#IncidentReport | #BookReview | THE DRY by Jane Harper @janeharperautho‏ (January 10th 2017, Abacus Books @AbacusBooks)

THE DRY by Jane Harper (January 10th, 2017 Abacus)

Rating; ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well…

When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra for the funerals, he is loath to confront the people who rejected him twenty years earlier. But when his investigative skills are called on, the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge.

And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones. For Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret… A secret Falk thought long-buried… A secret which Luke’s death starts to bring to the surface…

Australia holds a large piece in my heart. Adam and me lived in Melbourne for four years and after gaining permanent residency last year, we will certainly be heading back soon! So to hear earlier this year that the latest ‘book of the moment’s was THE DRY by Jane Harper and it was set in Australia… I was keen already!

THE DRY is a slow burning mystery of whether the murder and suicide of a family is as straight forward as initially concluded. Our main character; Aaron was once a member of the local community, before moving to Melbourne. He returns to his home town for the funeral of the family who perished and is asked by the parents to look into the circumstances around the deaths.

When we are eventually told the full story, I had a real ‘WTF’ moment as I genuinely didn’t see it coming! I LOVE that in books. It is rare these days that I am truly shocked and surprised as to the outcome of a crime that is being investigated. As you read the story, certain characters start to jump out and you think you have it solved. But every now and then, you get a story like THE DRY where you honestly have no clue how it will turn out, then WHAM!

This is a credit to Jane’s writing as she is able to keep the reader fully invested in the plot and the characters until the very last page. THE DRY is certainly a page turner! (It even says so on the front of the book!!) It’s a great read and if you haven’t already…add this to your TBR as soon as possible.

You can buy THE DRY now from the following booksellers;

Amazon (UK) | Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones

-S.