Rain

Gray Matter Novellas #1

by Conrad Williams

Ben and his family move in to a French house cloaked by storm clouds. The walls fail to keep out intruders. Warnings appear. There is an accident. There is death. There is rain. Much rain.

Genres: Horror

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

In 2007 Conrad Williams won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel for The Unblemished. In 2008 he won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella, for The Scalding Rooms. In 2010 he won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel for One.

Reviews

[Glen Krisch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal and beautifully written.

[Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

a superlative book by an author i didn't know till now! Great setting(a small french rural town), a troubled famliar context, more and more deterioriating with the bad weather conditions as the souls of the members of the house...WIll look for other items by Mr.Williams for sure!

[Richard Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptionally disturbing, bewildering piece of weird fiction. It's a slim novella, helped to fill out 100 pages by an over large font, but when every word is used as well as it is here, you can hardly complain. The story perfectly evokes the grief of a dying marriage, marrying it to sublime, erotic displays of happier times. The unfathomable, surreal ending was a genuine shock, and one that had me thinking on it for hours. This is a beautiful, painful read, strange, but perfectly formed. It's genuinely unsettling, but quite wonderful for that.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conrad Williams is always a surefire bet when it comes to prose quality and this thin novella (even thinner if it wasn't set in large print) is no different. It's a quick punchy story about life unravelling when a couple move to France, together with the perils of being a parent, packed with supernatural happenings which may or may not be in the main character's head. For me, the switch to a more visceral horror ending detracted a little from the book, but this is in keeping with Conrad's style and he does it with flair. Well worth picking up for Williams' completists.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, a classy work from Mr Williams - the opening, showing family life, is so well rendered that the characters seem real from the instant you meet them. As things start to turn sour and the rain comes, the deterioration is as painful as it is impossible to ignore and the ending was like a punch in the face, very raw. I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it, though it's obviously not for everyone!

[Mohammad Khan.ch.]

dear,

it is nice book for me. yours, khna.waiting!!!!

[Walter Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

unfortunately... it was just OK. I found the ending a touch confusing as well. Personally speaking, i likely wouldn't recommend this book as a good scary book. It's not.