David's Reviews > Rain Dogs

This one was a little hard to get started on, but I was glad I stayed with it. A fine mystery and full of emotional trauma.

Tom has just inherited his grandfather's campground and canoe rental, along with a very odd employee he really can't afford-- turns out he really can't afford to do without the employee either. The reason he has such a need of the employee is his drinking problem. To be really honest, I had trouble liking him as a protagonist because he is constantly drinking himelf into a stupor and ignoring things going on around him. He is nursing a deep, emotional pain after losing his five year old daughter to leukemia and his struggle to deal with her loss sends him into a spin that causes him to lose his career and his wife. The drinking goes on throughout the book and at times I wondered if he would have made better decisions if he had been sober.

He encounters a former love in his new community and quickly runs afoul of a local cop-- one whose uncle and father have some sort of long-standing disagreement-- and doesn't get much help from the chief of police. A meth cooking operation blows up near his place and soon he finds himself drawn into a plot, (not by his desire for justice-- because the only thing he wants to do is drink and feel sorry for himself) a plot that hits pretty close to home. Even in his drunken state, he makes some mental leaps and his father (an ex cop) helps him make some further connections. Meanwhile, the former love is hanging around and showing interest in rekindling, but he is too wrapped up in his own emotional pain to have anything to offer her.

Then suddenly, the novel shifts into passing gear and wow does it move. The sad thing is that he never really accomplishes anything heroic, despite a few feeble efforts, but just goes with the flow-- because he is almost devoid of feeling anything other than self-pity, though he does have some empathy for others that are involved.

Despite his lack of heroism, this is a refreshing read. It is a great change of pace for once to read a story about a normal guy, suffering his own real pain, who isn't a Jack Reacher or Gray Man superman. He's just a normal guy-- caught up in a mess he would prefer to stay out of so that he can suck down another pint of whiskey. Not a fighter, or even a shooter... not even a clever detective.. just a sad, depressed man.