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Red Rain

Review

Red Rain

A devastating hurricane leaves the small island of Cape Le Chat Noir in ruins. For some reason, travel writer Lea Sutter chose that time to visit this place no one really comes to. Two days after her arrival, in the storm’s aftermath, she is walking in a daze on the beach. As she stumbles along, horrified by the death and destruction all around her, she encounters two blond twin boys named Daniel and Samuel just as it begins to rain --- big, fat red drops.

“Something wrong with this rain. The brightness of the sky and the darkness of the raindrops… Very wrong.”

Where did these beautiful, almost angelic twins come from? Lea feels an immediate rush of compassion for the pair, who claim their mum and dad were washed away with their house and thus they have nothing. And no one on Le Chat Noir seems to know anything about them. In an impetuous move, Lea decides to adopt them. When she calls home, her husband Mark isn’t hot on the idea. But Lea insists. These kids need a family. The Sutters can at least take them in until another relative is found.

"R.L. Stine has burst into the adult world of horror. Prepare to be scared witless. RED RAIN is definitely Goosebumps for adults."

Lea should have listened to Mark. Back in Sag Harbor, the Sutters’ children try to adjust to their new brothers, but something is wrong with those two. Before long, bad things begin to happen. Very bad things. Daniel and Samuel have a way of getting what they want --- and a way of dealing with anyone who tries to stop them.

From day one, Mark has objected to Lea bringing the twins into their home, and the brothers quickly figure that out. With their new pa against them, they decide to take matters into their own hands. He must be gotten out of the way, and they find an opportunity when a man comes to visit Mark. When he doesn’t leave alive, no one looks at the twins as suspects. After all, they are only 12 years old and so very cute. And now they have accomplished their goal: to keep Mark busy defending himself to the police.

In the meantime, Lea continues to defend the boys’ every move. They are  survivors of a horrible tragedy, struggling to make sense of a world that has been turned upside down for them. They just need understanding. And love. What they want, though, is control. And boy do they set out to get it.

While Mark’s situation is growing more dire by the day, Lea is grappling with her own demons, in the form of memories of the storm on Cape Le Chat Noir. Such awful memories. Mark does his best to help her, but she’s been different ever since she returned home. Does it have anything to do with the twins? She’s so obsessed with them.

As Daniel and Samuel are implementing their plan to get the children of Sag Harbor to join them in a takeover coup, Lea receives news from the island. And it isn’t good. Her friend has found pictures --- some old, some new --- that tell a very frightening story about the twins and about Lea. Lea brought them here, and she’s the one who must take them back.

R.L. Stine has burst into the adult world of horror. Prepare to be scared witless. RED RAIN is definitely Goosebumps for adults.

Reviewed by Kate Ayers on October 12, 2012

Red Rain
by R. L. Stine

  • Publication Date: August 27, 2013
  • Genres: Fiction, Horror
  • Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket Books
  • ISBN-10: 145163613X
  • ISBN-13: 9781451636130