Sean Doolittle - Rain Dogs (2005)
Reviewed by David J. Montgomery
Sean Doolittle's third crime novel, Rain Dogs, tells the story of Tom Coleman, a former Chicago reporter whose life fell apart when his baby daughter died. Now he's a drunk running a ramshackle campground and canoe rental business in Nebraska. If he were sober enough to take stock of his life, he'd probably be depressed.
When his former girlfriend's son is nearly blown up in a meth lab explosion, Tom gets peripherally involved in an undercover operation to expose a two-bit redneck drug ring. It's hard for him to muster up the energy even to try, but if he can, he might just get one last chance at redemption.
The plot of Sean Doolittle’s Rain Dogs is a simple one involving simple people. While there's not much mystery or suspense, readers will still be drawn in by the quality and authenticity of the writing.
Doolittle's lean and mean prose evokes the hardscrabble territory of the Nebraska badlands that serve as the story's setting. His style is likewise stark and spare, casting the story in the hard-boiled tradition of James M. Cain and Jim Thompson.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
