Rain

by Stephen Gallagher

Lucy Ashdown is determined to find the identity of her sister's killer. She patrols lorry parks and transport cafes collecting information which she hopes will lead to the killer. Joe Lucas has a dedication to match Lucy's and his aim is to bring her home, but he has to race against time.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery

313 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Stoker and World Fantasy Award nominee, winner of British Fantasy and International Horror Guild Awards for his short fiction, Stephen Gallagher has a career both as a novelist and as a creator of primetime miniseries and episodic television. His fifteen novels include Chimera, Oktober, Valley of Lights and Nightmare, with Angel. He's the creator of Sebastian Becker, Special Investigator to the Lord Chancellor's Visitor in Lunacy, in a series of novels that includes The Kingdom of Bones, The Bedlam Detective, and The Authentic William James. In his native England he's adapted and created hour-long and feature-length thrillers and crime dramas. In the US he was lead writer on NBC's Crusoe, creator of CBS Television's Eleventh Hour, and Co-Executive Producer on ABC's The Forgotten. Recent screen credits include an award-winning Silent Witness and Stan Lee's Lucky Man.

He began his TV career as a writer on two seasons of Doctor Who, and wrote two novelizations of his stories under the pseudonym John Lydecker.

** Photo by Lisa Bowerman **

Reviews

[AmbushPredator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like 'Down River' this novel is a taut little thriller that introduces characters that have you rooting for them even as their actions begin to horrify you.

Its tale of a girl out to find the killer of her elder sister grips and doesn't let go, and Gallagher's cast of characters is all too human and fallible, flawed people doing horrible things, not supernatural beings, but possessed at times by almost supernatural luck (good, and bad).

[Andrew Armour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is a reasonable mystery thriller, but with sharp and perceptive writing and wit that is evident in the first few chapters, that for me was even more impressive than the story itself. Gallagher gets you to come on a journey with Lucy Ashdown as she takes on the physical looks of her sister Christine who died in a suspicious hit and run incident. No one was found to blame, the cops can't find anything to latch onto, but Lucy's dodged determination to try to find why and who was responsible, puts her in obvious peril. While in London the city in which her sister worked and lived, she sets to work on how she earned her wages, where she worked, who she may have come into contact with. Lucy is also pursued by Joe, a detective with orders to bring her back home to her father, but it's Joe who is even more persistent with catching her than even her own father. As Lucy starts to work at the very venue her sister worked at, she gets to know her fellow colleague's, and the unsavory life her sister earned her living. And a mysterious black address book that the manager hides, with the potential of containing a contact that had known about her sister's demise, while at the same time the book and it's contacts could bring down the business on which survives if it were to fall in to the hands of the law, making a major obstacle for Lucy to achieve her objective.

What I like about the book is the pace of the story, and how there are small cliffhangers at the end of most chapters. It's the brisk lively wording that strangely brings life to this well worn story. Nothing screams big and bold, but instead in an enthusiastic voice, the author ushers you from chapter to chapter effortlessly, to the conclusion. While there is nothing of earth shattering brilliance there is plenty to keep your attention, making this a worthy read.

[Kaila · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are undeniably some good points about Rain, from the initial introduction of the characters, to the grittiness of the story. However, by the time I was approaching the end of this book only one word springs to mind: bored.

The real question here is why? For the most part the writing is good, the characters are good, and the pacing fits. Unfortunately, from around the 75% mark things begin to take a turn for the worst. After 90% I was skim-reading, eager to finish the book and move on to something else.

For me at least, the downwards spiral of a specific character seemed rather forced, several plot elements ask the reader to suspend their disbelief, and there was little satisfaction in the ending. The biggest problem isn't even the largest thing Gallagher asks us to believe, but the smaller elements of the story - little points which stick out and make you ask "would that really be the case?"

Still at around 300 pages Rain won't take overly long to read.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

What started off as a genre thriller lapsed into David Lynchian territory to various degrees of success. With few characters to keep the reader interested the author relies on a plot that asks us to suspend belief at times. All well and good. On the plus side he does keep a sense of pace with the story, but on the downside you do kinda think at times "What about...?" A nice, neat, if obvious, ending makes it just about worthwhile.

[Edith Rennes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was actually a book that I read, not an e-book. It was a strange story. I still couldn't decide when I finished it whether I liked it or not. I guess you'd have to read it to understand my ambiguity. Decided to add to my comments. I found it to be an extremely well written book but it was just a bit too dark for me...hence the ambiguity.

[Lucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was obvious throughout (possibly on purpose) who the killer was but the book was still entretaining to read.

[Mar Xinmas · Rating 3 out of 5]

No sé si este es título que en español se editó como "Obsesión de venganza". Por la sinopsis creo recordar que sí, pero ha pasado bastante tiempo y muchos libros.