Dry

I have now finished Dry for the third time and currently it’s definitely my favourite book, I read it in just two days on the weekend. It takes place in near modern-day America and basically, the state of California has just been disconnected from all water and things go completely off the rails. It starts off with people being reasonable. Slapping people in Walmart, breaking fishtanks, low level delinquency. But after not long the poo poos hit the fan, riots break out, and other fun apocalyptic activities take place!

The main Characters are Alyssa, a very responsible older sister, her little brother Garrett, a silly goober, and also Kelton, who is a doomsday prepper whose family is way too excited about the apocalypse. There’s also Jacqui, who just took the form of a human but without a doubt is actually a highly educated feral racoon, then finally Henry, who despite what he thinks, has about as much charisma as a slab of tofu, but also is extremely deceitful.

The authors Neal and Jarrod Shusterman wonderfully convey how people will actually react when they get truly desperate in this scary scenario. I’m not really sure how to expand on this without giving spoilers.

Book review written by Jake Dana (Year 10, 2025)