“‘It’ll break,’ the farmers said as the months ticked over into a second year. They repeated the words out loud to each other like a mantra, and under their breaths to themselves like a prayer.”

The residents of Kiewarra, but especially the farmers whose livelihoods depend on their land, are deeply affected by the two-year-long drought. The intense heat and dryness are putting farms out of business and affecting people's moods. The unbearable conditions are omnipresent in the novel, and Harper uses this major motif to reveal the connection the natural world has with human nature.

“Luke lied. You lied. Be at the funeral.”

Falk receives this note from Gerry Hadler right before Luke's funeral. Falk is unsettled by this, enough that it convinces him to return to Kiewarra for the first time in 20 years. It is later revealed that Gerry has known that Luke and Falk lied about their alibis the day Ellie was found dead. These phrases are reiterated throughout the first two chapters, symbolizing how haunted Falk feels by this lie.

“It’s almost like they’re jealous […] Of the fact that he did what they can’t bring themselves to do, I think. Because now he’s out of it, isn’t he? While the rest of us are stuck here to rot, he’s got no more worrying about crops or missed payments or the next rainfall.”

Gretchen tells Falk that some residents of Kiewarra have expressed jealousy that Luke is dead because the weather conditions have made everyone feel unbelievably desperate. The fact that others can feel jealous, considering the violent measures he is presumed to have taken against himself and his family, highlight just how dark the energy is in Kiewarra.