Jessie Shapiro's ex-husband. Pat, takes her daughter Katie for a weekend visit but does not bring her home. Jessie cannot contact Pat, so she goes to his home and finds that things don't look right. For example, there is a note on his blackboard that says "Toi giet la toi", Katie's new athletic shoes are in her room, and Katie's book that she is never without is still there.

The plot gets much more strange. It is interesting but sometimes hard to follow as different (various and odd characters come into the plot).

This book was exactly what I needed at the moment - a quick, easy read. I enjoyed the suspense, even though I pretty much figured out the ending by the time I was about half way done. Recommend to anyone who likes mystyer/suspense novels.

A good thriller

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I just can't get into this book.

I will never prefer this author's hardcore mystery/suspense over the Chet and Bernie books, but this is still a competent and well-written thriller. I figured out most of the story about 2/3 of the way through, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the book. Well worth a read.

Framed...

No spoilers: 4 stars for this mystery. I've read many books by this author... most of them excellent stories...

This mystery starts out in late 1960s Thailand where POW Bao Dai has been captured by the merciless Corporal Trinh who has perfected his torture techniques...

Bao manages to kill Trinh and escape... while still in Bangkok, Bao kills an American businessman, steals his I.D. and goes to America...

Meanwhile in California, Jessie is expecting her daughter Kate to be dropped off from a weekend visit with her musician father but they are days overdue...

Jessie suspects foul play after she breaks into her ex-husband's home and when authorities aren't very helpful, she goes it alone in her search for them...

This was an okay story... My main complaint with it was the fact there were too many characters to easily keep track of. I would advise anyone reading this novel to keep a list of EVERY character as you come across them because they will come up again when the mystery is solved. To me, that's just too much work so I removed a star because of it.

Try THE TUTOR and DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE for 2 excellent mystery novels by this author.

An Intelligent Thriller

Well written and smart, this thriller by Abrahams is full of twists and mystery. I couldn't stop reading but am not surprised. It's the 3rd by this writer that I've read, each of them 5 stars. Its a little hard to get into at the beginning but once the government investigator with the impossible name shows up it's easier. For a fun read, he can't be beat.

I got this book and Pressure Drop from the library at the same time. I started reading this one because it looked like it had the best plot. On page 55 I decided I was feeling kind of disgusted with this book. I picked up Pressure Drop hoping it was better. It was.
So much better.
I returned to hard rain hoping that it will get better. It did not. So much worse.
Starts out as very interesting tale and then turns into something kind of ugly. There's no other way to describe it. Shortly after this trend started the female characters energized and they all turn out to be rich very bitchy sluts. And the men start being just…. I have to just say that this book is just an ugly book that meanders and weaves around a swamp filled with ugly little slimy creatures. Don't need to read this crap.
Can I rate it a -3 stars?