Gerry knows that Luke lied about being with Aaron the night that Ellie died, and he believes at least one other person knows too. The town that Aaron had never intended to return to, until he received a message from Gerry. The town that Aaron and his father were violently driven out of twenty years earlier. These are the questions that Barb and Gerry Hadler ask Aaron Falk to investigate in the aftermath of Luke’s murder-suicide at his home in the small town of Kiewanna.

Why would Luke Hadler kill himself, his wife, and his son, but leave his infant daughter alive? Where was he really the night that Ellie Deacon drowned? And do these two questions have related answers? Trigger warnings for domestic violence, sexual abuse of a minor, somewhat graphic descriptions of corpses (including a child), mention of self-harm, and suicide With the help of the new cop in town, an old friend who’s always been convinced of his innocence in Ellie’s death, the local principal, and a gruff but kindly bartender, Aaron faces the ghosts of the past convinced of his guilt in Ellie’s death and the reality of Luke’s untimely death. In the aftermath of the funeral, Luke’s mother asks Aaron to take a closer look at the deaths to see if anything will exonerate her son. He wouldn’t have, except that Luke’s father knows a secret – Luke and Aaron lied about their alibis for the night that Ellie died.

Aaron returns to his hometown for the first time since then for the funerals of his best friend, Luke, and his wife and daughter in a gruesome murder-suicide. Short synopsis: Twenty years ago, Aaron Falk and his father were driven out of town after being suspected in the death of Aaron’s friend, 17-year-old Ellie.

The dry by jane harper