Blog Tour: #TheDry by Jane Harper

The Dry is published in Hardback by Little Brown on 12th January 2017. My thanks to the author and publisher for the review copy.

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.

My Thoughts:

Set in the fictional town of Kiewarra in Australia, during a drought this book packs a massive punch. Taut and tense throughout, the author has used the landscape of her novel as the canvas on which to paint the story. 

The landscape is harsh and dry and the characters are mysterious. Aaron Falk has returned to his hometown after many years away. His best friend Luke Hadler has allegedly killed his wife and son and then committed suicide. Although there are some that believe this is not the case. 

There are flashbacks to earlier events in the boys childhood, things that were kept secret all those years ago. What really happened back then, what happened with Luke Hadler and why is Aaron Falk still in town. 

So many questions rolled around my head as I was reading this book, the suspense was kept high throughout as the story slowly played out until the end. The people of Kiewarra do not have much money. Everybody is tense, the land is dry and water is a luxury. The tension of the people and the landscape proved atmospheric and claustrophobic at the same time. 

This book is fantastic and a great way to start my reading off this year. Jane Harper has managed to take this novel to places that kept me gripped through the entirety whilst managing to write a unique story with an individual voice. 

I highly recommend this one. It is a beautifully written and expertly crafted crime novel. I found the ending to be satisfying and it was the type of book that had me turning just one more page. I can't wait to read what this author writes in the future, she is a talent for sure. 

About the Author:

Jane Harper was born in Manchester but now lives in Australia. The Dry is her first novel. She has pursued a career in Journalism and this encouraged her to take her creative writing seriously and she took part in a course via Curtis Brown Creative. She lives in St Kilda with her Husband and Daughter. 

Please do check out the other stops on the tour: