The Dry: A Novel

Quite simply, a perfectly written book. I could not put it down. The plot stays clear of crime/mystery thriller cliches, and the characters are SO realistically written. I highly recommend!

My second reading, January 2021: When I keep going back in my mind to a particular book, I like to recycle it in a couple of years and second guess myself. The Dry is a debut novel, the first of a series by Australian author Jane Harper, and the drought and repercussions of drought are very familiar to those of us who have generations in the High Plains Deserts of the U.S. I think though, rather than the familiarity of the weather's hold on our lives, this book touched my humanity in a way I don't often feel. Any of us raised in a small town in the west understand the instability of the weather. Many of us have lived long enough to see summers where our animals had to be sacrificed due to lack of food and water. We have seen the angst and anger that infuses some as we spiral down into a life in which we have no control. Jane Harper takes you there. My background focus was tied to the repercussions of the weather. In this reading, the town of Kiewarra is another major player, and the nuances of this tragic time were more obvious. If you haven't read this series, you are missing a special experience. If you have, hit it again when you are feeling overwhelmed by life. A little social distancing and whipping up interesting face masks are a distraction but the tragedy is the loss of lives who would still be here with us - 400,000 and counting - and feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, should be our focus. Reviewed on January 18, 2021, at Goodreads, First Read, December 9, 2018: The Dry is the debut novel of Jane Harper, set in the small farming town of Kiewarra, Australia through yet another El Nino summer of drought. Dust devils spun in the bed of rivers that had never before dried up. Officially, touted the nightly weather reporters, the worst conditions in a century. Farmers were having to kill their stock because there was no feed, no water to sustain them. Three-minute egg timers were hung in bathroom shower stalls, a stark reminder that water was more precious than cleanliness. And it is thought that second-generation farmer Luke Hadler may have gone round the bend, shotgunning his wife Karen, his six-year-old son Billy, and then himself. Aaron Falk is a thirty-six-year-old Kiewarra native, though working these many years five hours down the road in Melbourne as a Federal policeman in the financial intelligence unit. Luke and Aaron were best buddies all through school. Luke, Aaron, Gretchen, and Ellie, a foursome that first saw tragedy with the death, maybe murder, possibly suicide, of Ellie while they were still in high school. Now there is only Aaron and Gretchen, and the local constable, Raco, was just days in the town and on the job when this tragic killing happened. Luke's parents want Aaron involved in the investigation, want their son Luke cleared of this heinous crime. Other locals aren't sure Aaron wasn't responsible, one way or the other, for the long-ago death of Ellie, and want him to clear out. No one is listening when Aaron explains, repeatedly, the kind of policeman he is. He follows the money. Strictly a desk job, financial intelligence. But Gerry and Barb Hadler were like parents to Aaron, growing up. And there are discrepancies, apparent even to Raco, the newly imported policeman. Can Aaron legitimately scurry back to Melbourne, turn his back on these people, this crime, and still live with himself? The Dry is a tight, atmospheric mystery, hard to put aside. Jane Harper is an author I am compelled to follow.

Very good book. Well written with good solid characters. One of the best books I've read in a long time.