⋙ PDF Free The Dry Aaron Falk Book 1 edition by Jane Harper Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks

The Dry Aaron Falk Book 1 edition by Jane Harper Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks

Download As PDF : The Dry Aaron Falk Book 1 edition by Jane Harper Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks

The Dry Aaron Falk Book 1 edition by Jane Harper Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks

Jane Harper - The Dry

Overnight I finished Jane Harper’s novel - a story I found difficult to put down until I reached the last page. For a first novel it is outstanding. The author writes in beautiful, descriptive language and, at the same time, keeps socking the reader between the eyes with the revelations that unfold in this terrible story of a brutal family murder in an outback country town - a town that seeps with anger, bitterness, violence, oppressive heat and blow-flies.

As a reader I came to feel either a strong affinity or hate/anger towards each character. It’s that kind of book. The characters are developed so well that I am still thinking about them as real people as I write this review.

I appreciated the details of country life and the little things described that only people who have lived in small Australian outback towns can fully appreciate.

The complexity of the story - the “whodunit?” builds almost to screaming level by the time the truth starts to emerge. Beyond solving the brutal murder of three family members, we become immersed in other powerful stories from twenty years back that could be linked with the current crime. Or are they?

This is a five out of five novel for me and I’ll certainly be looking out for Jane Harper’s future novels.


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The Dry Aaron Falk Book 1 edition by Jane Harper Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks Reviews

This debut effort by Jane Harper has been lauded as nearly perfect. And critics are nearly correct. The novel is as close to perfect as one can get in terms of plotting, character, and setting. Truly, it is a wonder to read (and I DO recommend you read it!). So why 4 stars instead of 5? I'll get to that in a moment.

The story is set in a small rural town in Australia (wonderfully described....feels like you are there), Federal Agent Falk returns from his job in Melbourne to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood best friend, now dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing his wife and young child (leaving their infant alive, though). Small towns usually contain small minds and judgement has been passed. It's not comfortable. So it's with considerable trepidation that Falk agrees to a request from the deceased's parents to look a little closer into the deaths. This present-day mystery is cleverly woven with the last questionable death that occurred in the community decades earlier, one that Falk was suspected of contributing to.

As you may have seen from my status updates, I did NOT guess the culprit until revelation was imminent in the story. And that is a very good thing (who likes a mystery where you've known whodunit for hundreds of pages before it's revealed?). Just about everything about this novel was a very good thing. Which brings us back to my 4 stars rather than 5. I deducted one star simply because in 3 or 4 months, I probably won't remember the plot or characters. Some books - even if they aren't technically perfect - just have soul. They resonate with you. You remember them years after you turned the last page and still grab them for re-reads. The Dry just wasn't one of those books.

I still recommend it (highly) because of the enjoyable experience of the actual read. And you might experience more "soul" in it than I did.
Aaron Falk is an Australian Federal Policeman, working in the financial investigations division and lives in Melbourne.

He gets a note that ends up bringing him back to the small outback farming/sheep ranching community he grew up in. His best friend from his younger years and most of the man's family have been brutally killed and it looks like his friend might have done it.

There are two stories told in this book - the murders of the family and the death of another of Falk's friends when they were teenagers - and Falk was actually suspected of killing the teen.

This is a very small community caught in the middle of a two year drought and scorching hot weather. It takes very little for tempers to flare.

I liked this story. I do feel it was a bit bloated and would have been an even better book with about a third less pages but it was still suspenseful and I was intrigued about the details of Australia.

The author did a good job telling the concurrent stories and I was actually surprised about how each story resolved itself.

I highly recommend this for mystery fans or people that like to read about Australia. This is actually the first book in the Aaron Falk series and I'm now off to read book two FORCE OF NATURE.
It took me awhile to get into this book. The story wasn't particularly gripping, the atmosphere was beyond depressing, and the setting was my personal version of hell...dry, hot, and brown, filled with cloying desperation. Add to that the endless talk of culling/shooting animals, and it soured my stomach.

Having said that, the story does pick up. I won't say it becomes the kind of book you can't put down...it's more of a "slow simmer" kind of story. I did, however, really enjoy the way the book flashes back and the reader becomes privy to the actions and conversations which happened in the past. It's an interesting tactic and it worked well.

The ending isn't a huge surprise, although I will say the author comes up with enough red herrings to throw the reader off. Unfortunately, a certain something was mentioned so often throughout the story, I knew it was foreshadowing the conclusion. It's a shame it was so obvious.

Overall, a worthwhile, if somewhat slow, read.
3.5 stars rounded to 4.
Jane Harper - The Dry

Overnight I finished Jane Harper’s novel - a story I found difficult to put down until I reached the last page. For a first novel it is outstanding. The author writes in beautiful, descriptive language and, at the same time, keeps socking the reader between the eyes with the revelations that unfold in this terrible story of a brutal family murder in an outback country town - a town that seeps with anger, bitterness, violence, oppressive heat and blow-flies.

As a reader I came to feel either a strong affinity or hate/anger towards each character. It’s that kind of book. The characters are developed so well that I am still thinking about them as real people as I write this review.

I appreciated the details of country life and the little things described that only people who have lived in small Australian outback towns can fully appreciate.

The complexity of the story - the “whodunit?” builds almost to screaming level by the time the truth starts to emerge. Beyond solving the brutal murder of three family members, we become immersed in other powerful stories from twenty years back that could be linked with the current crime. Or are they?

This is a five out of five novel for me and I’ll certainly be looking out for Jane Harper’s future novels.