The Dry
THE ABSOLUTELY COMPELLING INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
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4.3 • 35 Ratings
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- €5.49
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- €5.49
Publisher Description
'Spellbinding' Ian Rankin
'A riveting murder mystery and a beautifully wrought picture of a rural community under extreme pressure' Mail on Sunday Thriller of the Week
'Packed with sneaky moves and teasing possibilities that keep the reader guessing...The Dry is a breathless page-turner' Janet Maslin, New York Times
WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY?
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.
Praise for The Dry
'Riveting' Mail on Sunday
'Stunningly atmospheric' Val McDermid
A WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CRIME THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CWA GOLD DAGGER AWARD WINNER
An Amazon.com's #1 Pick for Best Mystery & Thriller
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Exquisitely written and plotted, journalist Jane Harper’s Australian crime novel is a knockout, earning praise from genre heavyweights like Michael Robotham and David Baldacci. It follows a federal police officer who returns to the drought-stricken agricultural town he fled as a teenager to attend the funeral of an old friend suspected of committing a horrific murder/suicide. Reluctantly drawn into investigating the tragedy, he bears witness to a fractured community teetering on the brink.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Australian author Harper's devastating debut, Melbourne-based federal agent Aaron Falk returns to his drought-stricken hometown, Kiewarra, for three funerals those of popular school aid Karen Hadler; her six-year-old son, Billy; and her husband, Luke, Aaron's childhood best friend. Luke apparently murdered Karen and Billy before turning the shotgun on himself. Falk knows better than anyone that his charismatic mate may have had a darker side two decades earlier as teens they gave each other bogus alibis for the afternoon of high school crush Ellie Deacon's suspicious death by drowning. When Luke's brokenhearted parents beg Falk to investigate, he can't refuse. But as Falk begins digging with the help of recently arrived Sgt. Greg Raco, including looking into a possible connection to the earlier tragedy, he swiftly discovers that a badge may not protect him from a town driven to the brink. From the ominous opening paragraphs, all the more chilling for their matter-of-factness, Harper, a journalist who writes for Melbourne's Herald Sun, spins a suspenseful tale of sound and fury as riveting as it is horrific.
Customer Reviews
Great read
Great read, I was captured entirely as the plot twisted.
The Dry
Fine modern crime novel, though not as marvellous as the hype surrounding it would imply. Seriously marred by a wimpy protagonist who seems more observer than actor. Pity. Bigger failing is that with fine fat themes to play with the author opts for a villainous teacher with a gambling problem as the prime baddie. There is a convoluted end sequence where some red herrings get resolved in a scarcely credible way. Still it is pacy, well written and atmospheric. Not at all shabby but not Highsmith either.