The Dry by Jane Harper: A review

I read Jane Harper's The Lost Man a year ago and promised myself that I would read more of her books. Finally, I'm fulfilling that promise.

The Dry was actually Harper's first published novel. It came out in 2016 and was a big hit, winning many awards in Australia, her home country and the place where her novels are set. The book introduced Federal Agent Aaron Falk who has just returned from Melbourne to the small town of Kiewarra where he grew up in order to attend a funeral. The town is full of secrets and now is reeling from the shock of three violent deaths which have been presumed to be murders and a suicide. The presumed murderer is Aaron's childhood friend, Luke Hadler, and the other two victims are his wife and young son. His thirteen-month-old daughter was left alive and unharmed in her crib. Luke's parents cannot believe that their son could have killed his family and they ask Aaron to look into it. Aaron normally investigates financial crimes. Investigating murder is not exactly his forte. But Luke's mother is the closest thing to a mother that he ever had - his own mother died when he was born - and he can't turn her down.

Aaron's return to the town is complicated by the reason why he left in the first place. He and his father had left the town twenty years earlier when Aaron was sixteen and a girlfriend of his had been found drowned in the nearby river. The death was ruled to be a suicide but there were those who didn't believe it and ugly rumors spread that Aaron was somehow responsible, but he was provided with an alibi for the time of the girl's death by his friend, Luke. The rumors were spread mostly by the girl's father. Aaron's father decided it was best if they moved elsewhere rather than try to fight small-town rumormongers. Twenty years later, the girl's father and her cousin still live there and they are still spreading rumors.

The town that Aaron returns to has been enduring the worst drought in Australian recorded history for the last two years. The countryside is a tinderbox. Many farmers are destroying their animals because they can't provide food and water for them. The town itself seems to be dying. Harper describes the parched and desiccated landscape so realistically that the reader can taste the dust and feel the heat of the unrelenting sun.

The other characters in the town are described in such vivid terms that we feel we have met them. Aaron himself is a bit of an enigma; he's smart, a loner with secrets, and he can find his way around financial records and that's where he starts his investigation. Luke's wife had handled the finances of the local school and so he reviews her records, hoping to find a clue that might explain what had happened. In the end, he finds a lot more than he bargained for.

Harper's debut novel made for propulsive reading. It was a fast read because it was so hard to put down. There was a sinister sense of foreboding and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. Best of all, she hid her perpetrator in plain sight and I didn't figure out whodunit until near the end.

This didn't really have the feel of a first novel at all; it was a very accomplished effort. The strongest part of the novel for me was the writer's descriptions of the setting. I got thirsty just reading it. Moreover, her descriptions of the characters and the construction of the plot were just spot on. In fact, I have no criticism to make of the book. I don't see how it could have been made any better.

This was apparently the first book in a series that will be featuring Aaron Falk. I look forward to reading more and getting to know this charismatic and somewhat mysterious character better.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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