The Dry by Jane Harper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, Abuse and incest are mentioned and vaguely described


 
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

I enjoyed this mystery quite a lot. It's set in a small farming town in Australia that is going through a drought. I thought the author did a wonderful job of describing the dismal circumstances and the feeling that went along with them. There was a distinctly depressing feel to the town in this book. The drought permeated everything, and you could really feel the tensions rising in the town as they dealt with it.

The prologue to this book did a good job of setting the tone and drawing me in. I liked how we follow the blowflies as they feed on the dead in the heat of this parched landscape, until they eventually invade the crime scene.

“It wasn’t as though the farm hadn’t seen death before, and the blowflies didn’t discriminate. To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse."

After the prologue the book ended up being rather slow for a while, but once the investigation began things picked up nicely. There were several unsavory characters in this little town with no shortage of red herrings thrown into the story, and they were very convincing. The killer wasn't either of the people I thought it could end up being. Finally at one point well into the story, something clued me into who it was, and it was a surprise. That right there earned this book a fourth star from me. If a mystery can keep me guessing, then in my opinion it has done it's job. That being said, there are a couple of things that I wish would have happened differently. The main one being the way someone goes unpunished, but this being a series, maybe we will eventually see some retribution there.

I seem to be drawn to mysteries that incorporate a person going home and revisiting their past. Usually a past that involves some sort of a mystery, so it's no surprise that this book ended up on my to-read list. Most of the time these type of books have been stand-alones, but with this book being the first in a series, I am concerned that the second book may not have the same feel or draw me in like this one did. I enjoyed this enough to continue on with the series though, so I guess I'll find out.