Customer Reviews

Crimson Rain

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have an English degree, but Ilove to just to relax on the weekends and read something pretty mindless. Well, this is a great book to do that with! The writing is really good for a popular novel. You get a real sense of the characters without the author going overboard to make the story too predictable. This book definitely keeps your interest, I couldn't hardly put it down! Very suspenseful, This could be made into a great movie!

Paul and Gina Bradley are wealthy and successful. The only thing they lack is a child to love. The Bradleys adopt abandoned twin girls, Rachel and Angela, who were left in an orphanage. The happy parents hope that their family will now be complete.

"Crimson Rain" begins calmly enough. The Bradley family is settling in and all is well for a while, until one night, five-year-old Angela is found standing over the prone form of her sister with a knife in her hands. Rachel survives the attack, but Angela is sent back to the orphanage. She is considered to be a danger to others and she can never come back to the Bradleys.

Years pass, and Rachel is now sixteen. Angela's departure has cast a pall over the Bradley family. Paul and Gina's marriage is faltering and Rachel is an unhappy young woman, prone to feelings of guilt and depression. Then, a series of bizarre events seem to indicate that the past is coming back to haunt this family.

"Crimson Rain" is a pulp novel that is serviceable if you are waiting in an airport terminal. However, the characters are shallow, the prose is bright purple and the plot is extremely far-fetched and melodramatic. Parts of the book are tasteless and sordid. I do not recommended "Crimson Rain" for anything but a quick and forgettable way to pass some time.

Veteran suspense author Meg O'Brien has done it again.Crimson Rain is a bone-chilling family drama so full of twists and turns I couldn't put it down. Bravo!

Another Meg O'Brien that kept me up into the early morning hours.
Crimsion Rain like her other books will not disapoint you.
She keeps you in supense to the last page is read.
Can not wait until her next book comes out.
Supense readers do not miss this or any of Meg O'Briens books.

O-o-h-h Meg!! Crimson Rain is fabulous! This is a special "Thank You" from both my Mom and myself. Mom and I both have copies and would check-in with each other as we read. This quickly led to unfinished bits of conversation between us such as: "Just wait until you read...OH, I won't say THAT...but, when you get to page (such and such)....THEN we can talk about it!" etc, etc. Every question we had, once answered, became a new question - all the way to the end! And, what an ending it is! As it happened Mom was recovering from surgery when she started Crimson Rain. She wants you to know reading your engrossing novel at that time was a real treat! We are looking forward to your next book: THE LAST CHEERLEADER! Thank you, Meg!

SUMMARY: Wealthy, infertile couple adopts fraternal twin girls from a Minnesota orphanage. Everything is wonderful until one Christmas Eve, one toddling twin tries to do in the other. The bad seed is sent away, never to be heard from again, while the good twin becomes an only child. The couple's marriage begins to disintegrate,as both spouses delve into affairs; the good twin, now in college, goes missing, after clues surface that the evil twin has returned for revenge. Will she be rescued in time?

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: If you like stories about the dyadic relationship of twins, this will be enjoyable for you, but offers no new insight. The suspense is kept high throughout most of the book, and there are some truly surprising and boggling moments in the narrative.

WHY YOU WON'T: The characterization is average, and there are no real explanations of their motives; everything seems hurried, and you don't form an interest in who these people are or what becomes of them. Some elements of the story are very predictable, and somewhat sordid. The psychological devices employed are superficial at best and not well enough explained to justify their use.

BOTTOM LINE: Predictable, but enjoyable, fluff that is a pleasant diversion on a long trip or on a rainy day. I suggest borrowing it from the library rather than purchasing it.

I read this book and couldn't put it down. It was real creepy and in parts really freaky. I could just picture that old Queen Ann house in Seattle, dripping in the misty Seattle rain and hiding behing a thick layer of fog. I liked all the characters at first, except for the mother, Gina Bradley. I thought she seemed a little to 50's. Then reading further on, I discovered that maybe that might not be so true. She was far from that, and actually came to understand her as a person living in the real world. The reason I couldn't put it down, was all the "Red Herrings." First I thought it was this guy, then this guy, no it had to be this guy, and this guy just can't be the one etc.. AH! It drove me crazy in the way a good mystery should. I like that and think that Meg O'Brien did a fabulous job. p.s. This would make a cool Thriller movie for sure.

I bought this book to read while on a plane trip to and from Hawaii. I enjoyed it so much I found myself continuing to read it throughout my vacation, even at the expense of leaving out a few places I should have visited while on the island.

Meg O'Brien's characters are very realistic, which is uncommon in most suspence novels. The Bradley family is likeable, yet each of them have flaws which come together to create a crisis which can only tear them apart forever. I thought the tension in this story grew from beginning to end. The best part of reading it though, is trying to figure out what comes next, and how it's all going to turn out. I don't know how many times I was sure I had guessed what was coming...only to shake my head as the story twisted in another direction. What fun!

Wickedly great! Sickly mysterious. This is a great "whodoneit" mystery thriller. Do you know where your children are? Real creepy, but good. A tight plot with lots of the "red herrings" that Meg O'Brien is famous for. Great read.

Prdictable,tiresome and juvenile prose made me suffer in reading to page 184.The story is ubiquitous in todays popular novels as well as the thinking of the characters.I found nothing original and it seemed as though the author was just puting in the required number of words to collect her fee.