I wanted to get every morsel, every tidbit of meaning or laugh and lesson. Each story is an independent book full of characters with full on emotion, yours or theirs. Gender Studies - A story about a mistake. The World has Many Butterflies - Petty banter leads a woman to signals crossed. Vox clamantis in Deserto - Never assume by words on a shirt. Bad Latch - Babies change u A wonderland of short stories that I've sprinted through twice. Bad Latch - Babies change us. Plausible Deniability - "Neither 'plausible deniability' nor 'lie of omission' is really a legal term.
They're more like movie or TV versions of the law. Off the Record - Are actors always on? The Prairie Wife - A person can change and still stay themselves inside. Volunteers are Shining Stars - Are we doing it for them or for us? Do Over - "Be your own advocate. Thank you Netgalley and Curtis Sittenfeld. View all 15 comments. Instagram Twitter Facebook Amazon Pinterest Curtis Sittenfeld is one of those hit-or-miss authors for me, where I really like some of her books, but I wouldn't call her a favorite author because she's let me down too many times.
Have you ever looked at a Petri dish? They can be pretty disgusting, as fascinating as they are, and you might not like what you see in them, even if you can't quite bring yourself to look away. Such it is with the women in these short stories. It's a weird story about a gender studies professor who think she's lost her driver's license, so she calls up her cab driver who revealed himself to be a Trump supporter during their drive and asks him to look for it. He pretends he's found it but says he'll only give it back if she buys him a drink red flag.
They end up hitting it off and having a sexual encounter of sorts, but it quickly sours.
I liked this one initially because it shows how people are rarely as black and white as we think they are, but the more I thought about it, the more I disliked how the woman was portrayed as being at least partially in the wrong. That dude was a manipulative creep. F him, and his skeevy tactics.
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The World Has Many Butterflies: The woman in the relationship builds what they have up as being something more, and it turns into a meditation on extramarital affairs. I thought this one was too unlikely, and the heroine was too unlikable and immature. Vox Clamantis in Deserto: Probably because it feels like a washed-out, shorter version of PREP. Set in Dartmouth, it's about a student who becomes weirdly fixated on one of her classmates and her boyfriend. It's got the class anxiety and slumming around of PREP, but without the character depth, and I couldn't really get into it, even though I'd have liked to.
I didn't really like this one much better than the previous two, but I'm rounding up a bit because the topics that it mentions are so relevant and because all too often, motherhood is written about as the be-all, end-all of womanhood. It is about two brothers - one of them is married, one of them is unmarried. The married brother confides to his unmarried brother a desire to cheat on his wife, and is always venting about her.
His unmarried brother is unsympathetic and urges him not to cheat. But the married brother doesn't know that his unmarried brother and his own wife are writing to one another. I thought this was an interesting story, and it does subtly bring up the difference between physical and emotional cheating, and how both are equally damaging to a relationship.
Two couples end up meeting at this resort, and it turns out the wives knew each other in high school. One of them was the stereotypical pretty "mean girl," and the other was an awkward loser. Now, in middle-age, the tables have flipped, and the mean girl is kind of washed out and unsuccessful and the awkward one is a rich and successful lawyer.
However, the meeting brings back all of the awkward girl's social neuroses. I recently had my ten-year reunion so I found this story interesting, because it's amazing how some people can stay the same while still changing so much. The awkward girl couldn't let go of her high school resentment and expects that the mean girl feels the same. It ends up being much more interesting than the typical "nerd's revenge" fantasy that I was expecting, and I liked that. A single mom journalist with a newborn baby is interviewing a vivacious young starlet whose career is on the rise.
An ordinary interview quickly becomes juicy and potentially devastating for the starlet, and the journalist is desperately trying to jot everything down while keeping the starlet placated enough that she won't remember that she's "on the record," even as she's fielding calls from her nanny claiming that her baby is at death's door.
This is one of those "devil's choice" scenarios, where the journalist is essentially forced to choose between her baby and a potentially career-pivoting moment. The tension was really well done, and I liked the twisted ending. These darker, more unhappy stories really appeal to me for some reason what does that say about me? This is about a woman who likes to spite-watch a YouTube influencer, while damning her as a hypocrite and fantasizing about ruining her career. At first, you think it might be jealous but then you found out it's because the influencer has branded herself as a farm-to-table, s ideal of an evangelical rustic Stepford Wife, when the woman in question knows firsthand that the influencer is a lesbian because they hooked up when they were young.
