The Dry - Jane Harper

Synopsis:
A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

Review: (I'm going to try to not give away too much)

You're thrown into the deep end when you begin this book, Aaron Falk returns to his hometown after decades away to attend the funeral of his childhood best friend Luke. The majority of the town believes Luke had shot his eldest son and wife dead in their family home before killing himself in a clearing not far from his house. The town accept it and grieve the loss of the family as well as trying to get by in a drought.

Aaron Falk doesn't want to stay in the town longer than a day, but after the funeral Luke’s father approaches him asking him for help and he just can't refuse. He agrees to stay a little longer but after that he's definitely gone.

Each and every day Falk has is interesting, When certain things happen we get to see a little into the past of the Aaron all the way back to when it was him and his best friend Luke as they hung out with 2 other friends.

The characters were so well written,so interesting and engaging. I loved how much of a great main character Aaron was. It was just so exciting to see him pull all of the pieces of the puzzle together. Thankfully there was no super sloppy romance like some of the other novels of this genre that I have read. It was quite nice to spend the large majority of the story on the main plot line instead of swerving off to a out of place romance.

I enjoyed how quickly the tide would turn, you'd be lead in one direction and you'd believe you had it all figured out and then all of a sudden you're ripped away and in the other direction taking you back to square one. It kept me gripped and I found it hard to put down.

The ending took me completely by surprise and other did have to sit in silence for half an hour after finishing it, clutching it to my chest trying to fully absorb everything I had felt I had experienced.

Jane did an amazing job right from the start, she created scenes so well written I swear I could feel the hot unforgiving sun bearing down on me. It is an incredible thrilling debut from Jane and I can't wait to see what else she has up her sleeves for us in the future.

It's a 5/5 from me, it'd be an 11/10 if I went that high. It's a definite must read for some of you out there that just can't wait to sink into a mystery. Give it a shot and let's see if you can figure it out before the end what happened to the Hadler family.