Red Rain Summary and Reviews

Red Rain
by Michael Crow

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Book Summary Information

Author: Michael Crow
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-05-06
ISBN: 0451410866
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Onyx

Book Reviews of Red Rain

Book Review: Bloody action, ripped right off a movie screen.
Summary: 4 Stars

As per usual, I came into this series after the lead-in novel. I had my first Luther Ewing experience with Crow's second book, The Bite, and I was pretty underwhelmed. Ewing, an ex-special forces/ex-merc sharpshooter who was shipped back to the U.S. after getting half his skull blown apart by a Serb sniper - along with his entire supporting cast of Baltimore Police - well, the characterizations are as derivative as they come, and the uber-hardboiled writing of author Michael Crow (the nome de plume of a - ahem - prize winning, critically acclaimed novelist) is as cheesy as week-old Velveeta.

Read it, said, 'Huh'. Been there, done that. Tossed it.

Okay, fast-forward a year. Something in The Bite must've struck a nerve, 'cause now I'm bored, desperate with a need to read. Stalking the local mega-used book store like a heroin junkie looking for a street-corner dealer, I see a used hardcover copy of Crow's first Ewing thriller, Red Rain, and I think, 'Huh. The other one wasn't so bad... Was it?'

Maybe it wasn't. Red Rain opens with Ewing and his first assignment with the Baltimore Narcotics squad, and his soon-to-be partner, Ice Box (Seriously. Imagine a white, falsetto-voiced version of The Fridge...), as they help bust a pathetic ring of suburban white-boy dope dealers. Ewing's boss, Lt. Dugal, labels Ewing a wild gun ('natch, since Ewing throws down with a non-reg, Israeli made, .50AE Desert Eagle equipped with an Aimpoint attachment), and promptly hooks Ewing up with Ice Box as his senior partner, sort of reverse Lethal Weapon style. The fun begins when more and more drug busts come down, all suburban kids, the drugs getting heavier and heavier, and suddenly all the trails lead back to one of Luther's old merc buddies: a Russian mafioso, ex-Spetsnaz psycho called Vassily who's quickly taking over the Baltimore drug trade. The bodycount builds fast after 'The Big Bust' goes south; Vassily goes after Luthor and his homies. In the end, after Vassily almost drops Luthor's city detective buddy Dog, well - not to give anything away here, but Luthor goes Rambo on Vassily and his cronies, even going so far as to smear on the war-paint during the finale.

Okay, yeah, yeah, it's derivative of just about any other thriller out there. But there's something endearing about Luthor and his crew, and until the cheese factor ramps up a notch with the lipstick war-paint at the end, Crow barrels gleefully along, tossing in enough sex and spilling enough blood to satisfy any adolescent teenage boys' hormonally charged action fetish. Just read - don't think, 'cause Red Rain really is as big and bombastic and... well.. dumb as a Shane Black flick. Get past the silliness and into the adrenaline, and you might suddenly find yourself having a blast.

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