New York Times bestselling author Martin offers us “grace, mercy, and forgiveness in this sweeping love story.” Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family’s beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future–until a cherished person from her past … cherished person from her past returns.
Joseph has been adrift for many years, wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. Just as he resolves to abandon his search for peace and live alone at a remote cabin in the Carolina mountains, he discovers a mother and her two small children lost in the forest. A man of character and strength, he instinctively steps in to help them get back to their home in Florida. There he will return to his own hometown–and witness the accident that launches a bittersweet reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Allie.
When Joseph offers to help Allie rebuild her restaurant, it seems the flame may reignite–until a forty-five-year-old secret begins to emerge, threatening to destroy all hope for their second chance at love.
In Send Down the Rain, Charles Martin proves himself to be a storyteller of great wisdom and compassion who bears witness to the dreams we cherish, the struggles we face, and the strengths we must summon when life seems to threaten what we hold most dear.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Charles Martin never fails to ask and answer the questions that linger deep within all of us.” –Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author, for Long Way Gone
“Charles Martin understands the power of story and he uses it to alter the souls and lives of both his characters and his readers.” –Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author
- Full-length, stand-alone novel
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs
- From the author of The Mountain Between Us and Where the River Ends
more
This story absolutely wrecked me—in the best kind of way any novel can do to a reader. I cried for the final half hour of listening to the audiobook. Beautiful. Painful. Raw. Hopeful. Unexpected. Tender. Highly recommended.
With this book, Charles Martin has catapulted himself to the top of my “must buy” list. Send Down the Rain is an absolutely beautiful narrative with characters that tug at your heart from the very first page. Each side story comes into the main narrative in a way that is smooth and purposeful.
Send Down the Rain is an important work that deals with so many things: how we treat our veterans, grace, mercy, forgiveness, the homeless among us, and family wounds.
Highly recommend.
Overall, I enjoyed Send Down the Rain. The first few chapters were a struggle for me, since I didn’t know who the main character was until around chapter four. But once I gained my bearings in the story, I was hooked. Sometimes the writing style (lots of fragmentary sentences) was a bit distracting, and a few of the plot techniques reminded me of Long Way Gone, but Martin excels at making you care about what happens to the character. I appreciated his handling of the subject and theme. It could have been much darker, and I’ve read books that touched on similar topics which were, in fact, pretty hopeless. Send Down the Rain had all the redemption I could have hoped for. The metaphor of sacrifice and atonement was a powerful spiritual insight, even though it wasn’t explicitly spelled out as a picture of Christ’s atonement for us. The subtlety of it worked for me.
Listed as Drama…definitely full of mystery!
Let me start this review by saying how much I love Charles Martin’s writing. He has a depth unlike most other authors I’ve read. That being said, this was not my favorite of his books. In the first couple of chapters, I had no idea what was happening. It took a while to realize he was writing in omniscient POV, so I was pretty confused at first.
Once I got to chapter four, it started to make more sense but there was so much telling in the book, and chapters of backstory, I didn’t feel as drawn into the present day action as I had hoped. Also, I felt the story was far fetched. I can’t imagine the main character’s circumstances and experiences actually happening in real life, which made him harder to relate to.
Even with those few negative aspects of the story, I still enjoyed reading it and wanted to know how it ended. Also loved the life lesson at the end. I guess that’s the mark of a great writer, right?
Excellent writing
It is a page turner. I couldn’t put it down.
I would give this at least 8 stars. Charles Martin has a gift for writing, bringing the reader in. This book is action packed, filled with mystery and love.
Anything by Charles Martin I read!
Highly recommend this book. It is full of twists and turns and will keep you reading til the wee hours. You most likely won’t guess the ending.
This book has a lot of extremely interesting twists and turns. It starts out with two brothers (Joseph and Bobby) on the beach in front of their home listening to their mother smashing dishes in the kitchen. The book follows the life of Joseph (called J.J.), and brings his whole life full circle. I never knew exactly how all the pieces to his story were going to fit together until the end, and the end is DEFINITELY worth it! You must read this book–it’s excellent!
Excellent.
Charles Martin always delivers. He is a master of good stories that you continue to think about even after the book is finished.
I love anything that Charles Martin writes!
I love his books! Not disappointed!
Lots of twists and turns. Interesting characters and story line!
One thing I’ve grown to love about reading CM books is his extraordinary plot twists. Usually, try as hard as I can, I just don’t see ‘em coming. Maybe I’m slow on the uptake, or maybe his stories are just that gripping. Maybe both. But for this particular novel, I saw each plot twist coming a mile away. Maybe I’m getting smarter, or maybe CM’s plotting is getting predictable. Maybe both. It does seem CM might be following a particular formula in his storytelling. But don’t let the possibility that this story might not be perfect (which is how I see all of CM’s books I’ve read thus far) deter you from reading it. It’s a GREAT story.
I was using Whispersync to switch between reading & listening to the audio book. The narrator is fabulous. I believe there are many passages a reader will want to stop and highlight—to savor.
Even though I had guessed what was coming, I did not want to put this book down (or press pause). I though his treatment of two particular themes in this book—physical abuse and the Vietnam era—were outstanding.
As much as I love this book, my star rating is not the usual 5 stars for two reasons: 1) If I can see the plot twist coming a mile away, then perhaps it’s a little too obvious—and a shocking plot twist is what CM does best, in my opinion. I like the thrill of being stunned. 2) It’s a pet peeve, but if a writer is going to mention someone, anyone, in the story throwing up, please limit it to once. More than one character heaving—please, no. Multiple characters heaving multiple times—it’s just too much. Surely there are better ways to get the point across than that.
I’m not done reading it. But it is hard to put down.
I’m just gonna start out my review by saying that this book was a disappointment. *cries* I’m sorry, it just was. I was so excited to be reading it; I’d been told that it was better than When Crickets Cry (which is amazing, btw). But of the three Charles Martin books that I’ve read, Send Down the Rain was definitely my least favorite.
I wish I could say why, exactly, but I can’t, ’cause I just don’t know why. Maybe it’s because it’d been talked up so much. One person said that it completely wrecked them; that it broke them more than When Crickets Cry.
I’m sorry, but . . . no. I went through the entire book waiting for a scream-at-the-sky, rip-my-heart-in-half scene. But honestly, that was probably why the book disappointed me—I was expecting something that would never come.
ANYWAY. On to the real review. I really did enjoy the book; it just didn’t really strike a chord in me, y’know?
Jo-Jo’s character I really liked. His story was just . . . *hugs him* oh my word, y’all. So heartbreaking. So selfless.
Allie I could’ve done without. I mean, I liked her and all, but . . . nah. I . . . guess I liked her and Joe as a couple, but their porch visits I could’ve done without.
Catalina and her children were so sweet! And I LOVED how they played into the book later on.
The setting itself was endearing, but sometimes hard to envision. Beach and woods; that was pretty much all I could envision, with a long expanse of highway that stretched next to the swamp.
So what made me give it four stars instead of five?
Suzy.
Just . . . if you’ve read the book, you know what a huge part Suzy plays in Jo-Jo’s story. And, to be honest, that one part with Suzy was the only part that actually made me get slightly emotional about the whole book.
So, yeah. Not quite my cup of tea, but still a fabulous read and definitely recommended!
This story stayed with me long after reading. The compelling characters were flawed and lovable and the story surprised me with wonderful turns. I cheered for them, I mourned for them. Humanity at its best and worst is exposed and examined.