Australian accent. The audiobook is just under 10 hours long.

The Dry is the first book in the Aaron Falk series. The second book, Force of Nature, will be released in February 2018. I can't wait to read it!

For more information on the author and her books, check out her website: http://janeharper.com.au/