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Four Kinds of Rain
Broke, recently divorced, and a total deadbeat, Bob Wells has spent his life as a psychiatrist only doing good in the world. When one of his patients with clear paranoid delusions starts to lose a grip, Bob has no choice but to intervene. Emile Bardan is haunted by demons, and he believes that someone is trying to steal his most prized possesion, the legendeary Mask of Utu. Bob thinks it's all part of Emile's imagination until he discovers that Emile is telling the truth and that the mask is worth millions. It's Bob who may actually be the one losing his grip. He's tired of helping people for nothing, tired of being treated like dirt-and while he may have met the girl of his dreams, he doesn't want to lose her because he can't take care of her. There is only one thing to is going to steal the mask But doing so may mean making the biggest mistake of all-as he proceeds down a path into a dark abyss from which there is no return.
- GenresMystery
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 3, 2006
4 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Robert Ward
32 books19 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robert Ward was born in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was 15 years old he went to live with his paternal grandmother, Grace, a local social activist. He did his undergraduate work at Towson State University before earning his MFA in writing at the University of Arkansas.
While living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco he began working on his first novel, Shedding Skin, before moving back to Baltimore for its completion. He taught English at Miami University in Hamilton, Ohio for two years, then moved to Geneva, New York, where he taught at Hobart and William Smith College.
In 1974, he started his career as a journalist, writing for magazines such as New Times and Sport. He moved to New York in 1976 and continued writing "New Journalism" for eight years. During this period, he wrote his novel Cattle Annie and Little Britches as well as the screenplay for the feature film based on the book. After the publication of his fourth novel, Red Baker, in 1985 he was approached by David Milch and offered a job to write for Hill Street Blues.
After Hill Street concluded, Ward become the co-Executive Producer of Miami Vice, and spent five years writing scripts and producing TV movies at Universal Studios. He continues to write and produce television shows and movies as well publish novels.
Robert Ward was born in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was 15 years old he went to live with his paternal grandmother, Grace, a local social activist. He did his undergraduate work at Towson State University before earning his MFA in writing at the University of Arkansas.
While living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco he began working on his first novel, Shedding Skin, before moving back to Baltimore for its completion. He taught English at Miami University in Hamilton, Ohio for two years, then moved to Geneva, New York, where he taught at Hobart and William Smith College.
In 1974, he started his career as a journalist, writing for magazines such as New Times and Sport. He moved to New York in 1976 and continued writing "New Journalism" for eight years. During this period, he wrote his novel Cattle Annie and Little Britches as well as the screenplay for the feature film based on the book. After the publication of his fourth novel, Red Baker, in 1985 he was approached by David Milch and offered a job to write for Hill Street Blues.
After Hill Street concluded, Ward become the co-Executive Producer of Miami Vice, and spent five years writing scripts and producing TV movies at Universal Studios. He continues to write and produce television shows and movies as well publish novels.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 22, 2018
What a dark funhouse ride of a book! I hate reviews that simply synopsize the plot of a novel, so let me just say that Four Kinds of Rain is a very convincing and blackly entertaining tale of one middle-aged former idealist’s total fall from whatever grace he still possesses – which wasn’t much to begin with. I particularly loved the evocation of the funky Baltimore hood that our “hero” lives in, and where almost all the action takes place. The worn-out rowhomes on narrow streets, the blues bar filled with bikers and artists and small-time crooks, the National Bohemian beer, the crab cakes, the homeless guy who kicks you in the nuts when you try to help him – Robert Ward does a brilliant job of making this little urban island of a world feel all-too-real, so that you can smell the dank Chesapeake air on the streets and the thick whiskey-and-urine odors of the corner tavern. If you like your noir as black and rich as a cup of Joe from a factory breakfast truck on a cold grey dawn, this book is for you.
March 28, 2020
One of the more memorable things I’ve read in the last few years is Robert Ward’s Red Baker. It’s your typical blue collar male midlife crisis story, only it’s set in Baltimore and is hardcore devoted to the city. Being a native, I love Baltimore tales. When I mentioned to someone that I really enjoyed Red Baker, they suggested I pick this one up.
I’m glad I did. This one is an actual crime story set in Baltimore and it’s twisty. In the first fifty or so pages, I thought I knew for sure how it was going to turn out: like a typical psych thriller that you’d get from the airport. Boy was I wrong. This is a story crafted in the style of something Donald Westlake or Jim Thompson would write. It absolutely deserves the noir tag.
What I liked most about it is Ward’s Bob Wells is relentlessly unlikeable. A down-on-his-luck guy who never got over his glory radicalist days in the 60s, Ward does a good job of making you dislike Wells while caring about the story. All along, his introspective views on what success, power and fame do to a person challenge the reader. Wells is a shallow guy but his story forces one to struggle with larger themes.
If there’s a weakness here, and frankly, it really makes this a 3-star book, it’s the character of Jess. She’s horribly underwritten and comes across as a wish fulfillment female. Ward does build on her later on but too late for what he does with her to matter, especially in moments when it should. Bob and Jess’ relationship is central to the book and it’s a weak center.
