Rain Dogs: A Novel

By Sean Doolittle

It was one hell of an inheritance for former Chicago reporter Tom Coleman: a broken-down pickup truck, ramshackle campground, a canoe livery—and one pot-smoking, barely working employee he doesn’t need, doesn’t want, and can’t afford. But the truth is, after losing a child and a marriage, Tom doesn’t really care. And life is nice and quiet in the middle of nowhere. Until a drug lab blows up near his property—putting Tom in contact with the woman he once loved, a small-town cop with a chip on his shoulder, and a powerful local who doesn’t want him poking his nose where it doesn’t belong. Tom doesn’t want to get involved in the first place. But in the hardscrabble Nebraska Sandhills, storms gather suddenly and bad blood runs deep. Now a quiet summer on the river is turning into a dangerous season of grudges, betrayal, and violent reckoning—and it’s already too late to find shelter...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 6, 2005
• ISBN: 9780440335948

Reviews for Rain Dogs

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. Fast paced, flawed characters, and a believable mystery. Can't ask for much more than that.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sean Doolittle writes intelligent thrillers with complex and very human protagonists. In [Rain Dogs], Tom Coleman, an ex-journalist mourning the death of both his daughter and his marriage, has inherited a small outdoor outfitters that includes a campground, rafts and kayaks, and an employee he doesn't really need. He's working hard to drink himself to death, but moving back within driving distance of his parents and an old girlfriend isn't making this easier. Nor is the explosion of an old cabin a few miles away that Tom suspects was meth-related, although the sheriff isn't handling it as such.This was a fun, fast-paced book for a busy time of the year. It's not The Cleanup or Lake Country, but even at less than his best, Doolittle is worth reading.

[rdhawk6886 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Nebraska makes a unique setting. Otherwise a fairly routine thriller. Rooting for Doolittle and will give another a try but really just mediocre.