Only the Rain

A Novel

By: Randall Silvis

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

When family man and war veteran Russell loses his job as a quarry worker, his life suddenly seems more like a waking nightmare than a chance to finally live the American dream. Facing bills, a new baby, and a bone-dry bank account, he's got nothing left to lose. Russell comes to the rescue of a naked stranger dancing in the rain, and what was supposed to be a straightforward good deed turns into a spiral of danger. When Russell finds an enticing stash of money in the woman's house, he knows the cash could be his only hope. Taking just a handful will save his family's future.

His "victimless crime" seems to be anything but risky - until the criminals he robbed come looking for their dirty money. Russell's ready to surrender it, but then his daughter gets sick...and he must choose between saving her or giving the devils their due. Someone's going to pay. The question is, how much?

©2017 Randall Silvis (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Hold your breath.....

kind of book. Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, they do. Of course they do. From stupid action to explosive danger, how's he going to dig himself out of this? The answer comes as a total surprise. Or does it?

I loved this story!

You absolutely won't know were he is going, couldn't unplug, and the narrator was funominal!!!

decent read decent read

quick read. I liked it. simple easy to follow and I loved the narrator. I would reccomend.

Only the Rain..Really?

Wow. If you want to feel the pain, anger, and frustration of taking on someone's battle other than your own. Go to war. The things you learn are so hard fought. Life is tough anyway and then you see things that are not the way you have lived. Soon it becomes your morals against theirs. Your life or theirs. How can you win? I would read a novel by Mr. Silva again and again.

Enjoyed, but wouldn’t recommend it

Not sure how I felt about the story. It wasn’t gripping or a “page turner”, in fact most of the time I was wondering if it’d ever get to the point, but once it did, it was interesting. Written as a bunch of emails/letters written to a friend, but in too much detail to really be believable (it’d be way too time consuming for anyone to write that much in the little time the character has to write). I can’t say there was anything really special about the story, but the narrator wasn’t bad. I just wasn’t drawn into it and didn’t really care much about any of the characters. The main character leaned on being a vet way too much, despite it sometimes not feeling all that relevant, the wife seemed to be too “wife-character” and didn’t seem to have much else built into her. I sped up the audio to get through it faster, but only so it’d be over faster, not because I was dying to know what came next.

Loved it

Loved it & I could almost listen to anything read by Eric G. Dove. I will be listening to more books by Randell Silvis.

Pretty Good Book!!

Very enjoyable book. This book is told from the protagonist's (Russell) point of view. In a long email written to a friend he tells what he's doing and why.
When the quarry that Russell works for is sold, every one who works there is laid off. Russell has two daughters and a pregnant wife at home. The day he learns that he's losing his job he runs into a detour on the way home. Going through a seedy part of town in the pouring rain he sees a young woman naked and dancing in her front yard. When she falls down he stops his motorcycle to see if she's ok. He thinks she's high on something and carries her inside. The smells make him think this might be a meth house. In the bathroom he finds shoeboxes containing cash. Although it goes against his beliefs, he decides this is a chance to keep his family afloat while he finds work and takes one box. When he sees the woman days later sporting bruises he decides to return the money, but then one of his daughters gets sick.
What follows is his personal moral dilemma and his actions and reactions towards the drug dealers who seemed to have help locating him.
Very colorful book with some interesting characters.
That narration by Eric G. Dove is excellent.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Mixed feelings!

A friend read the Kindle version of this novel before the Christmas holiday and recommended it. I purchased the Audible version when it was released early this month and noticed after I started to listen to it that Audible listener Shelley had already reviewed it.

Many years ago in my early 30s I was the father and husband of a young family including three children who felt the same pressures of responsibilities Russel felt in Only the Rain. This novel was more emotional for me than it should have been because I relate to Russel although I did not get into the troubles he did. They classify it as a psychological thriller for a reason, I suppose.

Again my feeling about the novel are mixed, but the narration by Eric G Dove is superb.

Intriguing

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to me that it was written as emails to a friend telling him the story of what happened. It gave a different dimension and perspective to stories I normally read or listen to. He also did a wonderful job of describing and showing the main character, Russell's, confusion angst and fear. It makes you wonder about and appreciate even more the mental challenges many of our veterans go through once they make it home. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an insight into how quickly things can go sideways when you never meant for them to.

moving

deeply moving story regarding vets and PTSD grandfather from the Vietnam era struggling with the same issues that Russell has gone through. when pops helps Rusty save his family from the brutal murderous Brothers that Rusty stole money from. very empowering story