The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1) in Aussie Readers

Jan 23, 2017 Josh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie_crime, crime, read_2017, own

The Dry is a highly entertaining crime thriller set in rural Victoria, Australia where the harsh landscape isn't the only thing threatening to burn amid the heat and horrors of Kiewarra. Protagonist Aaron Falk is a Melbourne based police officer returned to his hometown for the funeral of a childhood friend. What looks to be an open and shut case soon turns speculative when the suicide/homicide investigation yields questionable results, namely mismatched bullets and lack of motive. From there Fa ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Lucinda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Picked up at the local Hospital Ladies Auxiliary stall whilst waiting for a blood test. Several people has recommended it to me and it was on my list to get from the library. $4 and signed by the author seemed like a bargain to me. Read 3 chapters before I was called in!

I put this book down because it was a little slow in the beginning, but once I picked it up again i read until the end.

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Jun 04, 2017 Lia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, female-authors, available-cnl

It is interesting that this book is starting to get international attention. It was my bookclub's choice for April.

It is a good Australian Thriller. I am harsh on the book as I live in a small town, much like the one described in the novel. Here is lies the challenge for me. A town the size described by the Melbourne based author did not ring true for someone who lives in a similar community.
1. Only one unmarried mother - ah no. Small towns tend to be single parent haven.
2. A new sub-division. A It is interesting that this book is starting to get international attention. It was my bookclub's choice for April.

It is a good Australian Thriller. I am harsh on the book as I live in a small town, much like the one described in the novel. Here is lies the challenge for me. A town the size described by the Melbourne based author did not ring true for someone who lives in a similar community.
1. Only one unmarried mother - ah no. Small towns tend to be single parent haven.
2. A new sub-division. Again, no. Small towns are struggling to fill the current dwellings, not creating new ones. You can buy an existing building for less than the cost of a new build.
3. A town with only one pub is even smaller than described. There were simply too many different people involved for this. A one-pub, one-cop town as described probably does not even have a highschool, students would be bused to the next town.
4. Lack of diversity. The hiding of the gay couple. Surprisingly diversity has hit many small communities in many different forms, so sexual orientation and religious diversity is becoming more common. There would be more diversity in this community. Most small towns have an overseas trained doctor, priest. The changes in residency visa requirements have meant that the days of seeing only white anglo-saxons, not just one Italian cop, are over. Diversity exists in many small towns.
5. Also no aboriginal representation at all.

For complete understanding I grew up in a town of less than 3,000 people in a rural area. I currently work in a remote area, but a larger town. (10,000 people). The small communities around me, can be about 1,000 people. I understand the community that was being described. I just felt it did not ring true.

Also I found Aaron Falk to be rather effeminate. I often find a female writer constructing a male protagonist (or vice versa a la Arthur Golden Memoirs of a Geisha ) challenging. Aaron seemed to notice so many feminine traits, the running mascara, the citrusy lemon scent. I just found this to be incongruous with the masculine cop role he was supposed to embody.

Saying all this. I did enjoy the book, and my bookclub found similar challenges to me, I guess we are all just small town girls after all. ...more

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Sep 09, 2016 Janine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

I know that all my reading friends have raved about this book, but unfortunately I did not find this book worthy of more than 3 stars.

I did listen to this book on audiobook, so maybe reading it in print may have been a better experience. I felt the book dragged and was very slow, it was padded out in parts that I didn't feel were necessary. Lots of suspects in the murder of the husband, wife and child, and there as also a secondary plot about the death of a young teenager many years before which ...more

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Aug 14, 2019 Cardi rated it liked it

Shelves: australian, read-in-2019

3.5 stars
A solid thriller set in an Australian community suffering through and transformed by drought.

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Dec 27, 2016 Tracey rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, crime, australian, 2016

A debut novel (that is anything but debut) set in the Australian town of Kiewarra during a prolonged drought. The murder suicide of the Hadler family comes as no surprise in this tight knit community town where times are tough and debt is running high. Yet some in the town are not so sure that it was that simple. When Federal Police investigator returns home to attend the funeral of his school friend he is confronted with the legacy of his past and the awful reality of the present.

Jane Harper h ...more

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Mar 19, 2019 Sarah rated it it was amazing

A can't put down read from a debut author set in Australia. The hero is a big city cop who's come home for the funeral of his best friend in high school. The friend is accused of killing his family and then himself, but the hero is persuaded that there's a reason to believe someone else is responsible. ...more

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Jun 05, 2018 Annie rated it it was amazing

Stayed up till 3am finishing this book. Fantastic.

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Jan 28, 2023 Kristin rated it it was amazing

I LOVED this book. I finished it in record time because it kept me hooked. The characters were so well drawn that they seemed real. I found the protagonist (Falk) and the senior officer (Raco) to be likable and relatable - both displayed intelligence, integrity and compassion. Harper brought the heat, dust and expanse of the rural South Australian landscape to life. I’ve already downloaded book 2 and the 3rd drops today!

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Jan 06, 2017 Kerry rated it it was amazing

This was an excellent first novel. Good storyline and characterisation. I will watch for any future releases from this lady. A great portrayal of country towns in crisis.

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