The ending to this story was great, and was much more positive than I expected. Volunteers Are Shining Stars: The heroine of this book volunteers at a shelter for low-income women and their children. She also has OCD, of which she is in denial about, and while her compulsions may be obvious from the get-go, her obsessions are somewhat sinister - especially when they cause her to fixate on one of the other volunteers: This story has a male protagonist. Trump's "win" has made him question one of his own wins, when he was elected student council president in high school.
He ends up reconnecting with the woman he "beat," seeking her out to apologize. Much to his dismay, it ends up going badly. She gives him a royal dressing down while calling him out on his privilege, and he has literally no good response to anything she says, apart from that old fall-back about her not being ladylike or attractive. It ends up being a pretty grim portrayal of how men view women - especially successful, dominant women - and how privilege can be blinding.
For the most part, I liked this collection. There were no truly awful stories in it, and I liked that Sittenfeld actually took on some pretty challenging and controversial topics. She writes grit and grunge well, and I think it's neat that you can like her characters even as they make you cringe. That said, it's a somewhat mixed array of stories and I think it's a mistake to put the strongest stories in the middle, where they will be forgotten, leading with the weakest stories in the bunch, and then sandwiching the whole affair with two Trump-related tales that are kind of downers.
The arrangement could have been much better, to showcase the strongest stories, leaving the weakest towards the end. Sep 07, Kristy rated it really liked it Shelves: This short story collection features ten short stories from author Sittenfeld, featuring a cast of diverse, real characters. Told from a variety of point of views--a bored housewife, a wealthy bachelor, a new mom, and more--they offer pointed and humorous insight into current society. I typically am not a huge fan of short stories because they don't give me enough information about the characters, and I'm a very character-driven person.
But when I saw that Curtis Sittenfeld had a short story col This short story collection features ten short stories from author Sittenfeld, featuring a cast of diverse, real characters. But when I saw that Curtis Sittenfeld had a short story collection coming out, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. She gets a lot of press for Prep, but I feel like American Wife and Eligible are both still so fully ingrained in my brain. I loved them both so much, and they are go-to recommendations when I get the standard, "oh you like to read, what should I read? I shouldn't have been surprised, honestly, that her collection would be above the typical fare.
I probably enjoyed this set of short stories more than any other I've read in ages. It's so well-written and engaging. As with Sittenfeld's other work, the stories are so wonderfully descriptive , so you can immediately picture the characters and their situations. I felt like I was quickly transported to the setting of each story as soon as it began. The stories are similar but not repetitive, which was also refreshing, and seem to be real, instead of striving to reach some sort of literary bar that makes them tedious and therefore unreadable. They are about real, relatable characters struggling with misinformed impressions, lingering resentments, and different types of relationships.
But - oh hooray - even better, the majority of the stories didn't leave me with that unfinished feeling. They are honestly fascinating , and I enjoyed how they all start I enjoyed them all the way through too, of course, but it seemed like each had a bit of a common thread in its beginning. I could have read more about each story's characters, sure, but I didn't feel frustrated when they ended, which was so amazing and different for me. I really liked each and every story. For instance, there's "Vox Clamantis in Deserto" which begins with a woman girl?
Two of the stories, "Plausible Deniability" and "The Prairie Wife," had actual twists and surprises, which was so much fun. And some of the longing that came across in these characters was very touching and heartfelt. Overall, this was a great set of short stories. They are filled with real people set in complicated yet enjoyable and interesting situations. They are easy-to-read and don't leave you wanting for more--except maybe more stories. This only cements my feeling that I'll continue to read and adore anything Ms. I received a copy of this story collection from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review thank you!
Not with this book. In all of the stories, Sittenfeld brilliantly captures each character's insecurities and confusion with razor-sharp wit. This was a compulsively readable book and easy to love. May 09, Megan rated it it was ok. So it pains me to write this review. When I would try to delve into each story with an open mind and connect with the characters, the stories just seemed oddly weird or completely fell flat. Out of the 10 short stories, Bad Latch and The Prairie Wife, were the only two I was glad I read, as I considered several times of abandoning it all together.
View all 23 comments. May 13, Tammy rated it really liked it Shelves: A collection of 10 short stories about relationships and gender roles told on many viewpoints; a lawyer, a mother, student, etc. This book is the inspiration for a tv series being developed by Reese Witherspoon. Back in she was compassionate when this journalist fell apart during an interview, but she knows not to expect the same courtesy in return.
