Brutal Heat Wave Scorched More than the Land

Photo by Parsing Eye on Unsplash

Punishing heat and murder teamed up for this wonder down under.  “The Dry,” by Jane Harper was our selection for our March’s book club.  With three nor’easters under our belt in the last two weeks, blistering heat and parched land almost sounded inviting.

The novel opens at the funeral of the Handler family. The protagonist, Aaron Falk, has come back to the town he was forced to leave as a teenager during the funeral of his childhood friend and his family. What makes this tragedy even worse is the belief that Luke Handler apparently killed his young son and wife before taking his own life.

Falk was summoned back home to Kiewarra by a cryptic message from Luke’s father – You lied. Luke lied. Be at the funeral. Falk is haunted by this place and what happened to him and his almost girlfriend Ellie Deacon during his teenage years.

Luke’s father wants Falk to investigate the deaths of his son and his family. Falk is a federal agent in white collar crime in Melbourne, the closest big city to Kiewarra. He told him that his expertise is not in murder and he should get someone else. Luke’s father didn’t care and threatened Falk who finally agreed to stay on for 18 hours to help the local cop, Raco with the investigation.

The townspeople tend to roll along believing the worse in people without looking at their own shortcomings. The dry desolation of the land seems to have crept into them with few exceptions. I’m glad I don’t live there.

The author planted tidbits along the way that will turn out to be of importance so keep your antenna honed.  The story traveled down a winding dusty road with twists and turns you’d expect in a good thriller.

We all liked this book a lot.  The author did a great job keeping us guessing. We talked about how group mentality influenced the townspeople and charged them up on an emotional level without any rational basis. We also talked about Ellie Deacon. We don’t want to ruin the story, but some of us still think about her.

Rating: 8.5

Credit Photo by Parsing Eye on Unsplash