Four Kinds of Rain [Paperback]

Robert Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007

Broke, recently divorced, and a total deadbeat, Bob Wells has spent his life as a psychiatrist only doing good in the world. When one of his patients with clear paranoid delusions starts to lose a grip, Bob has no choice but to intervene. Emile Bardan is haunted by demons, and he believes that someone is trying to steal his most prized possesion, the legendeary Mask of Utu. Bob thinks it's all part of Emile's imagination until he discovers that Emile is telling the truth and that the mask is worth millions. It's Bob who may actually be the one losing his grip. He's tired of helping people for nothing, tired of being treated like dirt-and while he may have met the girl of his dreams, he doesn't want to lose her because he can't take care of her. There is only one thing to do:Bob is going to steal the mask himself: But doing so may mean making the biggest mistake of all-as he proceeds down a path into a dark abyss from which there is no return.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Robert Wells, the hapless psychiatrist hero of Ward's superior noir novel, has spent many thousands of hours helping people at his free clinic in Baltimore. While treating art dealer Emile Bardan, who's suffering from paranoid delusions, Wells learns that Bardan owns a priceless Sumerian mask representing Utu, the "god of justice and vengeance." The no-longer-altruistic Dr. Wells starts to scheme to steal the mask and sell it to his patient's worst enemy and rival, Colin Edwards. But things don't go quite as expected, and the twists come fast and furious as Wells discovers that crime, like psychiatry, has its own peculiar bylaws. At once admirable and devious, Wells unsettles as much as he compels our sympathy. Ward (Red Baker, winner of the PEN West prize for Best Novel of 1985) has been a writer and producer on such TV shows as Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice. Regional author tour. (Oct.)
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.

From Booklist

Hard-drinking Baltimore psychologist Bob Wells has a difficult time making good decisions. So far he's punched a cop, gambled away his life savings, and ruined his marriage. Worst of all, he's devoted his life to helping the downtrodden, only to find that his selflessness hasn't made him rich and famous. All he has to live for is his bar band, the Rockaholics, and they'll lose their only gig if they don't find a better singer. Enter Jesse Reardon, a smoky-voiced West Virginian who steals the show--and Bob's heart. Jesse won't date a poor man, so Bob hatches a plan to steal a priceless Sumerian mask (ironically, the god of justice) from one of his few remaining patients. Things go right, then wrong, then right and wrong again, and Bob has to decide just how far he's willing to go to betray his long-held hippie ideals. (Answer: pretty far.) Ward, known by aficianados for Red Baker (1985), has added a highly entertaining new twist to the bumbling-criminal subgenre, exploring what happens when altruism goes unrewarded. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312374682
• ISBN-13: 978-0312374686
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,229,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Fat, October 19, 2006

By 

Kevin T. Mcdermott - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Kinds of Rain (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Robert Ward's new novel, "Four Kinds of Rain." The thing about Mr. Ward and his writing, and the reason I bought this new book of his, is that he's a true story teller. Anyone who read "Red Baker" knows this. He sticks firmly to the plot. There is "no fat" in his work. What he consistently gives us is a fully-realized novel, devoid of self-indulgent prose.
"Four Kinds of Rain" confirms this. And then some. Here is a story of one Bob Wells, a Baltimore psychiatrist (and by the way, no contemporary writer I know of writes about the great city of Baltimore better than Mr. Ward) who is, shall I say, down on his luck. All his life Bob's been a good liberal guy serving the poor. Until temptation shows up in the name of one his paranoid patients, Emile Bardan.
Emile is an art dealer. And he's owns a priceless work of art - the lengendary Mask of Utu - worth millions.
You may think you know what happens next but this story has more twists than a pretzel. I, for one, really enjoyed the ride.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top-notch noir, October 5, 2006

By 

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Kinds of Rain (Hardcover)

Until now, Robert Ward was best known as the author of the classic working man's novel "Red Baker" (1985), and for his work on such television dramas as "Hill Street Blues" and "Miami Vice." For a new group of readers, however, he will be known as the writer of "Four Kinds of Rain," an intriguingly dark and delightful noir novel.

Bob Wells is a psychologist in Baltimore, serving the poor and downtrodden. His patients include a lot of single moms on welfare and homeless vets. He seldom makes a dime, but for this grizzled old activist, that's OK. As he sees it, Bob is the last man in town who never sold out.

Still, even a committed radical like Bob has bills to pay. Such is his desperation that when a paying client -- a wealthy art dealer with paranoid delusions -- finally comes along, the doctor loses his head a little, and starts to forget his instincts.

Bob's greed only magnifies when he meets a woman, the new lead singer of his classic rock band. She's a great gal and they really hit it off. The only problem is, she refuses to have anything to do with a man who's broke.

Clearly Bob needs money. And his new patient has a fortune in rare art. This lucky convergence inevitably leads Bob down a very dark path to larceny, betrayal and, ultimately, murder.

"Four Kinds of Rain" is as black as a chain smoker's lungs, but it's also deviously funny, as Ward takes us into the mind of this very human, but very messed-up man. The plot is twisted and suspenseful, but it's the wonderfully original characters that really bring it all to life. Welcome back, Mr. Ward. We missed you.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Noir Way, November 13, 2006

By 

Mulliner (Franklin, TN USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Four Kinds of Rain (Hardcover)

Bobby Wells, journeyman pyschologist, is grasping for the brass ring. He has realized that his college-age mission to help the little people has failed him. His wife gone to marry a sell-out rival. No money, no children, stuck in decaying Baltimore. And suddenly he goes completely sociopathic and plans to betray his most interesting patient and get rich quick.
His transition from do-gooder to serial killer is somewhat rough, but his antiestablishment leanings certainly assert themselves with a vengence. Like many mysteries today this has a screenplay feel to it. But it has enough Chandler-Sayers in it to be a good read.