The Dry

The Dry by Jane Harper

Sweltering Heat. Drought. Despair. Murder.

Federal agent Aaron Falk returns to his Australian childhood home with apprehension. Times are bad here. Parched land, withering crops, vicious gossip. He and his father were run out of Kiewarra twenty years ago, suspects in the gruesome drowning death of sixteen-year-old Ellie Deacon. Aaron thought those dark, shameful memories were safely tucked away, until that cryptic message arrived from the father of a boy he once called his best friend. He dreads what awaits him in a place best forgotten.

 Now he stares at three cold caskets, trying to wrap his mind around the thought that Luke Hadler, the mate he once idolized, may have murdered his wife and young son before turning the gun on himself. There's a nagging uneasiness in this town, impossible to shake, and somehow,  Aaron knows the past is rearing its ugly head once again, with danger and hostility around every corner.

Immerse yourself in the rich imagery and complex characters so artfully created by a skilled author the U.S. will soon embrace. Visualize this novel coming to life on the screen; actress Reese Witherspoon has already acquired the film rights for an intensely riveting story about small-town people teetering on the brink of losing it all. Readers may meet Aaron again in a second book, already in progress.

Mystery, thrills, and suspense in a dazzling debut.

Idaho

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

Wade's mind is slowly slipping away. The onset of early dementia is robbing him of memories, some joyful, others excruciatingly sad.

Despite Wade's violent episodes, Ann loves her husband unconditionally, unabashedly, with a pureness that only she understands. It's this devotion that inspires her to envision the story behind tragic events that tore Wade's first family apart so many years ago on a hot, dusty, Idaho day.

Wade's ex-wife, Jenny, rots in a prison cell, convicted of murdering their six-year old daughter, May. Older sister, June, vanished after witnessing the horrific deed, her whereabouts still a mystery.  What could prompt a loving mother to commit such a hideous crime? Wade is adrift in his own world, retreating deeper each day into a place Ann cannot enter. So she must begin her lonely quest for answers. In her darkest days, Ann reminds herself, " he has lost his daughters, but he has also lost the memory of losing them".

With her beautiful, melodic prose, Ruskovich's flowing passages are a marvel to read. The clues to this mystery are intricately woven in the author's poetic words. Forgiveness is power, redemption is within our reach. Sorrow is losing the memory of ever having loved at all.