Still, I enjoyed this trip to hallowed Charm City enough to give it a Bawlmer Bump to 4-stars. It’s worth checking out if you like those kinds of suspenseful crime tales where the criminal is in over their head.
I’m glad I did. This one is an actual crime story set in Baltimore and it’s twisty. In the first fifty or so pages, I thought I knew for sure how it was going to turn out: like a typical psych thriller that you’d get from the airport. Boy was I wrong. This is a story crafted in the style of something Donald Westlake or Jim Thompson would write. It absolutely deserves the noir tag.
What I liked most about it is Ward’s Bob Wells is relentlessly unlikeable. A down-on-his-luck guy who never got over his glory radicalist days in the 60s, Ward does a good job of making you dislike Wells while caring about the story. All along, his introspective views on what success, power and fame do to a person challenge the reader. Wells is a shallow guy but his story forces one to struggle with larger themes.
If there’s a weakness here, and frankly, it really makes this a 3-star book, it’s the character of Jess. She’s horribly underwritten and comes across as a wish fulfillment female. Ward does build on her later on but too late for what he does with her to matter, especially in moments when it should. Bob and Jess’ relationship is central to the book and it’s a weak center.
Still, I enjoyed this trip to hallowed Charm City enough to give it a Bawlmer Bump to 4-stars. It’s worth checking out if you like those kinds of suspenseful crime tales where the criminal is in over their head.
September 29, 2018
In Four Kinds of Rain, Robert Ward spins a classic noir tale that is both riveting and relentless in its portrayal of a desperate middle-aged loser who has stubbornly kept the faith of his idealistic 60s youth while the world passed him by and turns to crime to bankroll one last shot at love with a much younger woman.
Ward’s main character, Baltimore psychologist Bobby Wells, is known as ‘the people’s shrink,” a threadbare title that feeds his self-loathing as his tie-dyed faith sours and curdles. He’s lost his wife to a glib Dr. Phil-like character and his savings to an unseemly gambling addiction. He’s struggling to make ends meet and barely has enough patients to keep his practice afloat.
Even his best friend, a journalist and fellow traveler of 60s idealism who reveres Dr. Bobby as a tattered saint of the down and out, feeds Wells’ deepening depression about his wasted life and his stubborn pursuit of ideals his contemporaries abandoned decades ago.
Although Ward’s book is full of shocking twists and turns, with action that keeps the narrative fast and taut, he is at his best describing Wells’ harrowing descent into increasingly manic and psychopathic behavior that he fails to recognize in himself and the thrill and delusional sense of entitlement he feels as his criminal acts escalate from ripping off a patient to murder.
Not even the love of a younger woman can turn him from his chosen path -- instead, it seems to heighten his desperation, mania and money lust.
This is Jim Thompson territory and Ward walks it like he owns it, delivering a stark reminder that we all have a killer inside us.
Ward, born and raised in Baltimore, also shines when effortlessly capturing the unique and particular grittiness of Charm City. There’s a keen sense of place in this book that too many writers fail to create. Ward does so with a deft touch that avoids both caricature and the trappings of a local color piece.
The book’s title is a sly and bloody-minded play off the four meteorological categories of rainfall, ending with the monsoon. In the case of Dr. Bobby, the torrent is betrayal, blood and a bad end of the kind that happens to the protagonist in a classic noir tale.
Ward’s main character, Baltimore psychologist Bobby Wells, is known as ‘the people’s shrink,” a threadbare title that feeds his self-loathing as his tie-dyed faith sours and curdles. He’s lost his wife to a glib Dr. Phil-like character and his savings to an unseemly gambling addiction. He’s struggling to make ends meet and barely has enough patients to keep his practice afloat.
Even his best friend, a journalist and fellow traveler of 60s idealism who reveres Dr. Bobby as a tattered saint of the down and out, feeds Wells’ deepening depression about his wasted life and his stubborn pursuit of ideals his contemporaries abandoned decades ago.
Although Ward’s book is full of shocking twists and turns, with action that keeps the narrative fast and taut, he is at his best describing Wells’ harrowing descent into increasingly manic and psychopathic behavior that he fails to recognize in himself and the thrill and delusional sense of entitlement he feels as his criminal acts escalate from ripping off a patient to murder.
Not even the love of a younger woman can turn him from his chosen path -- instead, it seems to heighten his desperation, mania and money lust.
This is Jim Thompson territory and Ward walks it like he owns it, delivering a stark reminder that we all have a killer inside us.
Ward, born and raised in Baltimore, also shines when effortlessly capturing the unique and particular grittiness of Charm City. There’s a keen sense of place in this book that too many writers fail to create. Ward does so with a deft touch that avoids both caricature and the trappings of a local color piece.
The book’s title is a sly and bloody-minded play off the four meteorological categories of rainfall, ending with the monsoon. In the case of Dr. Bobby, the torrent is betrayal, blood and a bad end of the kind that happens to the protagonist in a classic noir tale.
Want to read
November 11, 2019Synopsis: psychiatrist Bob Wells is in his own rut. When a patient starts to have paranoid delusions he finds them real but they become his abyss too.