No, she fully expects to be burned. Several stories involve a dual time setting: The narrator is William, a year-old lawyer in St. Louis who has distinctly different relationships with his brother and his sister-in-law. Originally published, with a personal anecdote, on my blog, Bookish Beck. View all 11 comments.
- Sichtweise & Herausforderungen des Lebens: Leben heißt erleben - mein bewegtes Leben! (German Edition)!
- Unit Primes Salvage #1?
- You Think It, I'll Say It.
- Vertrau auf dein Herz (German Edition).
May 20, Lori rated it it was ok. Since this was a set of short stories, I took my time reading it between other books. Each of the stories are insightful, somewhat sexual although never graphic, and well worth reading. The author is excellent at going through the psychology and thought processes of each of the characters. One of the characters, a 24 year old girl working as a volunteer to spend time with mothers and children who are homeless, has a serious case of OCD. She describes her logical reasons for washing her hands, no Since this was a set of short stories, I took my time reading it between other books.
She describes her logical reasons for washing her hands, not wanting to touch people, etc. Seeing it all from her perspective is genius and eye opening. Each of the stories explore different histories of relationships in a way that is very thoughtful and interesting. I think most of you will enjoy this book Mar 10, Martie Nees Record rated it really liked it. These books are why I wanted to read the author, Curtis Sittenfeld, again.
In her newest work, Sittenfeld pens ten short stories that consist of characters who are financially comfortable, all with a female protago Genre: In her newest work, Sittenfeld pens ten short stories that consist of characters who are financially comfortable, all with a female protagonist. The characters' ages range from the college years through middle-age, showing how women with distinctive personalities wrestle with the different challenges that arrive at different times in their lives. She is unaware that he is homosexual. This is a not so nice game played in pairs. Now, we all have made unfair judgments on people we know.
One usually keeps these thoughts to themselves. However, she is trying to impress him with her critical comments on what she assumes he's also thinking about their fellow guests. At first, it is oddly liberating reading about someone who is speaking her true thoughts. There is a nice twist at the end. She is assigned to travel to Hollywood to interview a major starlet.
The journalist is desperate to jump-start her career with this interview. The starlet over shares regarding her own life and proceeds to ask her interviewer to keep these details off the record. This tale had a surprise ending and some major bitchiness is displayed. She is obsessed with a famous woman think Martha Stewart who she met as a teen at summer camp. She follows her now-famous friend on social media, which she hates doing, but is too addicted to stop. The famous one has a cooking television show where she presents herself as a wholesome, down to earth country gal.
Her old camp cabin buddy knows she is anything but how she presents. She is hoping this will end her addiction and jealousy. Archived from the original on November 30, Archived from the original on November 15, Les Inrockuptibles in French. Retrieved March 28, Archived from the original on December 20, Retrieved December 6, Archived from the original on November 10, Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on March 10, Retrieved September 12, Call Me By Your Name".
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‘Dazzling and worrying’: my memories of Bruce Chatwin and In Patagonia | Books | The Guardian
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Archived from the original on June 29, Archived from the original on April 4, Archived from the original on May 9, Retrieved June 8, Archived from the original on December 18, Retrieved December 18, Archived from the original on December 25, Archived from the original on January 14, Retrieved January 14, Retrieved January 21, Archived from the original on April 24, Retrieved March 4, Archived from the original on February 24, Retrieved January 18, Archived from the original on January 24, A published January 19, A published January 10, Retrieved January 31, Archived from the original on January 30, Archived from the original on January 1, Retrieved November 28, Archived from the original on March 4, Retrieved March 2, Retrieved March 1, Archived from the original on June 14, Archived from the original on September 3, Archived from the original on August 1, Retrieved August 1, Archived from the original on October 16, Archived from the original on December 11, Retrieved December 22, Archived from the original on November 8, Archived from the original on November 17, Retrieved March 20, Archived from the original on April 18, Archived from the original on May 18, Retrieved December 28, Archived from the original on April 1, Retrieved December 27, Archived from the original on May 11, Archived from the original on January 29, Retrieved January 29, Archived from the original on May 1, Retrieved January 28, Retrieved April 1, Retrieved November 22, Archived from the original on November 26, Retrieved November 26, Archived from the original on December 7, Archived from the original on December 3, Retrieved December 4, Archived from the original on December 10, Retrieved December 10, Retrieved January 7, Archived from the original on January 28, Archived from the original on February 19, Retrieved January 30, Archived from the original on May 2, Retrieved March 11, Archived from the original on March 15, Retrieved February 7, Archived from the original on March 17, Mills' in the lead, Isabelle Huppert ubiquitous].
