{"id":2154,"date":"2017-01-29T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T23:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=2154"},"modified":"2017-01-29T15:34:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T23:34:35","slug":"jane-harper-the-dry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/jane-harper-the-dry\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Harper: The Dry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheTwo things to keep in mind when reading The Dry:<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It\u2019s an awesome book to read in the cold, cold winter, as it’s set in the burning draught of Australia as meticulously delineated by Jane Harper.<\/li>\n
  2. If you start reading it early in the evening, forget about getting any sleep. You won\u2019t be able to put it down.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This is a wonderful first novel, featuring Melbourne financial detective Aaron Falk, who has returned to his tiny hometown of Kiewarra for the most tragic of reasons: his boyhood friend, Luke, has apparently killed his wife and toddler son in a murder-suicide. Aaron has gotten a note from Luke\u2019s father demanding his attendance at the funeral. As he arrives, it\u2019s like he\u2019s walking into a terrible steam bath. Harper wraps the suffocating heat around him like a blanket and he\u2019s plunged into the tiny church where the funeral is being held, surrounded by his long ago neighbors and frenemies.<\/p>\n

    Kind of like the frog in the water that\u2019s boiling but doesn\u2019t realize it until it\u2019s too late, Aaron eases back into Kiewarra despite some terrible past memories and the fresh new grief of losing his old friend Luke. In a room over the pub he\u2019s visited by the local cop in charge, who asks him to unofficially look into the case with him, as he feels something is off.<\/p>\n

    Unlike many contemporary detective novels, neither Aaron nor the local, Raco, are the tormented type. Yes, Aaron has some baggage that makes him a bit standoffish, but he and Raco are both are at heart good, decent men who want to discover the truth because that\u2019s what\u2019s right. This is almost a western, and they may as well be wearing the white hats of the good sheriff.<\/p>\n

    This novel is far from corny, however, and Harper uses the setting\u2014the dry, hot landscape\u2014to her advantage as she tells her story, winding it in as part of her plot. That\u2019s a trick only some of the very best writers can pull off (Kent Krueger and Julia Keller both come to mind) and Harper is a very powerful writer. As she interweaves the past and present, creating an incredibly painful backstory, she\u2019s also laid the groundwork for a true mystery with a solution that is a surprise in one way and in another way, it\u2019s not, as she\u2019s set it up so well.<\/p>\n

    I often feel mysteries can get away with a good story and decent characters. That\u2019s a good<\/em> read. When all the elements\u2014prose, plot, setting and character are present\u2014that\u2019s a great<\/em> read. The Dry<\/em> is a great read. Don\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Two things to keep in mind when reading The Dry: It\u2019s an awesome book to read in the cold, cold winter, as it’s set in the burning draught of Australia as meticulously delineated by Jane Harper. If you start reading it early in the evening, forget about getting any sleep. You won\u2019t be able to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-2154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2156,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions\/2156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}