August 19, 2019
With Four Kinds of Rain, Robert Ward both continues his sardonically funny tour of angst in working class America that found an earlier voice in his 1985 bestseller Red Baker, and tells a story we've likely never heard before. Though couched in the framework of a very effective and visceral suspense tale with startling bursts of cathartic violence, this saga has more on its mind than labyrinthine narrative twists. Subtextually, it climbs inside the disaffection of a burnt-out 1960s radical who still seethes with anger and contempt about the fact that society went the way of bourgeois materialism - while he still lives hand to mouth and gets little recognition for the altruism he puts in from day to day. He decides to sell out by making a last-bid ethical compromise that means a short-cut to the sort of chichi life he once attacked... and of course, his actions trigger a chain of unintended consequences. The novel pulls off the neat trick of leading us down one path, only to make us question the loyalty that we feel and reexamine our own values, midway through. It also manages to work real substance into a narrative that moves along at a brisk and satisfying clip. Best of all, however, is its subtle middle finger to the hypocrisy that writhes just below the surface of a materialistic society. By the end, we can delight in Ward's diabolical capacity for invention even as the story heads into darker waters; seldom has "ice cold" been this enjoyable in a thriller. It holds nothing back as it builds up to its bloody climax. Highly recommended.
February 26, 2022
I was eager to read this for a slight change of pace. Something that follows a more personal conflict of the character. It was pretty disappointing. The writing style was not engaging at all. I found myself skimming pages to get to the point. I know some authors write with more detail and that would be ok. I just felt that all these words were just page fillers. They didn’t add value to the story. I wasn’t drawn in like I’d hoped to be. I did finish it, so it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read for sure. There were a few surprises in there that you likely didn’t see coming.
September 11, 2017
Ok - the main characters "heart of gold" is somewhat belabored, we get it already.
December 12, 2017
A psychiatrist steals one of his patient's masks and things go downhill for him quickly, interesting read.
August 23, 2011
This book is very misunderstood. After I started reading it I caught some of the previews and was saddened to see that it was disliked by many. I figured the read would be so bad that I would have to give up on it. THEY were wrong... I found myself very invested in watching, through words, one mans descent from upright do-gooder into an insane mad killer whose impulses were out of control. The path Bob, the protagonist, took seemed to make complete sense from his own perspective. People very seldom realize how fine the line is between good and bad decisions and most people strongly believe they would never do the things Bob has done. But the truth is we never know what we are capable of until it is tested. So, personally, I was fascinated by Bob's story and was actually quite happy with the ending.
December 6, 2011
I read this some time ago, and if pressed, I won't swear i could remember all of the intricate plot twists. But, I remember there were a few, and that they twisted in ways that made a decent thriller into an examination of that little button, tempting all of us. You know the one. Press it, and everything in your life suddenly turns into sunshine and spongecake. Or, you wait just one second too long,or press it too soon,and you're riding that handbasket straight to Hell. Ok, not straight to Hell, but that's where things get interesting,,but you know,,you're definitely heading in that general direction.
Dr Bob Wells, presses the button. He always thought he was above that kind of weakness, but Four Kinds Of rain shows us just how close we might be to tossing things aside for the sake of a big pile of money and someone to spend it on, and pressing the damn button.
Dr Bob Wells, presses the button. He always thought he was above that kind of weakness, but Four Kinds Of rain shows us just how close we might be to tossing things aside for the sake of a big pile of money and someone to spend it on, and pressing the damn button.
August 17, 2012
Interesting noir tale set in Baltimore, from Hill Street Blues writer/producer Robert Ward. Psychotherapist Bob Wells is a disillusioned middle-aged failure, a former radical who never sold out and is consequently poor and getting tired of it. So tired that he comes up with a Robin Hood scheme to take a wealthy client to the cleaners and use the money to do good. Oh, and incidentally to impress the new girlfriend as well. What could go wrong?
June 20, 2013
I enjoyed this quirky book. A psychologist, who also plays In a rock band, is a real loser. He decides to better his situation by ripping off a vulnerable patient. Things go from bad to worse, with a few homicides along the way. An apathetic therapist, borderline psychotic in his own right, and ultimately a sociopath, the results were preordained and just.
August 24, 2010
Couldn't put it down. Lots of twists and turns. Interesting transformation of a leftwing shrink who lives by his principles and ends up poor (actually after getting a gambling habit) then decides to ditch all of those principles..
September 16, 2013
I'm not sure I got the meaning of this convoluted tale of woe, but it did get pretty gory. The main character thinks he's a loser and tries to turn it around only to lose it all. Plenty of action, easy to read, kind of bittersweet.
September 15, 2008
Guess noir isn't my genre...
October 29, 2012
This is an excellent book by one of my favorite authors. It has lots of twists and turns. People who work in social work will find the narrator to express some deeply uncomfortable truths.
May 15, 2013
The story was morbid and is full of betrayal :/
July 12, 2015
- for the first half of this novel, I felt empathy for the hapless Psychiatrist Robert Wells
- the plot then abruptly turned...first too quirky, then to violent
- the plot then abruptly turned...first too quirky, then to violent
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews