Bullets of Rain: A Novel of Suspense [Paperback]

David J. Schow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2003

Widowed architect Arthur Latimer has become a recluse in his own home: a storm-proof fortress that doubles as a shrine to his dead wife. But the outside world beckons in the form of a bizarre party downbeach.

Now, just as the biggest hurricane ever to hit the Pacific Northwest rolls in with deadly force, Art is subjected to intrusions from his past and invasions from the present. And soon he begins to doubt everything he sees or thinks he already knows. And soon you may too.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Storms raging outdoors and in the mind of the protagonist create a maelstrom of menace in this sinuous psychological thriller by Schow (The Kill Riff; The Shaft). A whopper of a hurricane is barreling up the California coast, and renegade architect Art Latimer is planning to ride it out and test the structural integrity of his self-designed dream home. At the same time, he's struggling to batten down powerful feelings about his wife, Lorelle, whose death two years before sent him into an emotional tailspin. As the storm intensifies, a string of peculiar experiences suggest that the foundations of his reality are wobbling. He finds an old bottle washed up on the beach containing a cryptic message that speaks eerily to him. Then he's visited by a long-lost friend who mysteriously disappears without a trace from the premises. Meanwhile, a wild house party is underway down the beach and host Price, a steely manipulator who employs drugs and humiliation to control his guests, schemes to use the storm as cover for playing sinister mind games with Art. Schow works suspenseful sleight-of-hand with his story elements, skillfully underplaying the significance of clues and deftly managing character viewpoints to direct what the reader sees. His kinetic orchestration of events-action sequences, moments of moving intimacy and the richly symbolic tempest outside-and vivid hardboiled prose push the plot to a thunderclap climax that in less assured hands would seem farfetched but here is a measure of coolly calculated audacity.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Schow is a recognized name in the horror field, credited with coining the term splatterpunk and probably best known for his screenplay of the cult film The Crow . (This may be part of the reason this novel often seems more like a screen treatment than a full-bodied piece of fiction.) Evoking both John Fowles' The Magus and Ed Woods' Glen or Glenda (but leaning heavily toward campy schlock rather than higbrow lit), Schow experiments with the concepts of sexual identity, personality disintegration, and megalomania. A recluse living near the ocean gets mixed up in a confrontation with a bunch of people from a nearby house who have been fed a cocktail of mind-altering drugs. There's also a hurricane brewing. It's all fairly predictable with the exception of a gender switch involving the main character. On the plus side, the writing is generally smooth, the dark-and-stormy-night settings are well crafted, and the characters are interesting if not always believable. Schow doesn't quite make this odd book work, but his considerable following will want to see for themselves. Elliott Swanson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 289 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; 1 edition (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060536675
• ISBN-13: 978-0060536671
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,426,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll be looking for more from this guy, April 26, 2005

By 

DC5 (Northwest United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bullets of Rain: A Novel of Suspense (Paperback)

Every now and then I'll let myself be led to a writer by way of another writer's reviews. I had seen David Schow's name several times before, mostly in horror anthologies, but I had never read any of his works. Schow is billed as the father of splatterpunk, but don't let that deceive you. He may be the father of that sub-genre, but let me tell ya, he's a lot better--and a lot smarter--than any of that. I last encountered Schow's name in S.T. Joshi's "The Evolution of the Weird Tale," where Joshi (another of my favorite authors) wrote admiringly of Schow's work. So, based on Joshi's recommendation, I went looking for Schow's works. The only book of Schow's that I could find in the local used/new bookstore was Bullets of Rain, so this became my introduction to him. Bullets of Rain is billed as suspense, and that it is. Schow kept me locked in with his highly charged, action-packed story line. There's more here than meets the eye, though; much of the book is slam bang, but there's more going on beneath the surface. For one thing, the characters have some very interesting and poignant things to say about human relationships--so much so, in fact, that I took out my notebook and wrote down a few key phrases. What more can I say? Schow is a very bright light in what is often a dim field of literature. Check him out.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was expecting, but one hell of a ride, June 21, 2005

By 

William T. Adair - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bullets of Rain: A Novel of Suspense (Paperback)

I seem to fall into this trap a lot: I pick up a book expecting one thing, and get another. Usually, I knock off at least one star when this happens, because the "preview" on the back of a book, coupled with the first chapter or two is (in my opinion) a promise to deliver something. Often, it does NOT deliver. The only reason I expected gore and such in Bullets of Rain is simply because I've read Black Leather Required, also by Schow. However, Bullets of Rain does not promise to include such, and so: my bad. Let me just say that Bullets of Rain is one of the most exciting novels I've read in a long time. It has great character development, and you THINK that you know the characters. But as you soon will find, nothing is always what it seems. I will not spoil the book, and thus, will take it no further than that. Something that the previews do advertise is suspense. And let me tell you this; this book has some serious suspense. It's very complex, yet very easy to read. Confused? It isn't easy trying to articulate what this book is all about without giving away too much. You like gore? You won't find it here. You like extremely talented writing with suspense that will keep you up way past your bedtime? Do yourself a favor and pick this book up at the first chance you get. You won't regret it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking thriller, written in a cool, modern style, August 16, 2005

By 

Brian C. Cheetham (Crofton, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bullets of Rain: A Novel of Suspense (Paperback)

This is a book full of plot twists and turns. I love the style of the narration. The narration is mostly third person, but every so often, the narrator offers an explitive that seems to come right from the gut of the main character, Art.

Schow includes a good deal of wit and attention to detail in the plot. Art's dog, Blitz is a german shepherd, who flunked out of police K-9 school, and now serves as Art's main companion. Schow's description of everyday dog behavior, intimating at the dog's underlying motives, is something any dog owner will instantly recognize and laugh along with.

But the real thrill in this book is in trying to unravel Art's story. Art is a recluse, living in a custom designed home on the northern California coast. The loss of Art's spouse figures prominently into Art's near total detatchment from the outside world. Art has vitually no human contact. Schow considers the possiblity that human contact for many is limited to a trip to the mall.

The book is a fairly quick read. Schow seems to have threaded the needle of keeping a fast-paced plot moving, while at times describing places and events in exquisite detail. He captures the vertigo feeling of drunken, drugged, and schizophrenic confusion in few words, yet the reader completely "gets it."

Like a drive along the northern coastal California roads near where the story occurs, you should buckle up, pay attention, and hang on--this book is a heck of a ride.