The Sound of Rain (Nicole Foster Thriller Book 1)

This book kept my interest, although, the actions of some of the characters were some what irritating.

Nicole found a way to solve the case despite the bungling of her partner and other evil citizens.

I won this book on Goodreads for an unbiased review.

A police woman with a drinking and gambling problem is fired from her job after a child is abducted. She has a love/hate relationship with her sister and an unstable relationship with her partner at work and in life. Even though Nicole is no longer on the case, she cannot rest until Kelsey Chase is found.

First, the main character (detective Nicole Foster) is fighting a gambling addiction. I thought the author did an excellent job describing how gambling made Nicole feel, how it fit into her life as a coping mechanism, and how it made her life more difficult. Unfortunately, I did not like how much of the book dwelled on Nicole's self image, and found her self-dislike overdone and maudlin.

Nicole's ability to get people to open up wasn't convincing. People in this book have some ugly secrets (even minor characters), and it seems almost effortless for her to get them talking, even after years of silence. Getting people to reveal their secrets at the very least requires a strong ability to read people. Over the course of this book Nicole repeatedly proves she isn't a very good judge of character or honesty.

The characters in this book lack the depth that makes them interesting and believable. With each characters' first few lines of dialog, you know the personality of that character, and can predict how they will react in future scenes. Expect snark from Nicole's sister, thick-necked flexing from her boyfriend, and lots of depressing inner dialog from Nicole.

Don't expect any character's actions to seem like they're based on personal beliefs or a realistic internal world view. This isn't surprising for the one-dimensional minor and supporting characters, but even the book's most important character, Nicole, seems too quick to shift her beliefs and principles. She risks her career to fight dishonest policing, and strives to recover from her addiction, both of which are significant to her story, admirable, and require great personal fortitude. Her inner dialog shows that she finds the actions of her antagonists repugnant. The reasoning that lets her on at least one important occasion bypass these principles is weak. Characters need strong motivation to drop core principles, and I find the provided motivation superficial and flimsy. Ultimately, I find the books main character, Nicole, unbelievable.

Not recommended.

This book was probably the worst book I have ever read. It's like the author couldn't find a perpetrator so made three quarters of the characters guilty of the crime. It was a complete load of rubbish. I would not recommend this book to other.

Already being a Gregg Olsen fan, The Sound of Rain did not disappoint me whatsoever. Gregg took this book in a different direction than others, and I am glad that he took the gamble. Nicole has been trapped basically in a spiders web of lies to only try to figure out who to truly trust, and does she have that trust in herself. Nicole lost it all, literally and physically and worked hard to regain her pride and to solve the murder of a little girl. To me this is Gregg's best book yet! Would love to see more of Nicole in future books. You WILL NOT be disappointed!

Far above the usual mystery, I felt I was reading something worth my time. The characters developed in layers and with each layer another clue. It held my interest the entire time. Highly recommended.

Detective Nicole Foster has been disconnected from the of the Washington Police Department Nicole is smart and a good detective but her life is a mess. She allows her partner and her sister to verbally abuse her, control and manipulate her, and she has become addicted to gambling. In fact, all of the characters in this book by Gregg Olsen are well-done and interesting.
In this book a little girl goes missing and Nicole watches as the case gets "solved" to everyone's satisfaction, but hers. She doesn't believe the convicted murderer is actually the person who did it. She isn't able to do much about it, though, as her own career is in jeopardy
We follow Nicole through her darkest hours, and watch as she begins to pull herself up and solve the mystery

I truly enjoyed this book right up until the ending. While the main plot points were wrapped up it would have been a better read had there been just a few more paragraphs given to "what comes next" for the characters.

It was easy reading and some good twist and turns. I thought it was unrealistic and I did not like the ending at all. I was left hanging as to what happened to the characters. Was there a trial, did they go to prison? Did the aunt end up raising the niece? The aunt was homeless at the time but demanded the niece. Where did they end up?

It was easy reading and some good twist and turns. I thought it was unrealistic and I did not like the ending at all. I was left hanging as to what happened to the characters. Was there a trial, did they go to prison? Did the aunt end up raising the niece? The aunt was homeless at the time but demanded the niece. Where did they end up?

Amazing book! Another, I couldn't put down. Boy this one really brought out the emotions. Greg really draws you in and makes you feel the sadness, anger, & betrayal. I have bought probably all of Greg's books and have never been disappointed!