THE KILLING RAIN

A Killing Rain

Would you help your father kill people when you are younger, and will that come back in your face when you are older? Raven will have to face her past before she can proceed in the present coming back to her old hometown and being forced to rejoin a police officer force she’d rather forget. When her foster brother’s son goes missing it is preceded with the uncovering of numerous bodies of young white boys who are mutilated and worse found in garbage bags. When the bodies are collected and accounted for little does Raven know she would become involved in a case that would take her back to her past and dealing with some tough people in the present.

Raven is asked by her former boss to check out the crime scenes of each victim and give her opinions. She is perceptive , has her own opinions and will have to take over the case when the Detective in charge leaves. Added in we meet Detective Stevenson who has a shadowy past and for some reason Raven uses him to assist in the case. She is resourceful and even finds help within the community of her small town but nightmares about her stepfather and what he insisted that she does haunt her. A murder from the  past becomes part of an investigation in the present as she is called in, but her chief defends her.

As the case progresses we learn of the death of Clyde Darling and his relation to her nephew Noe. Were the together when Clyde was taken? Where were they supposed to be and why do we get an odd feeling from Clyde’s stepfather and mother when events about him are revealed.

Noe came to live with his father and Cameron becomes a person of interest and is suspended from the force until he is cleared but will be on hand to help. Billy Ray runs a local restaurant, and he is the one person that keeps Raven centered and focused. He might not agree with how she handles things but when it comes to research and finding information he is the best.

Lives are at stake and just where Noe is has yet to be revealed as we meet Edemee and Stella both who might have encountered the boys before the disappeared and Stella who runs a business that slaughters animals. What about her sends up red flags?

We learn about the death of Ronnie True who is much older than the others that were killed but we hear the voices of those who knew him and wonder where he fits into the murders of the teens. Added in we hear the voice of June Darling and her husband who did not seem to know where Clyde was, nor do you get the impression that they monitored his comings and goings. Noe just came to live with Cameron, and he has yet to understand parenthood.

Parents need to take time to speak with teens and monitor their whereabouts and if Clyde had his phone even though he was grounded he might have lived. Consequences are one thing, but teens should be able to express themselves to feel they are being heard but you get the feeling Clyde was neglected. We learn that his mother did paralegal work for a lawyer, and you wonder what his relationship was to a powerful judge.

There are many threads to this novel and plot and Raven is trying to connect all of them as she struggles to find Noe before its too late.

Calling Braker about the True murder and the evidence then a call she would not expect. Having to go to the station her foster brother is staying with her and is being arrested for his son’s disappearance. The evidence is sketchy and Raven blasts him out for not being there for Noe and more. When Goldie questions him the evidence points in the wrong direction, and he claims that Cameron did not want his son found or around. Why was he at memorial claiming Noe is dead when in reality no one knows for sure.

Why does Raven go to the home of Speck what does she hope to learn from him? How many people are involved in what happened to Clyde and Noe and is this a racial issue as they are the only two that were black?
Raven realizes that there is one person that knows where both boys were before one was killed and the other taken. Ronnie True was killed and the person involved took it out on the sons of others. When the links are all connected and the area where one lives and other does, the key is what Noe and Clyde were asked to do and the other was how they were both kidnapped and tricked. The ending is sad and the final reveal shocking as a killer was hiding all the time in plain sight. What happens to Noe? Will Cameron become a better father is he’s found? What about Raven? Will she remain in Byrd’s Landing? More murders, more cases as she says to set things right. Tough, strong minded and the detective you want on the case. Will she continue to deal with Stevenson? What about Breaker will he return to the force? Lives are at stake. Questions might not all be answered but the hope of the KILLING RAIN will stop. A definite must read for all parents, teens and educators. Author Faye Showden raises the bar in many areas: Deceptions, deceits, town secrets, hidden truths and lies and one detective named Raven who won’t give up until she finds the answers, solves the mysteries and hopefully sets things right. The title is powerful as is the novel: A torrential storm would yield floods, rains and isolated thunderstorms: Imagine the devastation: A KILLING RAIN of bodies that fall down and are treated like a torrential storm of the young.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews