
Rain Gods
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Will Patton
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By:
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James Lee Burke
About this listen
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 AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Released from prison after two years for manslaughter, Iry heads to Montana for a fresh start on a ranch owned by a prison buddy's father. He also hopes to nail down a song he's been working on, unable to get quite right. But soon new troubles bring tragic consequences, and it will take a lot more than a soulful tune to ease the pain.
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Billy Bob Holland is a lawyer for the people of sunbaked Deaf Smith, in southern Texas. Although occasionally he is haunted by memories of a violent past, his life is serene—until a local guitarist, Lucas Smothers, lands in jail for raping and murdering a young woman. As Billy Bob gathers information to defend him, the evidence soon points to the son of a wealthy local businessman. In the ensuing battle, money is pitted against the law. But a deeper struggle also arises, for Lucas is Billy Bob’s illegitimate son.
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Burke Grabs you from the start
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By: James Lee Burke
-
Two for Texas
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
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Overall
-
Performance
-
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This James Lee Burke novel, featuring Son Holland - the great-grandfather of Burke's Billy Bob Holland - as he flees a Louisiana prison camp with a Native American woman and a fellow prisoner in tow, is now available in audio.
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So Good... and a bonus! Clete is here!
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By: James Lee Burke
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Lay Down My Sword and Shield
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Against the backdrop of growing civil rights turmoil in a sultry border town, the hard-drinking ex-POW attorney Hackberry Holland yields to the myriad urgings of his wife, his brother, and his so-called friends to make a bid for a congressional seat - and finds himself embroiled in the seamy world of Texas powerbrokers.
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The Publisher's Summary is Anemic
- By Cat F. on 02-25-10
By: James Lee Burke
-
Wayfaring Stranger
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1934 and the Depression is bearing down when 16-year-old Weldon Avery Holland happens upon infamous criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow after one of their notorious armed robberies. A confrontation with the outlaws ends as Weldon puts a bullet through the rear window of Clyde’s stolen automobile. Ten years later, Second Lieutenant Weldon Holland and his sergeant, Hershel Pine, escape certain death in the Battle of the Bulge and encounter a beautiful young woman named Rosita Lowenstein hiding in a deserted extermination camp.
-
-
Near perfect. One of Burke's Best.
- By David Shear on 07-17-14
By: James Lee Burke
-
The Lost Get-Back Boogie
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Released from prison after two years for manslaughter, Iry heads to Montana for a fresh start on a ranch owned by a prison buddy's father. He also hopes to nail down a song he's been working on, unable to get quite right. But soon new troubles bring tragic consequences, and it will take a lot more than a soulful tune to ease the pain.
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-
Bought all Burkes's Audiobooks- Wish Not this one
- By Clif on 03-09-10
By: James Lee Burke
-
White Doves at Morning
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a startling departure, James Lee Burke has written an epic story of love, hate and survival set against the tumultuous background of the Civil War and Reconstruction. At the center of the tale are James lee Burke's own ancestors, Robert Perry, who comes from the slave-owning family of wealth and privilege, and Willy Burke, born of Irish immigrants, a poor boy who is as irreverent as he is brave and decent. Despite personal and political conflicts, both men join the Confederate Army, determined not to back down.
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Where's Will?
- By Luke on 03-01-17
By: James Lee Burke
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Cimarron Rose
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Billy Bob Holland is a lawyer for the people of sunbaked Deaf Smith, in southern Texas. Although occasionally he is haunted by memories of a violent past, his life is serene—until a local guitarist, Lucas Smothers, lands in jail for raping and murdering a young woman. As Billy Bob gathers information to defend him, the evidence soon points to the son of a wealthy local businessman. In the ensuing battle, money is pitted against the law. But a deeper struggle also arises, for Lucas is Billy Bob’s illegitimate son.
-
-
Burke Grabs you from the start
- By Damian on 10-27-24
By: James Lee Burke
-
Two for Texas
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This James Lee Burke novel, featuring Son Holland - the great-grandfather of Burke's Billy Bob Holland - as he flees a Louisiana prison camp with a Native American woman and a fellow prisoner in tow, is now available in audio.
-
-
So Good... and a bonus! Clete is here!
- By Tim on 01-04-13
By: James Lee Burke
What listeners say about Rain Gods
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Overall
- Richard
- 07-17-09
Dynamic Duo
The best writer teams up with the best narrator for an enjoyable audio book. This book is similar to No Country For Old Men. Just similar but a very different story and it is better in several ways. For one it is twice as long so you get twice as much enjoyment. Two there are some nice characters in this book. Sheriff Hackberry Holland for one but every time they said his name I thought Huckleberry Hound and chuckled. Strange name. Will Patton does a super job as usual and I only wish he could go back and read all Burke's books. There are many of them but they are useless to me with other narrators. Pretty convoluted and fast paced. Worth a credit.
