I adored the way the author chose to slowly unravel the plot and how she really ramped up the tension and action near the end where I felt my heart about to beat out of my chest. I had missed a tiny clue, just as our characters did, which caused me to go down the wrong path and find myself just as shocked as the police officers. While you may guess correctly on the 'whodunnit' in both present day and past mysteries (due to a limited pool of characters to choose from) you likely won't guess why. I honestly can't think of a single complaint of what I would change about this book. I was so engrossed in these people that I actually felt present for each conversation the descriptions of the setting were so incredible that I thought I would break out into a sweat at any moment from the drought I was mentally present for. While the writing was excellent and the mysteries were well done, what placed this book in 5 star land for me was the depth and beauty given to the characters. I feel privileged to have found such a golden story to catalogue in my mind so early in the year the complex web of deceit and lies in this farmland of Australia completely captivated me to the point I actually found myself trying to piece together the various mysteries while doing other daily activities.

If someone asked me how I felt a police procedural should be written and what details should be included I would simply hand them a copy of this book and tell them to read it. Please don't misunderstand, this isn't a break neck thriller that you rush to read in one sitting it's more the slow, delicate sipping of a fine wine that you tend to gradually chug more quickly as you reach the bottom of the bottle. Your attention I have it, right? Those are powerful opening lines, and when placed within the full fledged prologue you have one of the most intriguing and gripping introductions to a book I have ever read.

To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse.'

'It wasn't as though the farm hadn't seen death before, and the blowflies didn't discriminate. This was a perfect example of a book being extremely dark and terrifying without being overly graphic for the shock value. Half the fun of this story is, even if you guess at the who, you probably won't guess the why until it's revealed. The writing is excellent, the pacing was quick with fully fleshed characters, and the ending was satisfying without being too cut and dry. I know it's early days, but I have a feeling this will be a top read of 2017 for me I'll go as far as saying if I had read it last year it would have been in my top 2016 reads.

The dry author jane harper