So, I have a confession to make…I read this series out of order. It has happened in the past (thanks, sister, for hogging Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) and will probably happen again in the future. However, this time, I think it was for the best.
The Dry is the first in the Aaron Faulk series by Australian author Jane Harper. I read the sequel, Forces of Nature, earlier this summer and really liked it! Women lost in the woods…a mysterious serial killer…unknown motives…money laundering…it was a complex story but well told. The Dry has many of those same literary characteristics, but it seemed to drag a little slower and not capture my attention as easily.
Aaron Faulk is a federal agent in Australia, but he returns to his small southern town when he finds out his childhood friend murdered his family and then shot himself. Since the town’s going through an epic drought, people assume it was motivated by money problems. Even though the town hates him (due to past secrets revolving another dead friend), Aaron stays to try and clear his friend’s name.
Like the first, this story is told in the present with flashbacks interspersed to help fill in the blanks of what happened. This was a good way to tell the story and to add some foreshadowing and suspense. What I wasn’t too keen on were the people in the town. For the most part they were so mean and petty, acting before thinking. It’s nothing that takes away from the storyline, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. The story is also two mysteries in one: what happened to the recently murdered family and what happened to Aaron’s other friend twenty years ago to make the town hate him. Both stories do get wrapped up, but by the time I hit the resolution of the first murder, I was on information overload and really didn’t care about tying up the second murder.
All in all, it was a fine detective novel…just not one I’ll be picking up again anytime soon.
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