Reviews

The Dry, by Jane Harper

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Overrated. Where is all the imagery of the drought?? I did not feel any oppressive heat whatsoever in the writing. I don’t know - maybe I was expecting too much due to the hype. I feel like it could have been a cross between Wake in Fright (which absolutely nailed the heat imagery and how it affects people’s personalities) with The Dressmaker (a novel which nails the small town nuances of small town folk with a long history) all wrapped up in a nifty little murder mystery. But I just couldn’t believe these characters. No swearing and Falk was so boring I just felt nothing for him.

ebony_w's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

rlwertheimer's review

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4.0

3.5

reyna_writes's review

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

librarian_lisa_22's review against another edition

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4.0

Has the flavor of Where the Crawdads Sing. Fun mystery—past converging on the present and secrets revealed and untangled.

emilyceratops's review

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4.0

Compelling

rglossner's review

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4.0

An Australian farmer, Luke Handler, turns his gun on his wife, 7-year-old son, and himself in the middle of the worst drought the town of Kiewarra has ever seen. Aaron Falk, close friend of the farmer and a federal agent, returns to the town that rejected him 20 years ago for the funerals, and is drawn into the investigation. Twenty years ago, suspicion fell on Aaron when a troubled young girl drowned in the river. Now Falk’s past intrudes on the investigation, and nothing is quite what it seems. A solid police procedural, and I’m happy to see that it is Aaron Falk #1.

iffer's review

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3.0

I enjoyed the atmospheric writing of this book, especially the author's conjuring of a drought-ridden small farming town in Australia, and how secrets and resentment can be present. In my opinion, Jane Harper does a good job portraying the cast of characters, the complexity of their feelings, and their moral ambiguity. Most likely due to the fact that I listened to the audioboook, and also because my brain has had trouble concentrating lately, the flip-flopping between the past and present, and the two possible murder cases ended up being a little bit confusing and jarring to me.