I never expected this debut novel to be quite so complex and layered – I guessed again and again, but the truth shocked me when it came, like a cold plunge into a deep river on a sweltering day.Ī riveting blend of literary and crime fiction, it is full of disquieting truths about about rural life and community. Harper's parched and lonely setting forms a backdrop to a plot that's like kindling, artfully laid to build to a fast and furious burn.Īnd her crackling creation of Kiewarra proves itself as much a character as Luke, or Falk, in the heart-stopping role it plays in a nailbiting climax. In part because of old loyalties, in part to protecting a secret of his own from that long-ago past he and Luke shared.įalk finds that the local police sergeant has his own doubts and suspicions about what happened on that farm and together they begin an off-the-books investigation.īut things get increasingly nasty in the town as the heat builds, and you begin to wonder if Falk can solve this increasingly sinister riddle before violence breaks out once more. And so Falk, a financial crimes specialist, makes a reluctant promise to them that he will have a poke through Luke's affairs. The town largely accepts that the searing drought, the heat, and perhaps the prospect of his farm going under all combined to send Luke over the edge.īut Luke's parents are desperate for some alternative answer. It's no ordinary funeral, though: before his final decision, Luke also shot his wife and little son, sparing only his baby daughter.
I had to find out what happens next, as enigmatic federal agent Aaron Falk goes home for the funeral of Luke Hadler, the best friend of his childhood and teens – who has, it appears, taken his own life. Of course, I instantly borrowed the book, a debut novel from Australian journalist Jane Harper that has bagged so many awards that the stickers jostle for space on the cover.
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