After the Rain [Mass Market Paperback]

Chuck Logan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2005

Headlights off, a panel truck drives by moonlight across an open field, following tracks that have been there for decades ...

Nina Pryce and her husband, Phil Broker, couldn't have more opposite views of the military. Broker's loyalty to the men he served with in Vietnam is matched only by his certainty that they shouldn't have been there in the first place. Nina, though, is a new breed, a decorated and ambitious vet of the first Gulf War. As Nina proceeds along her chosen career path, Broker -- until his recent "retirement," Minnesota's most effective, unorthodox, and controversial undercover cop -- finds himself struggling in the role of patient military spouse.

The driver is a local entrepreneur taking advantage of a decades-old tradition of smuggling and bootlegging by crossing a border too vast and undermanned to be effectively patrolled ...

Incommunicado for months as part of a top-secret Delta anti-terrorist operation, Nina, with daughter Kit in tow, suddenly emerges in Langdon, North Dakota, a town in the heart of the Cold War Minuteman II missile belt. When Broker arrives to take Kit back home, he realizes that the legacy of those warheads still casts a sinister shadow across the desolate north border country, in the person of a damaged psychopath.

Somewhere in the middle of this empty field he will cross, undetected, from one side of the U.S.-Canada divide to the other. He and his cargo -- illegal cigars, whiskey, machine parts, or something much more terrifying -- thus slip undetected across the longest undefended border in the world.

Broker discovers he's been drawn into an elaborate con within a con, made an unwitting participant in a black-bag anti-terrorist detail. But his anger toward Nina for involving him and putting their daughter at risk quickly fades as a larger, more deadly reality becomes evident. With time running out, husband and wife unite with local North Dakota law enforcement to form a last line of defense against a brilliantly simple act of espionage with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An anti-terrorist Delta force, operating in such covert isolation that practically no one knows about them (and those who do will deny it) discovers a plot to detonate a nuclear device smuggled across the Canadian border into North Dakota in Logan's latest high-stakes thriller (after Absolute Zero). Tough-talking, good-looking Gulf War veteran Maj. Nina Pryce sets out to seduce the alleged bomb smuggler while her estranged husband, ex-cop Phil Broker, and their seven-year-old daughter get drawn into the suspenseful special forces sting. Narrator Conway's smooth growl of a voice, reminiscent of a chain-smoker's, successfully captures the raw reality that the team is up against, making him the ideal narrator for this tale. Surprisingly, his hardened tone even works for the story's female characters, though it doesn't hurt that they are all dyed-in-the-wool military types who are willing to rip the enemy's throat out with their teeth—and that they heartily pass around packs of smokes. Conway's intense yet quiet delivery is well-timed, confident and just as precise as Logan's prose.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Suspenseful [and] forceful.... Logan is a crafty storyteller.” (Philadelphia Inquirer )

“The book simply can’t be put down....Thrillers don’t get any more up to date than this nail-biter.” (Tampa Tribune )

“An unbeatable combination: a smart, well-honed plot, fascinating characters and a writer with [the] skills to tie it together.” (Publishers Weekly )

“A fast-paced action thriller [and] a credible and terrifying story.” (Fargo Forum )

“If you like your thrillers hard [and] tough … then Chuck Logan’s books ... cry out for addition to your bookbag.” (Chicago Tribune )

“Hard-edged and gripping ... The nuclear plot is ingenious and its final countdown is a nail-biter.” (Washington Post )

“Tantalizing....A frighteningly plausible thriller, one that hits close to home.” (Denver Post )

“Chuck Logan at his adventurous best, creating vivid characters and putting them in nail-biting action.” (St. Paul Pioneer Press )

“Great reading -- a thriller that looks straight into the eye of the post 9/11 landscape, and never blinks.” (John Sandford, author of #1 New York Times bestseller NAKED PREY )

“Logan knows how to write international intrigue and suspense.” (Kansas City Star )

“A hair-raising yarn that’s complicated, textured and artfully paced, building to a climax that’s almost unthinkable.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (May 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060570199
• ISBN-13: 978-0060570194
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FIRST-RATE READING OF A GRIPPING THRILLER, August 30, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After the Rain CD (Audio CD)

Broadway trained actor Kevin Conway gives a first rate reading to the latest thriller by Chuck Logan. This is the third Logan tale featuring Vietnam vet Phil Broker, and Conway performs with gusto.

They're quite a pair - Broker and his estranged wife, Nina. He's fiercely devoted to the men with whom he served in Vietnam, and equally fierce in his belief that none of them should have been there in the first place. Nina, a Gulf War vet has her sights set on greater things to come. To this end she's spent quantity time undercover as part of an anti-terrorist mission.

The plot grows trickier as the setting turns to North Dakota where Nina draws Broker into a scheme, which is not only perilous for him but also places their daughter at risk. However, there's no time for him to extricate himself or lash out at Nina as soon the two must join forces to prevent an act which would have cataclysmic results for the innocent.

One more gripping story from the multi-talented Logan.

- Gail Cooke

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great suspense yarn, June 2, 2005

By 

Pangloss "soldierblue" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: After the Rain (Mass Market Paperback)

Mr. Logan just gets better and better. This story deals with a plot to smuggle a WMD into the USA from Canada. Phil Broker is back trying to deal with his family problems and at the same time help his Delta force wife stop a terrorist threat to the US. The story zips along with little wasted dialogue. The book is nearly impossible to put down. The bad guys are really bad and the good guys are pulling out the stops to get them. Logan can create a truly suspenseful mood that keeps the reader guessing to the very end. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An action-filled story about terrorism in America, August 13, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After the Rain (Hardcover)

Since 9/11, authors have tried their hand at creating scenarios to rival that of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Upon completion of AFTER THE RAIN, I fervently hope that no would-be enemies of the United States are fans of Chuck Logan's writing. In this book, he proposes a chilling and all-too-simple plan, a plan that could result in cataclysmic devastation. And that might be vastly understating the danger.

A handful of Delta Force types uncovers a weak link in Rashid, a jittery connection in a plot to wreak havoc in America's midlands. What the informant tells Nina, Hollywood and Janey frightens them so much that they decide to act immediately, without waiting for sanction from their superiors. Trusting the government to get it right this time doesn't sound like a good idea, particularly considering that it might take days to mobilize an effective operational response. And that could very well mean the difference between life and death for hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Unfortunately, without a well-thought-out plan, they find themselves hanging out there with little backup and some bad intelligence.

Sound familiar? Well, at least this trio does not give up. They stubbornly pursue even the tiniest leads until they discover where they went wrong the first go-round. They realize that they face formidable --- and frighteningly insane --- opposition.

Meanwhile, Nina, a spirited woman with few soft spots --- and the most dogged of the fearless team --- has domestic trouble brewing. Her husband, equipped with a police/military background of his own, breezes into the little town of Langdon, North Dakota in pursuit of Nina --- and their daughter --- angry and hurt. While she purposely lured him into this as part of their group strategy, she doesn't like it one bit. And she's more than a little annoyed by the ill-timed distraction. It sets her mind working overtime to figure out what her heart wants, and she finds herself exhausted and confused by these personal crises.

But she is unable to step back and deal with her problems. After all, the welfare of fellow Americans is at stake. And as the magnitude of the intended horror dawns on all of them, Nina and her cohorts understand that, whatever the individual risk, these terrorists must be stopped.

AFTER THE RAIN has good action, outstanding characters and a fine plot, if a little improbable --- but, then, so was the idea of two planes crashing into the Twin Towers that fateful morning of September 11th.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers