I kept
coming across this title in people’s lists of the best 2017 mystery/thriller
books, so I decided to pick it up. I
certainly enjoyed it but don’t agree with many of the reviews which describe it
as a masterpiece of the genre.
After a
20-year absence, Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra, his rural hometown, for a
friend’s funeral. That friend, Luke
Hadler, apparently killed his wife and son and then himself. Luke’s father asks Aaron to investigate to
determine if Luke murdered his family.
Aaron is reluctant to stay because his presence is not welcomed by most
of the town’s inhabitants; he and his father were basically forced out of town
after Ellie Deacon, one of Aaron and Luke’s friends, had been found dead two
decades earlier. Nonetheless, he teams
up with Raco, the town’s policeman, and the two gradually uncover problems with
the murder-suicide theory.
There are
many questions for which the reader seeks answers. Why was Aaron suspected of being connected to
Ellie’s death? Why did Luke and Aaron
lie about their whereabouts when Ellie disappeared? Is there a connection between Luke’s death
and that of Ellie? Of course, it is not
just Aaron who has secrets; several secrets are gradually uncovered as Aaron
and Raco investigate.
A strong
element in the book is atmosphere. The
town has been experiencing a drought for two years and people are feeling
desperate. It is not just the landscape
that can be described as a tinder box; emotions can also be easily
kindled. The murders increase the
tension, and Aaron’s unwelcome arrival does nothing to relieve it.
One of my
issues with the book is characterization.
Aaron is a federal agent who investigates financial crimes, yet he
misinterprets a major clue and jumps to a conclusion, especially after he had a
telling conversation with an old friend?
By missing the obvious and focusing on a minor action, an errant glance,
he again leads the case in the wrong direction.
Surely I can’t have been the only reader to see the investigation
veering off course! There are a couple of bad guys in the book and
they are totally bad; such stereotyping weakens the novel.
There are
some techniques which grated. Cryptic
notes linked to Aaron are used once too often.
Some of the clues are just too obvious; when a certain topic of
conversation comes up more than once and with more than one person, an astute
reader will be on high alert. Again, I
cannot have been the only reader to know the motive early on? Then Aaron’s discovery of a key item at the end
seems just too convenient. One of Raco’s
first questions to Aaron is about a hiding place, but he isn’t reminded of another
hiding place that is significant for a couple of reasons? The italicized flashbacks inserted throughout
are useful because they verify what Aaron learns, but the last, very lengthy
one seems like a too-easy way to bring things to a close.
The book is
fairly fast-paced and does keep the reader’s interest. To the author’s credit, some relevant
information is divulged in a very natural manner; unfortunately, other clues
are not very subtle. Perhaps my problem
is that I was expecting too much after all the hype about this debut
novel.
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