Review: THE DRY, Jane Harper

• 
  This edition provided by my local library
  
• first published 2016 by Pan Macmillan Australia
• ISBN 978-1-7435-805-9
• 339 pages
• WINNER ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
  WINNER ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
  WINNER INDIE BOOK AWARDS DEBUT FICTION 2017
  WINNER DAVITT AWARDS ADULT FICTION 2017
  WINNER DAVITT AWARDS READERS CHOICE 2017
  WINNER NED KELLY AWARD BEST FIRST FICTION 2017
• #1 Aaron Falk series

Synopsis (publisher) 

WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY?

It hasn't rained in Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the farming community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are discovered shot to death on their property. Everyone assumes Luke Hadler committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for the funerals and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and his childhood friend Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth ...

My Take

I first read this novel 7 years ago. Jane Harper was a new voice on the Australian writing scene and her first novel had instant impact.

Aaron Falk, a Federal Police financial investigator from Melbourne, returns home for the funeral of his childhood friend Luke Hadler who is thought to have killed his wife and young son and then himself. Aaron intends to play a flying visit but agrees to look through the family finances to see if anything there prompted Luke's actions. He meets up with the local policeman and together they undertake an unofficial investigation. Feelings in the town are riding high and there is at least one person who does not want them to unearth the truth.

In the novel sections in italics reveal secrets from the past and Aaron remembers things that he has tried hard to forget. These sections also include narration from other characters.

I am re-reading this novel so that I can discuss it with my U3A Crime Reading Group. In this re-reading I think I have appreciated things that I didn't necessarily see before. The town is gradually being killed off by an ongoing drought, hence the title. This is a common scenario in recent Australian novels (just check some that I've recently reviewed) - I've made a list at the end of this post.

I would normally make a list of discussion questions but there are already plenty around for THE DRY. I have included a couple of batches below.

If you are new to recent Australian crime fiction you really couldn't do better than start here. Jane Harper is a writer to watch.

In our reading group we will be discussing some of those questions and then watching the film starring Eric Bana as Aaron Falk.

My rating: 5.0

My previous review

I have also read

• 4.7, THE DRY- Falk #1
  
• 5.0, FORCE OF NATURE- Falk #2
  
• 5.0, THE LOST MAN 
• 4.8, THE SURVIVORS
• 4.8, EXILES- Falk #3 
• 5.0, THE LOST MAN

Macmillan Reading Group questions

Another set of questions

• The novel has a strong sense of place, despite being set in a fictional town. What elements does Harper include to accomplish this? How do the bush, the rock tree, the river, etc. affect the story?
• Harper has said she is interested in communities where people have known each other—for better or for worse—their entire lives. How does　this affect personal relationships? What are the positives and negatives of a small community?
• Falk describes his group of friends as "teenage tight, where you believe your friends are soul mate and the bonds will last forever." (p. 13) And yet he later wonders why he and Luke were still friends (p. 185). Did the early bonds last? Were the bonds broken because of their personalities, because they grew apart, or because of the lies they told?
• How does the drought affect the town? The Hadlers? The reader?
• How did his father’s doubts affect Falk? How do loved one’s doubts affect the people they are close to? Do we see this in other relationships in The Dry?
• Luke was larger than life. What made people think he was capable of murder?
• The Dry is a book rife with secrets. What secrets do Luke, Jamie, Ellie, and Gretchen tell? How do those secrets affect their relationships? What do they tell us about the nature of truth?
• Are some secrets better off kept? What might have changed in The Dry if certain secrets had remained secret?　
• Do you see　archetypal heroes and villains in the characters of　The Dry? Are there "good" characters and "bad" characters? What were these characters’ motivations?　
• Jane Harper has worked as a journalist for 13 years. How did her personal background affect her telling of the story? Does her writing style make the details more or less believable?

Australian novels to check

• SCRUBLANDS, Chris Hammer
• DRY BONES, Margaret Mayhew 
• OUTBACK, Patricia Wolf 
• THE LOST MAN, Jane Harper 
• STONE TOWN, Margaret Hickey 
• THE TILT, Chris Hammer 
• DAY'S END, Garry Disher 
• CUTTER'S END, Margaret Hickey