The Dry ~ Jane Harper

During July and August, our reading challenge requires us to read a book set in Oceania. The book I wanted to read wasn’t available from the library and so, searching through the catalogue on Libby (and being very aware that I was running out of time), I found the audiobook of The Dry by Jane Harper.

I’m not always the biggest fan of detective books or audiobooks, but I was hooked. The Dry follows Federal Agent Aaron Falk as he returns to his small hometown for the funeral of his childhood best friend. Said best friend, Luke, murdered his wife and son before killing himself. Luke’s parents ask Falk to look into the financials, hoping desperately that all wasn’t as it seemed. Unfortunately, the drowning of a teenage friend comes back to haunt Falk. 

Audiobooks always take me forever to get through, but with this story, I was finding time to listen to at least a chapter every day. This has meant that I’ve managed to get quite a bit of knitting done in the last week or so which is a bonus.

The audiobook narrator was Australian and I loved his Scottish accent that sometimes slipped into Irish when reading for the Scottish barman. All of his voices were brilliant and brought life to a compelling story.

I was genuinely hooked, trying to figure out whodunnit. I had so many theories that evolved after I’d listened to every chapter. I’ve never been to Australia and I’ve never been somewhere where the drought is bad enough to possibly cause a wildfire, but Jane Harper’s writing made me feel like I was there. There were so many little details about the surroundings and the people that I felt like I could walk down the road tomorrow and meet these people. 

I really enjoyed finding out the truth behind the deaths and the drowning of the teenage friend. And whilst it will be a while before I attempt my next audiobook, I’m definitely going to read more of Jane Harper’s work. The Dry gets four stars from me. 

C🌙