Falk is a 36-year-old Special Agent with the Financial Intelligence Unit in Melbourne. He is pale and blond (4), often wearing his canvas hat to avoid the intense sun. He returns to his hometown of Kiewarra after 20 years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke. He is reluctant to go and eager to leave, because at 16 he was accused of murdering his friend Ellie and subsequently, he and his father were run out of town. 

Falk, however, is convinced to stay longer than he intended to help Sergeant Raco with the investigation into Luke, Karen, and Billy Hadler's deaths. The longer he stays in Kiewarra, the more secrets he uncovers from the people he grew up with. Throughout the novel he grapples with his memories of childhood, the consequences of his own lie about the day Ellie died, and the adult he has become because of traumatically leaving Kiewarra.

Even in childhood he was smart and rational, but as the overwhelming heat and rising tensions in Kiewarra take their toll, he finds himself pushing his own limits to find the person guilty for murdering the Hadlers and Ellie. By justly apprehending Whitlam for murdering the Hadlers, Falk redeems himself after 20 years of false accusations.