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![The Dry (Aaron Falk Book 1) by [Jane Harper]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41qQxLFpf1L._SY346_.jpg)
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The Dry (Aaron Falk Book 1) Kindle Edition
Jane Harper
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Length: 311 pages | Word Wise: Enabled | Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled |
Page Flip: Enabled |
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Language: English |
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Product description
Review
"Ms. Harper is not one to drop a fact...without using it later. She has jampacked her swift debut thriller with sneaky moves that the reader has to track with care... It's hard to believe this is her first novel... The Dry is a breathless page-turner, driven by the many revelations Ms. Harper dreams up...."
--The New York Times, Janet Maslin
--David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Guilty "Leads down a convoluted page-turning trail to an explosive ending. It will have you wearing out the pages flipping back looking for the well-disguised clues. You may find this is the best mystery you have read all year."
--Florida Times-Union "A stunner...It's a small-town, big-secrets page-turner with a shocker of an ending...Recommend this one to fans of James Lee Burke and Robert Crais, who mix elements of "bromance" into their hard-boiled tales."
--Booklist, starred review "Devastating debut...a suspenseful tale of sound and fury as riveting as it is horrific."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review "A nail-biting thriller...A chilling story set under a blistering sun, this fine debut will keep readers on edge and awake long past bedtime."
--Kirkus, starred review The Dry is one of the most talked-about debuts of the new year....Harper's story is tightly plotted and moves briskly, the tension as brittle and incendiary as the dried-out crops on the Kiewarra farms. But it is the beautifully evoked landscape and the portrayal of a gloomy outpost on the edge of a desert that are the stars of the show.
--BookPage
"A thrilling procedural that pays off on every level."
--Shelf Awareness Harper writes with precision and creates a tense atmosphere on the brink of combustion.
--Real Simple With The Dry, Jane Harper immediately takes her place among the elites in the mystery world. If this book doesn't garner an Edgar (Best First Novel) or two (Best Novel), there is no justice. Terrific characters, unique and evocative setting, knockout plot construction. This book has it all.
--John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of The Fall It's extremely rare and exciting to read a debut that enthralls from the very first page and then absolutely sticks the landing. Told with heart and guts and an authentic sense of place that simply cannot be faked, The Dry is the debut of the year."
--C.J. Box, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Off The Grid Every so often a debut novel arrives that is so tightly woven and compelling it seems the work of a novelist in her prime. That's what Jane Harper has given us with The Dry, a story so true to setting and tone it seemed I fell asleep in Virginia only to wake in Australian heat. It's rare, that sense of transportation, and I loved every minute of it. Thank you, Jane Harper.
--John Hart, New York Times bestselling author of Redemption Road "From the first paragraph onward, Jane Harper creates a menacing landscape out of which long-held secrets emerge. The Dry is a marvelous novel that once begun is hard to put down, once finished even harder to forget."
--Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena "You will feel the heat, taste the dust and blink into the glare. The Dry is a wonderful crime novel that shines a light into the darkest corner of a sunburnt country."
--Michael Robotham, New York Times bestselling author of Life or Death "Elegant...After two decades away, a federal agent returns to the small farming community he grew up in. The old crime still looms, but he gets roped into solving a new one. You won't sleep until he does."
--Redbook "A winner destined for widespread appeal...a beautifully constructed, chilling page turner that you won't soon forget. It's a multilayered, stiletto sharp read...that packs a punch as blistering as the Australian sun it's set under." --Open Letters Monthly "Fans of Tana French or Laura McHugh won't want to miss this tense but probing thriller."
--BookPage "Every now and then an Australian crime novel comes along to stop your breath and haunt your dreams...There is about The Dry something mythic and valiant. This a story about heroism, the sins of the past, and the struggle to atone."
--Sydney Morning Herald "Poised to be one of the season's biggest hits."
--Elle.com, The 25 Most Anticipated Books by Women for 2017 Told with heart-breaking precision and emotional power...If you read only one crime novel this year, make it this one.
