Tag: Jane Harper

Review 2259: The Dry

~ whatmeread ~ 4 Comments

I had some problems with the only other book I’ve read by Jane Harper, but I thought I’d try The Dry, her first and most acclaimed novel.

Aaron Falk, an Australian Federal agent, has returned to his home town for the first time in 30 years. Even though he is returning for the funeral of Luke Hadler, his childhood best friend, he probably would not have come if he hadn’t been urgently summoned by Luke’s father, Gerry.

Falk’s return is not warmly welcomed. When he was 16, one of his close friends, Ellie Deacon, was found drowned, with foul play suspected. A piece of paper with his last name on it was found in her room, and both he and his father were harassed until they left town.

The finding in the current crime is that Luke shot his son and wife and then himself over despair at the impending failure of his farm. The drought has gone on so long that many farmers have failed and along with them, most of the local businesses. The town is a shadow of its former self.

Gerry doesn’t believe his son shot his family. He wants Falk to stay a few days and investigate. Falk reluctantly agrees.

When he begins investigating, he finds that the local cop, Sergeant Raco, thinks some things were missed in the original investigation, which, since he was new in town, was conducted by the police from the nearest large town. Falk and he begin working together despite the local hostility toward Falk.

While he is at it, Falk also tries to find out what might have happened to Ellie. Are the two events related?

This novel was nicely plotted, with believable characters. The setting was so effectively described that at times I felt I could feel the heat and the town under pressure from the environment, old hostilities, and an unthinkable crime.

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Review 1809: The Survivors

~ whatmeread ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t read much by Australian writers, so when I noticed that Jane Harper seemed popular, I thought I’d give her a try. The Survivors is set in Tasmania, and I am attracted to books set on islands.

Kieran Elliott hasn’t returned to his small home town for 12 years, not since the storm. But his father has Alzheimer’s and his mother is trying to move them, so he has brought his partner Mia and their baby daughter back to the beach town in Tasmania to help with the move.

It is late in the season, and most of the summer people have gone home. One of Kieran’s high school friends, Olivia, has had a house mate for the summer, Bronte, and Olivia is glad that Bronte will soon be leaving, because there has been friction. Bronte has been working late at the local bar and restaurant, and after Kieran was there late with his friends, Bronte is found dead on the beach.

The storm years ago has been an elephant in the room, but it’s not until about page 75 that we find out Kieran had been in some sea caves that day and came out too late for the storm rise. His older brother Finn and Finn’s partner lost their lives in the storm trying to rescue Kieran. Some townspeople blame him for their deaths, including his own father.

Although this incident would appear to have nothing to do with Bronte’s death, we don’t learn until about page 120, as if it’s not important, that a girl disappeared on the day of the storm, Gabby, Olivia’s 14-year-old sister. When her backpack appeared in the surf, the police assumed she had drowned in the unprecedented storm surge.

Of course, Bronte’s death is related to Gabby’s disappearance.

I found a few things about the novel a little irritating. One is slight—that Harper remarks on the physical fitness of practically every male character. Maybe this is an Australian thing or maybe it’s supposed to reflect Kieran’s profession as a physiotherapist, but it seemed silly and unnecessary. Then there is a continuity problem—if Kieran’s rescuers died, how did he get rescued? There is no explanation of that. It also bothered me that Harper took so long to tell us what happened during the storm, as that delay didn’t seem to serve a purpose, and even more so that Gabby’s disappearance was treated like an afterthought.

Things get going slowly, but they seemed to be building to a satisfying and exciting conclusion, but no. Without giving away the ending, let me just say that the promised thriller ending sort of fizzles out. That being said, there are some interesting developments at the end of the novel, causing it to improve considerably.

I don’t mean to give this novel a bad review. It was interesting enough to keep me engaged; there are just ways in which it doesn’t quite deliver.

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