Reviews

The Dry by Jane Harper

Only show reviews with written explanations

paulabrandon's review against another edition

4.0

Aaron Falk returns to his hometown of Kiewarra after learning about his childhood friend Luke Hadler, who has apparently shot his wife and son dead, then killed himself. Aaron and his father were driven out of town 20 years earlier due to belief one of them had been involved in the death of Ellie Deacon, although the death was ruled a suicide. Luke provided Aaron with an alibi all those years ago. Aaron unofficially ends up becoming part of the investigation, as evidence starts to suggest the deaths were not the murder-suicide scenario it initially appeared.

This book has received rave reviews and won awards, and it's not hard to see why. This was very well-written! The characters were well developed and the plot was interesting and intricately structured. I really enjoyed reading it! However, I did think it was too slow-paced, and every other chapter would have somebody in town act like an asshole to Aaron, just to remind us that he had been run out of the place decades earlier. That got a little repetitive. My rating would be closer to 3.5 than 4. However, I also liked that this was set in Australia, where I live. It's undoubtedly the best thriller written by an Australian writer that I've ever read! Harper is able to masterfully establish the setting as uniquely Australian, yet I don't think anyone from another country will find it inaccessible. She actually makes it feel like this could be happening anywhere.

cindy_freez's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I was going to read The Survivors but decided to read Jane Harper’s earlier book first. The Dry was a gripping story, and intensely told. It’s actually two mysteries in one. There’s a current murder/ suicide (?) of a family as well as mysterious death of a teen 20 years prior. Aaron Falk is a federal agent who returns to his home town to help investigate the suspicious death of Luke, his childhood friend. He also is tied in to the murder of his friend Ellie 20 years prior, in which he lied about his alibi. There are secrets and lies in a small dying farm town in Australia suffering from a drought. Harper does a great job with the descriptions of the living conditions and the characters, providing small clues and distractions.

I listened to the audible version and this was a little difficult because all of a sudden a flashback from 20 years ago would be told within the same chapter with no clear transition in timeline. I had to rewind quite a bit because I thought I missed something. I quickly got used to this form of story telling and I was actually impressed with how Harper pulled this off.

Overall, this was a great mystery that kept my attention. I watched the movie trailer and it looks really dark. I hear that the movie is only playing in Australia for now. I cannot wait till it hits the states.

eileenthecrow's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

what a waste of my time and i finished it in a day.

madame_medusa's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Five stars because of the shock, the terror, the realisation of what happened really threw me.
A fantastic Australian Crime Fiction novel (also my first crime fiction read) that I will now be recommending to everyone!