--Daily Mail "A razor-sharp crime yarn dripping in the sights, sounds and smells of the Australian bush...The storytelling is accomplished, with a bald sparseness to the writing that draws you in and characterization that rings resoundingly true...as the action twists and turns, the pace build[s] to a fantastic finale that will leave you breathless."
--Australian Women's Weekly "A tightly plotted page-turner that kept me reading well into the night...Harper shines a light on the highs and lows of rural life - the loyalty born of collective endurance in adversity, as well as the loneliness and isolation, and the havoc wrought by small-town gossip. She also explores the nature of guilt and regret, and the impact of the past on the present. In this cracker of a book Harper maintains the suspense, with the momentum picking up as it draws to its nerve-wracking conclusion."
--Australian Financial Review "The Dry is a page-turner written with a maturity of style rarely seen in a first-time novelist and it's here the writer excels. Harper's exploration of the pressures of a small town where people are not able to escape the past is thoughtful and mature. Her plot twists and layering are intricate and subtle and keep you guessing to the end while the townspeople grow on you despite their dirty secrets."
--The West Australian --This text refers to the paperback edition.
From the Publisher
Review
Book Description
From the Author
From the Inside Flap
Australia is in the grip of its worst drought in a century, and it hasn't rained in the small country town of Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son, is guilty.
Policeman Aaron Falk returns to his home town for the funeral of his childhood best friend, and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth. And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, secrets from his past bubble to the surface as he investigates the truth of his friend's crime.
The Dry is a story of desperation, resolution and small-town prejudice, played out against the blistering extremes of life in a ravaged land.
From the Back Cover
'One of the most stunning debuts I've ever read' David Baldacci
I just can't understand how someone like him could do something like that.
Amid the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century, it hasn't rained in small country town Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son, is guilty.
Policeman Aaron Falk returns to the town of his youth for the funeral of his childhood best friend, and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth. And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, secrets from his past and why he left home bubble to the surface as he questions the truth of his friend's crime.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B01B40JHRQ
- Publisher : Macmillan Australia (31 May 2016)
- Language : English
- File size : 2116 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 311 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 4 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Well Jane Harper needs an editor. With in this book are 3 major errors.1 of these rather spoils her solution to the murder the other 2 just upsets pendits like me. We will start with the least important. As a book written about Australia she should have realized that here in the bush we have a verandah not a porch....second if you are going out to shoot rabbits you would go in the early morning or the dusk. At lunch time any bunny will be in his burrow keeping cool....actually if you seriously want to try and get rid of Peter Rabbit your method will be a little less kind than a gun....and now the major mistake. The victim is using ,and shot by ,a shotgun. A shotgun uses cartridges not bullets. Sorry Jane but that rather spoils the ending though a bit of thought and a few rewritten chapters would set things right.
I shall still read her next book because she can write but I hope the next one actually makes sense.
After two years of drought tempers are short in Kierwarra and the atmosphere is tense. Aaron only planned to stay a few days but he begins looking into the death of his childhood mate Luke Hadler and his family and it doesn’t make any sense. Luke got into a bit of trouble as a teen; he grew up, got married and had two kids.
The dry looks at life in a small country town; it’s hot, dusty, boring and has its secrets. Like many towns its surrounded by bush and scrub, you go for a walk and it’s creepy, you jump at any noise, dry grass moving, a twig snaps and you want to run. In Kierwarra things have been covered up, the local police want to close the case, it’s a murder and suicide, and they don’t want some detective from Melbourne snooping around. I really enjoyed The Dry, it has the right amount of that creepy feeling, it keeps you guessing and five stars from me.
Can the folks in Kiewarra put the past behind them when Aaron Falk rolls back in to town? Probably not, seeing as he’s here for his former friend Luke’s funeral, not by choice mind you. No, he was summoned by a note telling him he lied, and Luke lied. To make matters worse Luke is being accused of killing his wife and young son before turning the gun on himself. However, Luke’s mother thinks something more sinister happened and wants Aaron to investigate. Tempers are flaring because people remember the death of a young girl 20 years ago, and the connection to both Luke, and Aaron, which makes the whole situation that much worse.
