The Dry by Jane Harper ****

The Dry by Jane Harper is set in Kiewarra, a rural town dying from drought, in Victoria Australia. The story begins with four teenage friends: Aaron Falk, Luke Hadler, Gretchen Schoner, and Ellie Deacon. The friendship breaks up when Ellie Deacon is found drowned and her family (father Mal Deacon and her cousin Grant Dow) blamed the Falks and drove them out of town.

Twenty years later Luke, his wife Karen, and his son Billy are found murdered. Aaron returns to help solve the mystery. The town still remembers Ellie’s death and still blames Aaron Falk. In addition to failing farms, Kiewarra has an underfunded school with a new principal, Scott Whitlam, and a pub, the Fleece run by David McMurdo. Falk assists Sergeant Raco.

An intricately plotted mystery set in small-town misery and politics.

Karen is found with a note that says, “Grant?” This connects back to a note written by Ellie which said, “Falk.” Mal Deacon and Grant Dow used Ellie’s note to pin her death on the Falks. Twenty years later Falk used Karen’s note to cast blame on Mal Deacon and Grant Dow.

All the clues point to the murderer, but it is impossible to put them together until the last clue is uncovered at the end.

This book presents the very worst of small-town life.

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