Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dry, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Human Cost of Climate Change
Justice
Urban vs. Rural
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Sergeant Raco and Falk go back to a pub. Falk suggests that Raco take his concerns to the Clyde police, but Raco fears they’ll be more concerned about trying to cover up any mistakes they made during the investigation. Raco wants to handle things with just him, the constable Barnes, and Falk, but Falk isn’t looking to stay in town more than the couple days he promised Barb and Gerry.
This passage shows that doing the right thing isn’t always as simple as going to the “proper” authority figures. Although Raco and Falk are both police officers and therefore insiders to the justice system, they nevertheless find it necessary to go outside the system to try to carry out their own personal idea of justice.
Themes
Sergeant Raco gives Falk a folder of everything he’s put together so far. Raco summarizes some of the most important points. The courier who discovered the murders works for a major firm and had been delivering recipe books for Karen when he came across Luke’s body in the cargo tray of his ute, which was partially open, as if Luke had been sitting up with his legs dangling over the edge. The only other thing Raco noticed in the ute was Luke’s blood, but when Falk looks at the photo now, he sees four horizontal streaks of light brown against the ute’s white paint near the body.
Falk’s attention to the horizonal marks on the ute in the photo shows the benefit of bringing new eyes to the investigation. The image of Luke’s blood on the ute (a vehicle that many Australian farmers use for field work and to transport goods) symbolizes how metaphorically he put his sweat and blood into his farming work. The fact that Luke’s life apparently ended on his ute shows how fully his work dominated his life.
Themes
Sergeant Raco doesn’t find the streaks unusual—the ute would’ve carried a lot of things. In any case, the ute is now in Melbourne, where it will be sold or scrapped. Luke had no drugs or alcohol in his system when he died, and his gun, which definitely killed Karen, Billy, and Luke, had just Luke’s fingerprints on it. Falk wonders if the fingerprints are almost too good—if a nervous Luke should have been sweating and shaking too much to leave clear prints.
The ute, which was important to Luke, may just become scrap after going to Melbourne. This reflects the divide between rural and urban, showing how the city takes from the country, stripping things of context and just mining them for resources. Like Raco, Falk has also begun to identify with Luke, imagining how he might have felt in the moments leading up to his death.
Themes
The last person to see Luke alive was a friend of his named Sullivan. Luke was over at Sullivan’s to help cull some rabbits by shooting them. The only other person around was Mal Deacon, who has a property near Luke but who is surly and doesn’t want to cooperate with the police.
Luke’s shooting of the rabbits with a shotgun seems to have clear parallels to the shooting of his family. Sullivan is not the only character who has to exterminate rabbits over the course of the story, showing how the humans of Kiewarra seem to be in constant conflict with nature.
Themes
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Sergeant Raco then reveals to Falk that Luke’s farm had a security camera. Most of the day, there’s no activity, because Karen, Billy, and Charlotte are at school (where Karen works part time and Charlotte is at a daycare called a crèche). They get home around four (when Karen’s car passes the camera), then about an hour later, Luke’s ute passes the camera. The murder itself isn’t visible on-screen, but soon after, Falk can hear the sounds of someone shooting Karen, then Billy.
While the many security cameras serve a useful function during the investigation, they also symbolize how people in small towns face constant observation from others. A crèche is a type of government-funded daycare in Australia.
Themes
Falk thinks this video seems like pretty clear evidence against Luke, especially since no one else comes or goes until the courier arrives 35 minutes later, but Sergeant Raco argues that you can’t see who’s driving Luke’s ute. Raco admits that Luke still seems like a likely suspect, but he feels that after seeing the horrific sight of Billy’s body, he has to make sure he gets this case right. Finally, Falk says there’s something he needs to tell Raco about Luke.
As Falk begins to doubt Luke’s innocence, the novel shows how discovering the truth isn’t always a linear journey. Fittingly for a mystery novel, many of the chapters end with a cliffhanger that promises to potentially change everything about the case. Even though the story follows Falk, he still holds many secrets, not just from Raco but from the audience as well.
Themes