I live in a small town, thankfully not quite like this one, I know how drought feels, it was in this very book! Skillful, twisting & turning, & too real for this author to have not been born & bred in our "outback"!.......but she wasn't. Again I say, brilliant
Aaron Falk is a new concept as a financial crimes detective caught up in the apparent suicide of his childhood friend after killing his family.
Returning home for the funeral his friends parent ask him to investigate. On the property he finds Sergeant Raco has doubts that it happened the way it seems.
There are a multitude of story lines and for each there is a suspect. The main other story is the death of a girl 20 years before where Aaron is implicated by a lie for an alibi worked out with the dead man. There are elements of a Greek tragedy with the unknown always out of reach.
There ate some minor issues and Jane tries to insert red herrings but doesn't always succeed. The final showdown is a bit overblown than necessary but overall this is fine book.
Top reviews from other countries



Of course I might be completely insane and the rest of Humanity might find this well written [NO], plausible [NO] and entertaining [definitely NO].
Peter Hilton

One of the many strengths of the novel is that it so effectively creates a sense of place, which gives it a lot in common with the Nordic noirs which are so popular with readers, though where the abiding image of Nordic thrillers are the desolate snowscapes, Harper's book operates in the polar opposite. It's Outback noir and the parched desolate landscape of the book goes a long way in creating a sense of dread. The land is dying before our eyes, people are living in a state of poverty and hopelessness so it is no wonder that violence soon flares up.
The novel opens with a swarm of blowflies swarming around the bodies of a mother and son, who were butchered in their own home in a seemingly straight forward murder/suicide. Luke Hadler, driven mad by years of drought seems to have shot both his wife and son before turning the gun on himself.
Melbourne based policeman, Aaron Falk spent his childhood in the town of Kiewarra but he and his father had to leave town after the death of a young girl - actually, they were driven out of town when suspicion regarding the young girl's death fell on Aaron. And now years later Aaron returns to the town for the funeral of Luke and his family and becomes involved in an unofficial investigation into the so called murder/suicide. Why for instance did Luke, assuming he saw a hopeless future for himself and his family not kill his infant daughter before turning the gun on himself? Why just his wife and young son?
Falk teams up with local policeman, Sergeant Raco (as likable a character as you can meet in crime fiction) and together the duo start investigating. At the start of the book there is doubt sown in the reader's mind over the involvement Falk may have played in the death of the young girl all those years ago, and this story in a secondary mystery that runs alongside the main storyline. I've called the book Outback Noir, as to some extent it is but this is basically a crime novel in the classic style with a myriad of twists and turns to throw the reader before the thrilling and logical conclusion plays out.

The main character, Aaron Falk, is a police federal investigator, who specialises in financial crime. Now based in Melbourne, he returns to his outback hometown of Kiewarra, suffering from years of drought, to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke Handler.
Luke apparently murdered his wife and young son before turning the gun on himself. Only his baby daughter was spared.
Jane Harper creates an undercurrent of tension and mystery from the very first pages of her novel. We learn Falk was reluctant to go back to Kiewarra when he produces a note from his pocket only eight words in length ‘Luke lied. You lied. Be at the funeral.’ The letter was written by Luke handler’s father, who has his suspicions about the truth behind the murder-suicide.
Falk begrudgingly agrees to dig deeper into what may have happened. He teams up with local police officer Raco and begins looking into why some of the townsfolk may have wanted Luke dead. He is also forced to consider the possibility of a link to the events which forced him to leave the farming community under a dark cloud over twenty years ago.
Jane Harper’s descriptions of the arid Australian landscape are so realistic they are tangible. She depicts a community struggling to survive, yet it is not all about poverty. All of the characters are bright and vibrant. There are the gossips, the wizened farmers, the young getting through only by drinking, the ex-pat pub landlord, the single mum who was once the school beauty, the teacher. There are no stereotypes. The fears and concerns Harper presents each person as having are relative to any community.
I particularly liked the way Harper presented flashbacks within the book. By making them succinct, at pertinent points and written in Italics gave the feeling of watching a flashback shown in a film. It was cleverly done and pushed events onwards.
The story kept me guessing until the end and I was not at all disappointed at the end, either.