Retrieved March 9, Archived from the original on June 25, Retrieved March 23, Ragnarok' scores biggest non-Bond October debut". What really grabbed my attention with this story was the extremely vivid portrayal of place and time. The setting surrounding the dry conditions of this small town in Australia was so vivid that it had me desperately wanting and waiting for the rain to pour! The novel kept me guessing as the mysteries gradually unfolded, although there was nothing real surprising with the reveal it was the way that the author delivered this story that made this book an exceptional read.
To sum it all up it was an entertaining, exciting, tense, steady-paced, and a quick read with a very satisfying ending. View all 71 comments. This beautifully written mystery transported me to Kiewarra, Australia, a small farming community that is suffering from a drought, and also from being mired in the past. Aaron Falk, a federal financial police officer, reluctantly returns to Kiewarra to attend the funeral of his former best friend, Luke Hadler.
It appears that Luke committed a murder suicide, killing his wife, Karen, and their six-year-old son, Billy, before taking his own life. The community is in shock and speculation abounds. Why would Luke Hadler kill his wife and son? Furthering the mystery is why he left his baby daughter, Charlotte, alive. Falk teams up with the local Sergeant and the two slowly begin to uncover secrets and lies that dredge up the past, including the death of Ellie Deacon, a girl with whom Falk shared a past.
The plot is intricately woven, the characters are developed, the writing is engaging, and the mystery is satisfying! I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
- Youve Won My Affection.
- Its My Turn;
- Human Resource Management: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities.
- The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1) by Jane Harper;
- Basis-OPs – Top 10 in der Handchirurgie (German Edition).
- The Girl in the Red Bikini (An Erotic Short).
Oct 22, Debbie rated it liked it Shelves: Everything is hot and dry and slow. I so wish I liked it more. I will tell you what the Joy Jar holds, of course: All very good things. But before I lug out the Complaint Board, I will say that part of my reaction is due to two things that have nothing to with the book itself: Complaint Board -Pick up the pace.
It seemed to especially sag in the middle, where I thought too much time was spent on one bad guy. It felt like the record got stuck, and I needed the needle to get unstuck faster. Sigh, I wanted some fire. The author put the past story as italic entries right in the middle of the present story. At times I expected and wanted it to be a first-person memory, which would have felt more natural.
Instead, all of the sudden a third-person narrative about the past rudely interrupted the story, and it seemed intrusive and clumsy. The good guys were too good, the bad guys too bad. It appears that Falk, the main character, will live on in future novels. Sorry, he just seemed dull to me. And the rest of the crew made me snooze too. I get claustrophobic, bored, and rebellious in small towns.
Writers who set their stories in small towns have to work harder to please me: There must be exceptional language or characters, or the emotions must be palpable. There must be passion! Not the case here for me. I needed a hint or two so I could have the fun of guessing. This complaint gets an asterisk because it was a biggie for me. The moral of the story: For me, it was pure dullsville.
Just one human heart beat within a kilometer radius of the farm. So nothing reacted when, deep inside the house, the baby started crying. He recalls his days as a boy there, his early teen years spent at the rushing river he and his friends used to fish in, play in, now is barely recognizable. Luke Handler, his wife, Karen, and his six year-old son, Billy, all gone. It seems everyone in town believes that Luke killed his wife, and his son, and then turned the gun on himself. Only his infant daughter was left untouched. But did they really know their son? Small towns have some things in common, the talk that lingers for decades, fingers pointed, the certainty that they know what happened lingers long after the time has passed.
Weaving in and out of time the way the river of his childhood flowed effortlessly, his memories of the past alternate with the search of the present day. Working with Raco, who is with the local police, they examine the case from multiple sides, running into dead ends.
For me, the characters that spoke to me the most were Ellie and Karen, both facing futures which seemed to have no right way to turn, both wanting to share their burdens but unable to share them in time to save them. What I really loved most about this novel the most was the atmosphere, the setting, the mood. What are you if you are a farmer and you can no longer farm your land? View all 62 comments.
This was my final book to complete my Goodreads challenge, and what a book it was! This was the definition of a claustrophobic small country town. Aaron Faulk returns to Kierawalla for the first time in 20 years, but not on good terms. His childhood friend is dead, presumed suicide after murdering his wife and son.
