Rain Gods

A Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

When Hackberry Holland became sheriff of a tiny Texas town near the Mexican border, he'd hoped to leave certain things behind: his checkered reputation, his haunted dreams, and his obsessive memories of the good life with his late wife, Rie. But the discovery of the bodies of nine illegal aliens, machine-gunned to death and buried in a shallow grave behind a church, soon makes it clear that he won't escape so easily.

As Hack and Deputy Sheriff Pam Tibbs attempt to untangle the threads of this complex and grisly case, a damaged young Iraq veteran, Pete Flores, and his girlfriend, Vikki Gaddis, are running for their lives, hoping to outwit the bloodthirsty criminals who want to kill Pete for his involvement in the murders. The only trouble is, Pete doesn't know who he's running from: drunk and terrified, he fled the scene of the crime when the shooting began. And there's a long list of people who want Pete and Vikki dead: crime boss Hugo Cistranos, who hired Pete for the operation; Nick Dolan, a strip club owner and small-time gangster with revenge on his mind; and a mysterious God-fearing serial-killer-for-hire known as Preacher Jack Collins, with enigmatic motives of his own.

With the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a host of cold-blooded killers on Pete and Vikki's trail, it's up to Sheriff Holland to find them first and figure out who's behind the mass murder before anyone else ends up dead. In this thrilling and intricate work, James Lee Burke has once again proven himself a master storyteller and a perceptive chronicler of the darkest corners of the human heart.

©2009 James Lee Burke (P)2009 Simon & Schuster Audio

Best James Lee Burke in years

I enjoyed Moon of the Red Ponies very much, and thought the narrator was excellent. But this one has surprised me with how good Burke still is. I thought the story was going to be predictable, but surprises appear in the plot. And Will Patton is the best at reading Burke's novels - someone had complained about his Dave Robicheaux reading not being an authentic Louisiana accent. But I don't care how accurate the accent is -- his narration of the story just knocks me out. All around recommended.

Great listen - best in a LONG time

Excellent book and narrator was on another level. Almost better than Frank Muller!

We need more quality prose.

Ehhh...Not So Much

Any additional comments?

This was my first book for this particular author. I took a chance on him due to his awards from the Mystery Writers of America. I guess I won't use that logic anymore.

The best part of this book was the narrator. Mr. Patton is very talented and is able to create clearly distinguishable voices for each of the characters. His weakness is in portraying a Texas accent similar to George Bush's, which is not your typical Texas accent. Most people won't notice this so much. I'm just a bit picky as a 6th generation Texan.

As for the storyline, I can't say i was terribly impressed at all with any level of creativity or imagination. As many previous reviewers have stated, there seems to be a lot of plot elements and characters "borrowed" from "No Country for Old Men". It's a bit broader than "No Country", but fundamentally the same ideas. In much the same way, don't look for any real "loose end" culminations. This story is similar in many ways to a greek drama with multiple threads spinning off of the main plot line, but each one just kind of languishes and ends at various points in the book rather than gravitating back toward each other with a grand resolution in the end.

My single greatest problem with this author is the same stylistic problems that ultimately lead me away from Stephen King books. Like Stephen King, this author takes a LOT of pages to tell a relatively simple story. Much of this is due to his extraordinarily verbose descriptions lavishly mixed in making it quite tedious to get to the point of what's actually occuring or is about to occur. How many ways are there to describe a sunset, or a person, or a room...according to this author, apparently there's never enough. Mix that in with constant backstory ruminations by each of the characters and this storyline could have just as easily been effectively told in half the time it actually took.Some people may like that type of writing, but as for me I get more pleasure out of using my own imagination to create these scenes rather than depending solely on the author. That's a big part of why I prefer books over movies. I get to decide on how I want to create the environment. As an author, he or she should only give me some basic hints of what things are like and let ME create the context in my own mind.

As things stand, I doubt I'll be coming back to this author for any other books. There are so many other mystery and thriller writers that suit my taste better than him.

Burke at his best

My first James Lee Burke was a Dave Robicheaux novel recommended by a librarian for a drive from NC to New Orleans. What a great way to travel! This latest work is among his best and Will Patton brings it alive. My work requires me to drive over 50,000 miles a year and I can't imagine doing it without Audible.

Long but interesting

I really enjoyed the story after I got to the half way point. Will Patton's narration was good. Ending is not what I expected or hoped but overall it was not bad.

Decent

This was a decent book. I finished it. I do agree with others, though, that there was way
too much needless descriptive detail. I have probably not heard "alluvial" so many times in my life as I did in this book.

Rain Gods

James Lee Burke is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Rain Gods is great! In my opinion; all of his books are a treat. His characters are always interesting and multi-layered. He also paints with words to provide the listener a wonderfully descriptive landscape. It's like a great movie for your ears and mind only. Also, Will Patton; again adds much to Burke's characters and settings with his performance. Great story telling!

Great book great prlerformance

Listened to this one twice. One more book and I will have read all of Burke's full stories. Not a big fan of short stories so....,.

Happy reading

Bill Mac

Well worth the time

Would you listen to Rain Gods again? Why?

James Lee Burke is a master word crafter. He paints images in the mind that Hollywood will never be able to reproduce in the detail his words do. I really enjoy his expansive vocabulary and how it makes my mind stretch to put the image together. Will Patton is absolutely marvelous. He is able to capture so much expression in the cadence, tone and timbre of his voice it seems like I am listening to multiple narrators.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, and it was easy to follow. No tricks, just straight story.

Which character – as performed by Will Patton – was your favorite?

All, I wouldn't favor one over any other. he nailed everyone. They were all believable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but it is to long for that and my schedule.

Any additional comments?

No one should be disappointed with this series, regardless of which book you start with.

Excellent

James Lee Burke narrated by Will Patton. What's not to like? Absorbing - you just can't wait for the next chapter