The Dry/ Jane Harper / 328 pgs

The Dry (which I think is an unfortunate name for a novel) is a suspense story

set in an isolated rural town in Australia The town is suffering from a severe drought and in turn, economic hardship. I thought the setting and its different facets were well done by the author. A father, mother, and six-year-old boy are found shot to death on their farm (warning for disturbing content). The only survivor is a year-old baby. Initially, this looks like a down-on-his luck farmer who ended the lives of his family members and then took his own. Aaron Falk, a forensic accountant for the federal government, returns to the town he left behind abruptly 20 years ago to attend the funeral of his friend, the supposed killer of his family. Aaron is NOT warmly welcomed back, as he and his father were driven out of town by accusations that Aaron killed a teen-aged friend, Ellie, all those years ago. Though reluctant, Aaron finds himself drawn into the current investigation of the murder-suicide, even while his presence in town stirs up memories and emotions from the past. This book kept me interested from start to finish, although I do think the flashbacks got to be a bit much. There were two mysteries here and I did not guess the solution to one of them, which is good, while I felt the other one was not really resolved in a satisfactory way, i.e. there was no closure and no justice for the victim.