Twenty years previous, a teenage girl drowned in the nearby river, throwing t This was my final book to complete my Goodreads challenge, and what a book it was! Twenty years previous, a teenage girl drowned in the nearby river, throwing the whole town into turmoil. The searing heat, caused by 2 years with no rainfall only adds to the paranoid and boiling atmosphere.
As Aaron begins looking into the death of Luke Hadler and his family, he becomes more and more uncertain. Luke was many things as a teen, but a murderer? And what about the drowning of Ellie Deacon? Was it really suicide, or something more sinister? It was easy to get sucked into this novel. From the alcohol fueled feuds between neighbours, to the secrets hidden in plain sight. I was captivated by the powerful descriptions of the landscape in a dying town. The crimes added to the atmosphere and I thought it all unraveled in an exceptional way.
View all 17 comments. Jul 08, Jen rated it really liked it. Whoa, well done, Harper! I did not see that twist coming and just when I thought I had it all figured out, that theory was shot to hell. This story is set in the bush in Kiewarra, Australia, where a murder suicide has taken place in a community where a drought is on. Falk, a cop who has come back for the funeral, is coaxed into staying to dig into the truth of what really happened to the family.
A past is reawakened, secrets are kept close and many don't want him there for the ties he Whoa, well done, Harper! A past is reawakened, secrets are kept close and many don't want him there for the ties he once had. This was a fast moving who dun it.
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Loved the style of writing as well as the different font to reflect the past. Don't bother to try to locate this one on the map - I tried and then read it's a fictitious town. I would have loved a bit more description of this land of desolation in a country so far from my own but, hey, I can always read a travel log. And, the bestest thing about this novel - a sequel has already been born! View all 65 comments. Well, you know it's a good book when you finish it you just sit back and go WOW! I'm not even sure where to start with this review.
Yet Luke's mother says it can't be and asks Aaron to look further into Well, you know it's a good book when you finish it you just sit back and go WOW! Yet Luke's mother says it can't be and asks Aaron to look further into the deaths while he is in town. Not so easy when early the whole township is against Aaron, after he was forced to flee with his father all those years ago after a girl, Ellie, was found drowned in the river and the town, led by Ellie's father Mal, has decided Aaron was guilty of her murder.
Plus he has come back to a town that is in the grip of a crippling drought, with local farms and businesses on their knees, which just adds to the churlishness of the townsfolk. So, with nothing much to go on Aaron and the local Police Sergeant start looking into the tragedy, yet they find that secrets, including Aaron's own have a way of making their way to the surface, and that small town mindsets are hard to shake.
In this gripping debut Jane Harper has really captured the essence of small towns, and her descriptions of the people, and the grip of the drought, are all too real. She brings the hard setting to life, with characters and locations that just jump off the page. You will find this book very hard to put down. View all 16 comments. First on the scene, the flies swarmed contentedly in the heat as the blood pooled black over tiles and carpet.
A child's scooter lay abandoned on the stepping stone path. So nothing reacted when deep inside the house, the baby started crying Well written psychological crime thriller, full of tension and atmosp First on the scene, the flies swarmed contentedly in the heat as the blood pooled black over tiles and carpet.
Well written psychological crime thriller, full of tension and atmosphere. So many good reviews, excellent even. Did it rock my boat I'm in the shipping industry: Was I severely impressed It was a good read for me, but that's it. Not a five star, let's say 3. Entertaining, not a top top top read for me. There are other books honestly I seem to be in the minority here?
Despite that, a welcome addition to my books read, and a good diversion from other types of books I tend to read. Would I read the sequel? Aaron Falk, a cop, returns to his home town in the unbearable heat of Australia, for the funeral of his best childhood friend, killed with his wife and kid. A weird and dark situation. Because of things happened in the past, Falk is not welcomed by everyone in the town. Hooking up with a local cop, he starts to look into the case, as things do not look as they seem Recommended for the lovers of excellent crime fiction with a psychological touch.
Jul 21, Melisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: In my personal opinion, if this isn't a 5-star read, then I don't know what is. It opens with a bang and will have you glued until the very last page. This is one of those books that you will find yourself trying to sneak in pages here and there, whenever you have a single spare moment, because you will want to know how it ends. Absolutely unputdownable, I finished this in 24 hours and In my personal opinion, if this isn't a 5-star read, then I don't know what is. Absolutely unputdownable, I finished this in 24 hours and I had limited reading time read: I stayed up way too late to finish this baby!
