Night Rain

Mike Connolly Mystery #4

by Joe Hilley

Dibber Landry lives on a barrier island near the mouth of Mobile Bay. As a hurricane approaches, most residents evacuate, but not Dibber. While rummaging through Inez Marchand's storm-damaged house, he finds more than he expected-a dead body and ultimately a murder charge. Now it's up to Mike Connolly to untangle a web of secrets no one else will touch.

Genres: Mystery

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 20, 2007

About the author

I was born in Alabama and grew up on the Gulf Coast. After years of practicing law, I quit to write about people and topics that interest me.

Reviews

[Tom Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurricanes always make landfall at night - - - well, probably not always. But I've lived through many of them and most of them came at night. And that's where this story begins. Amazingly accurate portrayal of what happens - the storm, the loss, the people who stay behind - - - and the things that happen while the storm rages. I really enjoyed this book. The writing on this series improved from Sober Justice through this one. And I'll see what The Deposition is like, the last in the series, so far. I hope Joe Hilley comes back to these characters and picks up the story again.

[Harley Burger · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a dead body is found in a beach house amidst a hurricane, who is held responsible for the murder? This question is the main point of Joe Hilley’s novel Night Rain, and the answer to it is more complicated than it seems. Night Rain is a mystery novel following attorney Mike Connolly as he defends a man accused of murdering a body that was found in a beach house he looted. The book is told from Connolly’s point of view as he delves into the more sinister mysteries of the murder while simultaneously battling his own demons.
With a hurricane approaching, Dibber Landry expects to loot the nearby abandoned beach houses before the storm comes. When he discovers the dead body of a stranger, however, everything changes. When Dibber is charged with murder, it is up to attorney Mike Connolly to prove that Dibber is innocent. The challenge becomes greater and the mystery deeper as the novel goes on and Connolly begins to dig up an entire trail of secrets leading back several years. While working on the case, Connolly must also come to terms with demons from his own past that he has been avoiding.
I give this novel a four out of five stars. The book itself was well-paced with a compelling mystery and solid dynamic characters that fit the tone of the book very well. I normally do not enjoy mystery novels because they tend to add too many extra details, but Night Rain had just the right amount of detail that was helpful to the plot and the characters’ backstory. One thing that was not very good about this novel was the very large and confusing index of characters. A character would be introduced in a chapter, then not be mentioned again until three or four chapters later, when I had forgotten who they were. I recommend this book for people who enjoy mysteries that involve a lot of secrets and drama.

[Pam]

08/15/08 purchase from used book store

[Elaine]

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[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poor attorney spends more time investigating than actually in the courtroom. However, he is good at it and keeps the interest going. The plot is a lot more complicated than you would think. Characters are pretty interesting and some are outright funny.

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

did not finish this book...

[Larry A. Bushnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

a few too many cast members

Fun, but hard for me to remember who’s who. Still, enjoyed it. Liked as much as I did the other works

[Darinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fourth book in the Mike Connolly mystery series. I couldn't get into this one.