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52 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tim
- 08-06-09
A Modern Masterpiece
This book and the narration are so good that they almost deserve a class of their own. As another reviewer noted this story does bear a passing resemblance to No Country for Old Men, so if you liked that movie that's likely a good indicator for this book. I'm not a huge fan of Burke, I find his Louisiana novels (much like True Blood on HBO) a little hard to take, but this Texas badlands story is simply a masterpiece. The narration is spectacular, it's a little disconcerting that the lead villain sounds exactly like George W Bush, but it's hard to imagine how it could be improved upon. The story is complex with many interwoven threads so you need to be able to give the story your reasonably full attention to really appreciate the mastery of plot and language deployed here. The chief bad guy (W.) may be the best drawn and most complex literary monster since Hannibal Lector. The hero is grittier than a sandwich eaten at the beach, the cavalcade of supporting cast have such a comprehensive range of character flaws and challenges that it does get a bit Dostoyevsky grim from time to time, but never ceases to enthrall.
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29 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Chip Atkinson
- 01-18-10
Eloquent Writing and Reading
Will Patton is absolutely the best reader I have encountered. Burke is highly descriptive and employs memorable, believable characters, always with severe flaws. This was a really fun book to listen to...
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5 people found this helpful
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- ChellyBelle
- 09-24-09
A great listen
Generally, I download audiobooks that are of the 'brain candy' variety, as a change to some of the heavier reading I do for the sake of work and such, so this book came as a bit of a surprise to me, since I've never read anything by James Lee Burke.
The author's style is at turns lyrical and lovely, and harsh and gritty, and I'm not sure that there's anyone else who could have narrated this book as well.
I've since downloaded one of the author's Dave Robicheaux novels, and while it's a good book, I greatly prefer the characters in Rain Gods, and hope that there will be more books featuring Hackberry Holland as the main character.
At times, the writing in Rain Gods was a bit overdone, and some of the dialogue was kind of... well, a little more poetic than realistic, but even so, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and would highly recommend it.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Nancy
- 10-02-09
Absolutely fabulous
The story itself is spectacular, a real page-turner, and Will Patton's narration is impressive. I've just ordered all of James Lee Burke's other audiobooks;that's how great RAIN GODS was. I teach creative writing; will use this book as an example of excellent storytelling, concrete and specific details, and how to keep suspense until the very last second.
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- R. Conley
- 02-13-12
Stop and get the first Hack Holland before this
All three Hack Holland novels are great, but you get a lot of perspective on Hack and others in this book if you start with Lay Down My Sword and Shield. Dave Robicheaux novels don't require this, but I advise you read the Hack novels in order.
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- Bisonman
- 06-25-24
Good story but flawed
I love Burke and Patton reads him perfectly. This one had some very odd and unbelievable scenes though. Not his best work, IMO. Still a fun listen
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- Mike
- 07-17-09
James Lee Burke Meets Cormac McCarthy
In Rain Gods, Burke takes the same narrative style found in his Dave Robicheaux series and transplants it to Southern Texas. We have a new assortment of, as Dave would say, "moral imbeciles" pursuing and being pursued by the novel's protagonist, Hackberry Holland, an aging lawman. It's "No Country For Old Men", but with Burke's special brand of dialogue and narration as opposed to the lean, stripped down style of McCarthy. Will Patton, as always, does a great job of telling the story but not getting in the way of it. Once again Burke does a great job of exploring the darker side of humanity and the road to redemption. However, Hackberry's sidekick, Pam Tills, is a poor substitute for Clete Purcell.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- rhl60
- 03-10-10
Burke never fails to entertain
The more I read Burke, the more I appreciate his sensibilities. He puts thought into his characters, his plots, and his writing. As a keen observer of the natural world, his settings invariably serve as a stark foil to the human machinations at play. The hobbled dignity and isolation of his protagonists serve the genre well, and the reader always learns from them. Will Patton is outstanding as a narrator. Burke has done it again with a great "read"....
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Overall
- PD
- 08-05-09
The best contemporary American Novel
Narration great. This book is writing which is prose but often reads like poetry. The characters are totally Americana but have the power of characters from Dostoevsky, thinking especially of the Brothers Karamazov.
It was hard to put down. The story was well woven.
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2 people found this helpful