I have zero complaints. If I had to choose something negative to say, I will say that the subject matter was difficult to read at times, however the violence wasn't graphic or gratuitous, it was mostly implied. View all 47 comments. It was too late for that now. Some things had to be lived with. The book simply felt genuine and full of emotions. Do books have emotions anyhow? Well, It certainly made me full of emotions, I can tell you that.
The story is better than I expected yet still, probably about 4 stars for me but the writing is exceptional: Things were so vivid, too vivid to be contained only to the pages, I suspect. The Victorian rural town of Kiewarra is suffocating under the oppression of heat and prolonged drought. While some farmers and shopkeepers are still clutching at small straws of hope, others have walked off or sold out to foreign investors. Luke Hadler has apparently shot-gunned his wife and his boy at home, leaving a baby daughter crying in her cot, and then finished himself off in his ute in the forest.
Be at the funeral. Luke was always the charismatic leader, Aaron was the more aware, sensitive to moods. Then there was an incident at the river, and while the boys swore they were together, shooting rabbits somewhere else, they have no proof. Rumours point to Aaron, and he and his father are run out of town. They sprouted legs and heads and they never died. Fleshy biceps that were more fat than muscle strained against his t-shirt as he folded his arms. His face was ruddy, with a scruffy beard and the defiant look of a bully.
He stared down each person who tried to chastise him, until one by one they looked away. Every one of these men and women could be innocent, complicit, or guilty, and we wonder if Aaron will stick around long enough to help the local copper unravel not only this tragedy, but clear his name from the one twenty years ago. Fantastic story in a setting where I recognise every fly, every paddock, every cloud of dust and crackle of leaves.
Deep cracks showed where the bitumen had swelled and shrunk with the seasonality of a crop. The empty bed stretched long and barren in either direction, its serpentine curves tracing the path where the water had flowed. The hollow that had been carved over centuries was now a cracked patchwork of rocks and crabgrass. Along the banks, gnarled grey tree roots were exposed like cobwebs. It gave nothing away. The pub, the town, the cop shop, the milk bar, the school — they are all very real — as of course are the dust and heat that no amount of air conditioning can dispel.
View all 52 comments. So this is a really good debut novel about a farming community in Australia, the murder of a young family..
This story also goes back and forth from present time to 20 yrs earlier when this father and his group of four friends were growing up there. One of the group, Falk, is now a cop from the another city, who comes to town for the funeral of his friend and his family, and ends up on the case to try and find the killer. There are lots of p So this is a really good debut novel about a farming community in Australia, the murder of a young family.. There are lots of possible suspects.. I enjoyed the book, especially liked Falk. View all 46 comments.
This one's a stunner! Kiewarra near Melbourne Australia is in the midst of a severe drought. The ground is hard and cracked, plants are dead and brown, and the river is bone dry.
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The residents are all under stress economically. When a farmer, Luke Hadler, appears to have killed his wife and child and then committed suicide, the powder keg is ready. Aaron Falk, a federal police officer in Melbourne, receives a note that draws him back to the town he left twenty years ago. Be a This one's a stunner! Jane Harper has got some writing talent. The Dry hit all the marks for me. Great characters, great story, nicely paced, held my attention, and very atmospheric.
I can't find anything I didn't like about this book. Did I mention it's a debut novel? View all 54 comments. Aaron Falk came from a family that had lived in Kiewarra for generations, but after a young girl was found drowned, his family was forced to leave. After an absence of twenty years, now a police investigator I the financial division he returns to his old home town, brought back by the apparent suicide and murder of the family of his former best friend.
Loved Falk's character and the Aaron Falk came from a family that had lived in Kiewarra for generations, but after a young girl was found drowned, his family was forced to leave. Loved Falk's character and the small town secrets, relationships. A well done, fast moving thriller. Will look for more from this talented author. View all 13 comments. Feb 13, Linda rated it it was amazing Shelves: It takes a lot for people to be willing to stand up and rock the boat. It was the same then as it is now. The souls of its citizens are as dry and withered as the devastating drought that has taken root in the blanched soil.
There's ne'er a sprout of welcoming for him here in Kiewarra. But shock is the only apparent current running through this town. Falk's best friend of his youth, Luke Had "But you know what it's like here, mate. Falk's best friend of his youth, Luke Hadler, is found dead in the back of his pickup truck with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. And in its wake is the horror of the knowledge that Luke took the lives of his wife, Karen, and their son, Billy, with him.
The haunting cries of baby Charlotte left in her crib bring reality to this doorstep. What led up to this blinding image of a man in free fall? Aaron, a Federal Agent, planned on only attending the funeral service out of respect.