The Dry by Jane Harper — tinderbox tensions in Australia
If only more crime fiction novels were as good as The Dry, the debut offering from Australian author Jane Harper.
The plot follows police detective Aaron Falk who has returned to his hometown to attend the funeral of childhood friend Luke Hadler. Luke’s body was found in a remote farmhouse along with those of his wife and son, triggering speculation he’d killed his family and then turned the gun on himself. Luke’s parents are not convinced and appeal to Falk to discover the truth about their son’s death.
Falk is reluctant to get involved. He’s a financial crimes investigator not a trained murder detective for one thing. But more significantly, he believes he’s still persona non grata in the town of Kiawarra because of a tragedy twenty years earlier when his girlfriend Ellie was killed. It was Luke Hadler who saved him from prosecution, adamantly telling police that Falk was with him at the time of Ellie’s death. Yet suspicions lingered, making it impossible for Falk and his father to remain in the community.
Jane Harper cleverly juggles two mysteries. In one storyline, the question is whether Luke Hadler was a killer or was he the victim of the loan sharks he’d been forced to turn to when his farm began failing. In parallel, there is the issue of Falk’s past and whether he had any involvement in his girlfriend’s death.
The structure of The Dry forces readers to constantly re-assess the situation. Flashbacks provide a drip feed of new information that provides a different perspective on what really happened in Kiawarra. We’re also pushed to constantly reassess our opinions of Hadler as well as Falk. The latter is a police officer but that doesn’t necessarily make him trustworthy, particularly when his own reputation is at stake.
Add in some well-drawn characters (both major and minor) and the result is a highly readable and enjoyable yarn that would give many an established crime writer a run for their money.
The drought had left the flies spoiled for choice that summer. They sought out unblinking eyes and sticky wounds as the farmers of Kiewarra leveled their rifles at skinny livestock… The finds that day were unusual, though. Smaller and with a smoothness to the flesh. Not that it mattered. They were the same where it counted. The glassy eyes. The wet wounds.
What made The Dry stand out was Harper’s portrayal of a small town community struggling with more than its fair share of economic and social problems.
When the book opens, Kiawarra is contending with the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century. After two years without rain, there’s a feeling of desperation in this small community. Farmers are fighting a losing battle to keep crops and livestock alive; local businesses are struggling to keep afloat and every day brings a risk of a wildfire that could destroy homes and lives.
Nerves are already stretched to breaking point before Falk’s arrival. His presence generates greater anxiety and, the threat of violence, stirred up Ellie’s brute of a father Mal Deacon and his loud-mouthed nephew Grant Dow. They deeply resent Falk because they believe he got away with murder and it’s time he paid the price.
The Dry progresses rapidly with a constant stream of new facts and clues frequent changes of focus. Yet the narrative never feels rushed; Harper allows plenty of time for her characters to develop and the atmosphere of the community to take hold. I know we’re going to encounter her main character of Aaron Falk in later novels and I’m hoping they’ll offer just as strong a sense of their location as this first book.
It’s an impressive debut all round, one of the strongest crime fiction novels I’ve read in recent years.
Ooooh, great to hear your thoughts on this one! As an Australian who’s spent more than her fair share of time in small towns, I can confirm she’s spot on in her depiction. Funny that the creeping dread of ongoing drought is what’s stuck with me from when I read this one, more so than the crimes at its heart. We’re bracing for an El Nino summer here, bushfires have already begun, so it feels particularly resonant.
I seldom remember the details of crimes in any crime fiction novel – it’ almost always the atmosphere or the characters that I recall
Kiawarra might be a fictional town, but the photo you found to head your post, looks like somewhere in central west NSW where I have lived most of my life. I feel like I’ve driven down that road!
I just found it via a Google image search for creative commons photos – sadly it didn’t give any location
Have you read Peter Temple’s The Broken Shore ? To me, that’s the best Australian mystery. I really enjoyed all his books, but that one really blew me away.
No I haven’t Nancy – actually I’ve never heard of him but I’m not surprised. There are many Australian authors that are unknown to me. Thanks for the tip though – I shall look him up
Let me endorse Nancy B Pearl’s comment. Temple was an excellent writer of crime fiction, indeed an excellent writer full stop – he won the Miles Franklin, our premier literature prize one year. Search on ‘Peter Temple Jack Irish’ for the crime series of that name.
Thanks for the endorsement Bill.
Interesting to see Bill Holloway’s comment that Jane Harper ‘has no sense at all of Australian rural life other than what she has read in the newspapers.’ That’s a shame – I didn’t get that impression from her books but then I’ve never been to Australia. I love The Dry.
I don’t have any personal knowledge either. It’s interesting that Kim at Reading Matters loved the book and she is also Australian
I don’t read much crime or many mysteries but I have read this one and was riveted. Haven’t got to any of her others yet.
I don’t read many. of them either Kate, mainly because I find they are generally underwhelming. It’s so refreshing then to find a really good one.
I read The Dry and another Jane Harper early on and loathed them. Sorry. She has no sense at all of Australian rural life other than what she has read in the newspapers. For example she has wheat farming on 40 acre ‘fields’. A small Australian wheat farm would be 3,000 acres.
I’m surprised an error of that kind got past her editors
The Dry is excellent, I love crime fiction with focus on the characters. If you haven’t already, you should try The Lost Man as well.
I think I have a copy somewhere – thanks for the tip
Every time I picked up the book I started to feel uncomfortably hot – Harper certainly evoked the temperature!
Yes, such a strong sense of place!
An absorbing synopsis, and an easy title to remember too! Poor Australia has been suffering, as has much of the world, from some pretty extreme weather in recent years, so setting a crime fiction in an already stressful climate situation is both a realistic as well as a pragmatic decision.
It was a clever idea because the weather conditions matched the atmosphere of oppression in the town. Remarkably she wrote the book by following an on line course!
Good for her! I got a certificate in creative writing from Aberystwyth Uni and then … lockdown struck, and I lost impetus. Ho hum. 😬
Oh that’s a shame Chris. I did a creative writing module as part of an Open University degree – gosh that was hard going, especially the poetry!
I really enjoyed this book too. I have read several of her others, but prefer the ones set in the arid conditions as she really makes you feel the atmosphere.
The only other one I’ve read – The Survivors – wasn’t as good as this one but it hasn’t put me off.
Thank you for a great review, as usual. I’ll put this on my list.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did
Her first and her best.
I did read another one – The Survivors – but wasn’t as impressed. The plot felt rather weak. I’ve had The Lost Man recommended so that could be next
Agree about The Survivors. Sorry, but I thought The Lost Man was terrible … for all kinds of reasons … and yet so many people love it 🤷🏻♀️
Now you have me intrigued! What is her latest one like – I think it’s called Exiles??
I didn’t bother reading it. I doubt I’ll read anything else by her again… 🤷🏻♀️ I did hear her speak at the Perth Festival in February and she was excellent on the writing process and plotting and how she structures her time. She’s originally British and was a subeditor on one of the Melbourne papers when she wrote The Dry.
That’s a shame, I was hoping she would be one of my go to authors
You might like her stuff better than me… I felt that the outback setting in the Lost Man was not authentic …