jd 🔆 reviewed The Dry by Jane Harper
Small town skullduggery
4 stars
A fair dinkum who-dunnit set in Australia. Who did it? Only they who have read it know.
Paperback, 342 pages
English language
Published Aug. 6, 2017
The Dry
by Jane Harper
4 stars
(9 reviews)
A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper. 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 …
A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper. 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.
franksbooks reviewed Dry by Jane Harper
Review of 'Dry' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
You know what would’ve been better about this book? Not including the final few pages, for one. The predictable characters for two. Other than that a rollicking read.
The Gnome King reviewed The Dry by Jane Harper
Review of 'The Dry' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
An award winning crime story? Can't see that myself, there is nothing special about this that makes it stand out more than any other crime mystery. It isn't terrible though, fantastic setting and when reading this the Aussie accent was coming through really well in my head. The heat was the best part, the book is based in the middle of a very long drought and the terrible heat and lethargy comes across big time. The characters were ok, Falk and Raco make a brilliant team, nice to see for once that the local cop wasn't portrayed as an idiot.
The main reason that this book doesn't stand above other run-of-the-mill crime novels is the end result was really limp, the book flows nicely and deserved an outrageous ending, the bad guy should have been nobody you could have expected....instead I was left going "Is that it? All this for …
An award winning crime story? Can't see that myself, there is nothing special about this that makes it stand out more than any other crime mystery. It isn't terrible though, fantastic setting and when reading this the Aussie accent was coming through really well in my head. The heat was the best part, the book is based in the middle of a very long drought and the terrible heat and lethargy comes across big time. The characters were ok, Falk and Raco make a brilliant team, nice to see for once that the local cop wasn't portrayed as an idiot.
The main reason that this book doesn't stand above other run-of-the-mill crime novels is the end result was really limp, the book flows nicely and deserved an outrageous ending, the bad guy should have been nobody you could have expected....instead I was left going "Is that it? All this for something so silly?" Probably too much like real life for me.
This was an ok story, I might give Falk's second case a go just to see if things become more inventive. Looking on google it looks like there is gonna be a movie released Jan 2020, could be worth a view.
Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/the-dry-by-jane-harper/
