Rain Dogs [Kindle Edition]

Sean Doolittle (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A rain dog, according to folklore and a Tom Waits song, is a mutt who can't find its way home because a storm has washed away the trail of familiar scents. Chicago newspaperman Tom Coleman is drinking his way out of a broken marriage, grieving for his deceased daughter, when he inherits a backwater canoe-rental business near Valentine, Nebraska. He returns to his home state to start anew, but it seems more like a dead end. Coleman confronts family issues, small-town politics, a crooked cop, his first sweetheart, and the challenge of running a business while passed out drunk on the lawn. His employees--a ne'er-do-well stoner and a disgruntled teen--keep things running until one night when the crooked cop arrives with the flashers on. Coleman smells a story, but he's not covering this one--he's in it. Doolittle's style is clipped, his dialogue terse, but the story is lifelike and nuanced. Rain Dogs will satisfy fans of hard-boiled fiction and classic noir, as well as any crime fans who don't like their plots tied up too tidily. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Superb, suspenseful.... A beautifully written work with idiosyncratic humor and a lot of heart."--Wall Street Journal

"Lean and mean," -- The Chicago Sun-Times

"A heart-stopping, gut-clenching, eye-opening, brain-tingling effort." -- Chicago Tribune

"Sean Doolittle is a young writer with serious chops.  With RAIN DOGS he brings it strong."--George Pelecanos, bestselling author of DRAMA CITY

"As long as there are writers like Sean Doolittle out there, American crime fiction has got a sterling future ahead of it. RAIN DOGS is tense, evocative, and anchored by a main character, Tom Coleman, who I'd love to see more of. A terrific novel."--Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of MYSTIC RIVER and SHUTTER ISLAND

”Doolittle's style is clipped, his dialogue terse, but the story is lifelike and nuanced. Rain Dogs will satisfy fans of hard-boiled fiction and classic noir, as well as any crime fans who don't like their plots tied up too tidily.”-- Booklist


From the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 213 KB
• Print Length: 352 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0440242819
• Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (December 6, 2005)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FCKKOO
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,222 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Sean Doolittle is the critically-acclaimed author of several crime and suspense novels. His first book, Dirt, was named one of the 100 Best Books of 2001 by the editors of Amazon.com. His second book, Burn, won the Gold Medal in the Mystery category of ForeWord Magazine's 2003 Book of the Year Award. The Cleanup received the 2007 Barry Award, the Crimespree Magazine reader's choice award, a Spinetingler Award, and a Nebraska Book Award. Doolittle's books have been licensed for translation in several languages and praised by such contemporaries as Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, George Pelecanos, Harlan Coben, and Lee Child. His short fiction has appeared in The Year's Best Horror Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and elsewhere. He lives in western Iowa with his family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars powerful crime thriller, December 27, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rain Dogs (Mass Market Paperback)

His daughter would have turned five yesterday if she had not died. Former Chicago reporter Tom Coleman celebrated the day by getting drunk in a cheap motel room. His marriage ended with their child's death so no one will care except perhaps the lawyers at Tyler & Tyler in the "Heart City" Valentine, Nebraska. They expected him three days ago to discuss the will of his late grandfather Parker, who he had only seen a few times as the man had turned into a cantankerous hermit since his wife died.

Tom mulls over what to do with the canoe business on the Niobrara River his grandfather left him. He figures he has nothing else so why not make a go at it though he is not so certain about the pot using employee Duane Foster he also inherited. Tom also hopes to hook up with his college girlfriend widow Abby though he is not as certain about her unruly teenage stepson Scott. The DEA scrutinize Tom when a methyl-amphetamine lab blows up near his property. Unable to stop his journalist genes, Tom, over the warning from the local and federal law enforcement, investigates drug trafficking in the heartland.

The key to this powerful crime thriller is Tom who holds the exciting story line together with his shaky relationships with his family, his ex, and his new acquaintances. In many ways his only friend is the bottle though he tries to score with Abby even as he cannot stand the moody Scott. The drug investigation is cleverly devised so that the reader obtains a strong mystery, but the RAIN DOGS belong to Tom terrific, who drinks to hide his loneliness and fear that he is just like his grouchy grandfather.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doolittle's Plains Elegy, February 27, 2006

By 

Brian R. Thornton "Brian Thornton" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rain Dogs (Mass Market Paperback)

If you like your mystery anchored by a rock-solid plot, enhanced by sharply-drawn characters who act like real people, and speak believable dialogue, topped off by a setting so starkly and vividly and gorgeously described, that (like a John Ford landscape), it is nearly another character itself, then Sean Doolittle's "Rain Dogs" is for you.

A native Nebraskan himself, Doolittle places his story among the sand dunes and prairie grass of the northwestern part of that state. In language reminiscent of the best of Hemingway, he sets his scene: "It felt like nothing but sky here. No buildings, hardly a tree- just a kingdom of grass in all directions, a world of sky meeting the low horizon all around."

Against this backdrop, Doolittle paints a shifting mirage of a story, a tale the truth of which shifts with the narrative. For the pigments in this painting, the author uses unforgettable characters to move his story along: characters such as Tom Coleman, the brooding, haunted narrator, attempting to anesthetize the pain of an unspeakable tragedy with alcohol and isolation. Joining Coleman in this endeavor is an unforgettable supporting cast, including a practically homeless burn-out who is more than he appears to be, an angry fifteen-year-old who is (in all but one way) exactly what he appears to be, a former lover who appears by turns to be both Tom's past and his future, and a wildlife journalist who is anything but what he appears to be.

Doolittle is not a thriller writer, and is willing to take the time to let his story unfold. The fact that he is able to do so while keeping the pace steady and holding the reader's interest, speaks to the power of Doolittle's writing, and his facility for building the tension in his narrative by slow degrees. From the first page till the haymaker of a conclusion, Doolittle's narrative never falters.

And the payoff is well worth the effort. Doolittle's language will stick with you long after you've finished one of his books. This writer is a comer.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Realistic Characters, April 21, 2006

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rain Dogs (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't read this book for the mystery, it is not very good, but that doesn't matter. This book is terrific for the characters.

The characters in the book are realistic. From the depressed main character who has quit his big city reporter job to run his late grandfather's canoe and camping gropund, to the local sheriff and deputies to the punk kids messing with drugs, the personalities all run true.

The reporter returns to his father's hometown and gets mixed up in drug deals when he would rather drink himself into oblivion over the loss of his daughter. There is no heroism here nor good feeling endings, just realism.

The writing is good. Mr. Doolittle has a stark and economical style that matches the tone of the book and keeps it moving. The plot leaves something to be desired, but it is more a vehicle to showcase the personalities and tribulations of the characters than the be all of the book.

As depressing as all this sounds - drinking, depression, etc., the book is not tear-jerker. It is the account of people, men and women, working through life's vicissitudes. Some do it successfully, others do not. Highly recommended. I will go on to other books by Mr. Doolittle.