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4.5 Stars

”The Outback is impossible, forever and it’s free
No way can I find an end to what it means to me��
Sing You the Outback John Williamson


Mere days ago, I was inundated by water. Water, water, everywhere�� Rivers overflowing �� and suddenly I find myself transported to a land where rain hadn’t fallen in nearly two years.

”The drought had left the flies spoiled for choice that summer.��

The farmers told themselves that the drought wouldn’t last, said those words to each other, and to themselves, silently whispered like a desperate prayer.

”Outside, washing hung still on the rotary line, bone day and stiff from the sun. A child’s scooter lay abandoned on the stepping-stone path. Just one human heart beat within a kilometer radius of the farm.
So nothing reacted when, deep inside the house, the baby started crying.��

It is to this town of his youth that Aaron Falk returns. 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. But he’s no longer a teenager; he’s a Federal agent specializing in forensic accounting, working in Melbourne. He’s spent the years in between trying to forget his childhood years in Kiewarra, the way his family was run out of town. He’s come back, reluctantly, for a funeral for Luke Hadler, the boy who was once his best friend. Luke Handler, his wife, Karen, and his six year-old son, Billy, all gone. Eighteen hours and he’s outta there.

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.

”Luke Handler may have had a light on waiting for him when he came home, but something else from this wretched, desperate community had seeped through that front door and into his home. And it had been rotten and thick and black enough to extinguish that light forever.��

Falk has no idea what could have possibly prompted an act like this from Luke, it’s been a long time since the days when they were friends. Luke’s parents are taking care of his infant daughter, but are finding the town seems to be turning against them, turning away their business. They turn to Falk, hoping he can find something to clear Luke’s name. They can’t believe he would have, could have ever done this heinous act. But did they really know their son? Falk thought he did once, but now he’s not as sure.

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. And the mystery of Ellie Deacon’s death still lingers, fingers still point at Aaron Falk.

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. Truth is what he’s after, in both times. 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. So much desperation as the drought goes on, robbing them of their livelihood, no water for crops or livestock and watching everything you’ve worked for your whole life just wither away. What are you if you are a farmer and you can no longer farm your land? Even the children’s moods are affected, watching their animals die, the sky fill with dust and flies. Always the flies.

Recommended!